Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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It's hard to believe spring is just around the corner. Days are getting longer and temperatures are rising. That's not to say that we're aren't going to have some cold days and snow yet, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm still trying to get the greenhouse ready and I've already had ninety-degree temperatures in there. I'm not ready for those temperatures quite yet. In just a few weeks I'll start my seeds and the season will officially begin, at least for me. But it's time to...
It's spring and everything seems to be coming to life. Warm weather birds are moving in, yards are turning green, and trees and shrubs are starting to form buds. This is the perfect time to get ready to plant new trees. The Laramie County Master Gardeners are having their bare root tree and shrub sale now as discussed last week. The LCMG isn't the only place to buy trees and their selection is limited. New trees can come from a variety of sources, but there are some things to consider before...
Spring is coming and the Laramie County Master Gardeners' Bare Root Tree and Shrub Sale is in full swing. This isn't your normal sale making great profits then dropping everything onto your shoulders. The LCMG offers different varieties of trees and shrubs each year to fulfill our mission to help people with their gardening. Trees are offered slightly above cost to cover the incidental costs of getting them into your hands. Since all of the labor is volunteer and many incidentals are donated,...
Monarch butterflies are fascinating creatures that are invaluable to pollination. Unfortunately, their numbers are declining. In the U.S. there are two groups of Monarchs, Eastern and Western. The group is determined by which side of the Rocky Mountains they live on and where they hibernate over the winter. The Eastern Monarch is the group we get and it's numbers are down approximately 80% since the 1980's. Monarchs are no longer found in South America. The Monarch is one of several pollinators...
We love it! The clean air, unobstructed views, nothing between us and the North Pole but a few fence posts, and the beauty of the starlit night sky amplified by the lack of artificial light. That's country living at its best. But, there's a lot more to it than just the beauty and the wonder of it all. There is a lot of hard work and not just a few hindrances that thwart our enjoyment. Some are just part of life and others...well...others can be our neighbors. There are some common courtesies...
The greenhouse and hydroponics did great last year bringing in much more produce than my family could use. Some of the extra I sold, some I gave away, and I still have some in cold storage. The season started in April and ended with the cold snap in November. At the end I was getting clusters of peppers (5-6) instead of peppers growing singly. Tomatoes were left hanging on the vines and I'm still eating green tomatoes. The bottom line is that a greenhouse will extend your season and provide...
We're finally getting some decent moisture. Of course, it's the cold, fluffy stuff but moisture none the less. I hope you had planned for snow before winter as now may be too late to drive posts for a fence. Snow can be a valuable resource if we control it so we can use the moisture where we need it. We can't control snowfall but we can affect where it lands. At least to some degree. That's where windbreaks and snow fences come into play. They can be used to direct the snow into particular locat...
At last, it looks like the drought may be ending. At least that's indication from the weather patterns in the Pacific Ocean. The La Nina in the North Pacific is diminishing and the storm systems are starting to bring in more moisture than in the past two years. It's unclear if there will be an El Nino pattern but right now I think I'll settle for having La Nina somewhere else for the next 300-400 years. I know, that's unrealistic but I don't like drought. Looking at the drought maps though,...
If you research the history of peppers, you'll find most of the articles are on chili peppers. But there are hundreds of varieties in three basic types of pepper: black pepper, sweet peppers, and hot peppers. Whether you like spicy foods or cool, refreshing flavors there's a pepper just for you. Black pepper originates from India while the other types originated from the Americas. Black pepper is considered a spice while sweet and hot peppers are fruits. Black pepper, or Piper nigrum, is a reall...
Food dyes have been used to artificially color foods for several decades. Primarily it's a marketing scheme used to make commercial foods more appealing to the consumer thus enticing them to buy. During processing, foods lose color and storage can also cause color loss. Dyes are used to make the foods appear fresher than they actually are. Even meats may be treated with food dye (coloring) to give an appearance of freshness. Food dyes provide absolutely no nutritional value and some may be...
Did you ever think that spices in your cupboard could be the key to a much healthier life? For thousands of years spices have been used for a wide variety of reasons. Some spices are used to preserve food. Some are used for flavor. Some are used for both. Maybe not known to our ancestors is that many of those spices are also good for our general health. Whether they knew or not, maybe, just maybe, spices were the reason that many of the health conditions that seem to be so prevalent today were a...
As I write this article it's pretty cold outside, about 6 degrees below zero. By the time it goes to print it's supposed to be in the 40's. So goes Christmas in Wyoming. Cold or warm, we have one constant. What symbol says, "Christmas" to more people than the Christmas tree. Since I don't play the political correctness game I'll call it what it is, a Christmas tree. Be it live or artificial, green or another color, frosted or plain, it's still a Christmas tree. Some of my most vivid Christmas...
This year seems to have just zipped by without ever slowing down. It's hard to imagine that it's already December and Christmas is just around the corner. Even though I started writing about the plants of Christmas a few weeks ago, the time of year just sunk in. I don't know if I've been that busy or if maybe it's just old age. Could be a combination of both, I guess. Regardless, I still find myself stopping to reflect on Christmas when I was growing up. This week I thought of poinsettias. Mind...
Deck the halls with boughs of holly...Fa La La La La. My granddaughter has been singing that Christmas classic for the last three weeks or so. This is a wonderful time of year in our household and music of all sorts fills the air from sunup until long after sundown. If it isn't on the stereo then somebody is singing. Linda is decking the halls now only our holly is artificial. I grew up with real holly because it was so plentiful. Holly is one of the more recognizable plants of the winter and... Full story
We're entering a special time of year as Christmas approaches. Snow on the ground and a crispness in the air that seems to buzz with excitement and anticipation. The hustle and bustle of shoppers; many with a joyous "Merry Christmas" to the clerks in the stores and a smile for others. We hear the tinkle of coins as people drop their spare change into the Salvation Army kettles. I do miss the ringing bells and the shouts of "Merry Christmas that used to surround the bell ringers. Everyone seemed...
One of the more important holidays of the year occurs this week...Thanksgiving Day. Started by a proclamation by President George Washington in 1789, this day was intended to be a national day of thanksgiving for the bounty God had given to our nation. It was only celebrated intermittently until President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it a federal holiday in 1863. One of the things President Lincoln was thankful for was the "the blessings of fruitful fields". Americans are known around the world...
Now that the harvest is over and the potatoes have all been dug, what do you do with your bounty? This year I harvested 700 pounds of potatoes from 350 plants. When I planted last June I anticipated 5 pounds of potatoes per plant. But that was without doing any research on what the yield should really be. After checking into it I found that I should only expect one and a half pounds per plant. Since I got two pounds I guess it turned out better than average. But that's still a lot of potatoes....
For the last few years nurseries ran out of seeds, shrubs, trees and nearly everything else we need to plant our gardens in the spring. Even more surprising, they ran out early in the season. It wasn't only the local nurseries either. Everyone, nationwide, ran out. Even the big national suppliers. Some stocks weren't replenished for the current year. I don't know what the real cause is. It seems like people are still blaming COVID but I don't believe that. At least not anymore. Maybe nurseries...
Catherine Wissner announced last week that she will be retiring on June 30, 2023. Not only is Laramie County losing a gem but this entire region is losing one of our best resources for horticultural knowledge. Wissner has been the Laramie County Horticulturalist for the past 14 years and has been a valuable resource and friend in all of my horticultural endeavors. But her work isn't limited to Laramie County. Although her jurisdiction is local, her reach has been international. She works...
Move over, Charlie Brown! There's a new great pumpkin in town. And a new state record. Andy Corbin of Cheyenne broke his own state record this year with a mammoth 1,854 pound pumpkin. In 2019, Corbin broke the state record with a pumpkin weighing in at 1,491 pounds. That's after he set the record in 2015 with a pumpkin weighing 1,268 pounds. Corbin takes growing pumpkins seriously. That's a pretty "smashing" record for a backyard gardener. Harold Stinchcomb is a friendly rival of Corbin's and...
If you haven't finished your harvest by now I'm sure you're close. I finally got the potatoes in and the garlic planted but I'm leaving the squash on the vines as long as possible. I was nearly six weeks late planting so they still need more time to ripen. If I can get two more weeks without a hard frost I think they'll come in okay. While I'm waiting I'll start planning what I'll grow next year. For the last couple of years the nurseries ran out of seed early and I don't see any reason to...
Once the harvest is finished, fall and winter brings our attention to planning for the following year. If your plans include building a hoop house or greenhouse to extend your growing season, this is a good time to at least get the prep work done. Growing vegetables in Wyoming is a constant struggle and frustration at best. At worst it feels impossible at times. At the same time, it's an undertaking well worth the effort. Two of the major factors that make growing vegetables in Wyoming so...
I've tried growing watermelons and didn't do well. They were tasty but very small. Really not even large enough for a serving for one person. So when I heard about the giant watermelons Tim and Alisha Michaud were growing, I have to admit I was skeptical. You see, watermelons aren't supposed to grow here, at least not the big ones. But, at the same time, it had my curiosity aroused. Most people know Alisha as the Director of the Senior Center in Pine Bluffs, which is how I first met her, too. I...
I think that most of us know that good nutrition is vital to our health. But did you also know that eating certain foods can reduce the risk of certain diseases and other health problems? In today's society it seems like people are eating more for convenience than for their health and well-being. Are we really too busy to do more than just fill our bellies with snacks and prepared or processed foods? For me, a little preparation is well worth the benefits. The obvious fact is that foods have...
I hope the drought we've been in for the past year has brought the importance of water and water conservation to the forefront of everyone's mind. I know farmers and ranchers are reeling from the impact it's had on them. Short pastures, or no pasture, wheat that didn't fill out, ponds that have dried up and less water for irrigation have all contributed to the added hardships they've endured that haven't reached the rest of us yet. But it will. Those hardships will cause livestock herds to be...
