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 it's nearly April as I write this. But I woke up this morning shortly before daylight and opened the back door to hear the birds singing without the wind as their background band. The smell of the air had changed overnight from late winter/early spring to spring. I can't describe it but spring has a smell all its own. Standing on the patio with the eastern sky just starting to lighten is more than simply stimulating. It's wonderful. However, it's also that time of year when...
Once upon a time America fed the world. Not literally, of course, but we did export food all around the globe and gave quite a bit away to countries in need. In fact, we had so much land in production for food that our government was paying farmers and ranchers not to use it. Not so much anymore. Our farm and ranch ground is decreasing faster each year as the land is being sold for development. What is going to happen when we can no longer produce enough food to even feed ourselves? Just since...
We've all seen the fertilizer ads with the rich beautiful lawns and tall, lush flowers. As we get closer to spring the ads will increase in volume and make us all wish that our lawns were that lovely and lush and our flowers were bursting with all the wonderful green foliage and colorful blooms. All of the fertilizer companies swear that their product is the best in the market and if you just buy theirs, not the competitors, then you can have the same look that they show on TV and on their...
I thought last year was strange as far as the weather went but this year has been a real kicker. Last week we had temperatures in the 60's and this week down to zero. Weather like this forces me to look at the calendar to remind myself how far we are into the year. The Master Gardeners Plant Sale is just around the corner on May 14th and my start date for plants is already here. I won't start anything that is going to be planted outside until the first half of April, though. Mine will all go in...
Anyone who has read my articles over the past few years knows that I put a load of compost on my garden in 2018 that completely killed its ability to produce...anything. Even weeds wouldn't grow. At the time I blamed the salts in the compost I'd purchased. Then, Linda came across a heartrending Facebook post from someone who'd had their garden decimated by Grazon herbicide. Yes, the soil was tested to determine the cause. The worst part was that the person hadn't used Grazon themselves, but had...
Herbs play a major role in our lives. Probably more than we realize because we take them for granted. Most of our familiarity with herbs is through food. We use herbs to flavor foods and many identify with foods from particular regions, like basil, thyme and rosemary identify with Mediterranean foods. Cilantro is used in a number of Mexican dishes. Although most herbs are grown in the Mediterranean region there are herbs grown throughout the world. Many herbs will grow here in Laramie County...
Over the past few weeks we’ve had some pretty decent snowfall with plenty of moisture and only a little of the 4-letter word, w***, that we don’t usually say out loud. The meteorologist on KGWN TV 5 commented at the end of January that we were slightly ahead of moisture for the month. That sounds good knowing that January and February are our two driest months of the year. Oops. I made the mistake of checking the drought monitor from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). NOAA is the parent organization of the National Wea...
In today's society our dependence on processed foods, fast foods, and snacks we seem to have forgotten the sheer pleasure of eating a home-cooked, leisurely meal with our family. We've become a microwave society. Everything has to be fast and good meals take time to prepare, even the "quick" recipes. I think about that often as I cook breakfast and the few meals that I take the time to prepare myself. Usually Linda cooks but once in a while I'll fix the meal. Like last night I fixed a chicken...
What if we could grow a plant that smells delightful, tastes great and could help improve our health? Well, we can. Anyone can grow herbs on a window sill or even on the kitchen counter. Basil is one of those herbs that grows easily, is easily harvested, serves a variety of uses, and smells terrific. I'm sure you've all heard about basil because it's the basic herb used in Italian and Mediterranean cuisine. One of my favorite Mediterranean dishes is tomato bisque soup. That and a grilled cheese...
This has been a crazy winter. Not that it wasn't predicted but crazy, nonetheless. Most of the winter has been pretty warm and the wind hasn't even been horrible. We've had a couple of really cold days they've been the exception. That set me to thinking about spring but not in a good way. My first thoughts of spring were of the cool weather weeds that we could actually see a bit earlier than normal this year. I already have new grass starting to show up in areas that I dug out last fall so the...
We love trees in Laramie County. Maybe because we have so few trees that are native. Did you know that the only native trees in Laramie County are in Pine Bluffs and the extreme western edge of the county? All of the rest were planted after settlers moved into the state. Now we have trees for food, for shade, protection, and some just for the sheer beauty. Human beings have an innate love of trees. It seems that we just can't stop planting them. It was disheartening to all of us when the...
Right before Christmas I attended a craft fair and was able to speak at length to several people about vegetable gardening and growing plants, in general. The most intriguing conversation I had concerned growing vegetables in a very small yard with little space. In fact, that conversation lasted all morning. The yard we discussed was very small with no room to put in a vegetable garden even though the client wanted to grow her own vegetables. She wanted to reserve the tiny grassy area for her...
For the past year I've been working to convert my greenhouse over to full-hydroponic even though I don't seem to be making much progress at times. During CFD I moved all of the peppers over to the first hydroponic tray from the climate-controlled warehouse unit and planted cucumbers in the upper tray. I use vertical growing systems to make the most use of the space available. The peppers have thrived with some of the plants approaching their third growing season. The cucumbers were doing very...
WARNING! This building is home to more than 10,000 predatory wasps. Enter at your own risk. That is a sign for a greenhouse. Most everybody I've told about it has cringed at the thought. Wasps bring nightmares to most of us because they are aggressive and it hurts when they sting. But when I tell another Master Gardener about this sign they yawn and smile. At best they congratulate me. But then, they know the meaning of the term "predatory wasps". The wasps most people think of when they hear...
Is there a benefit to organic foods over standard foods? I was asked that question during my monthly radio show and it threw me for a loop for a few seconds. Not that it was a bad question or I couldn't answer but it was off topic and I was completely focused on fresh vegetables versus processed vegetables. This is a call-in show so I should be ready for anything but I was caught off-guard. And the answer to the question really isn't as easy as it sounds but it is a good question for the topic...
Few plants are identified with Christmas as the Christmas cactus is. Growing up I really had no idea what a Christmas cactus was. My grandmother had one, but to me it was just "that plant over there". It was pretty for a few weeks out of the year and I never understood why it was so special to her. It was only after I met Linda that I got an idea of what the Christmas cactus was and why it was so special to people. Her mom had several and one was absolutely HUGE. It dominated the bedroom it was...
What symbol says, "Christmas" to more people than the Christmas tree. Since I don't play political correctness 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 fondest memories here in Wyoming was the Christmas tree decorating competition Glenn Chavez used to have in Cheyenne's downtown area. We participated one year and it was a blast. The decorations and themes were as different as the trees...
This has been an interesting day to say the least. I finally saw a project that I started last year (2020) come to fruition. I baked my first loaves of bread. I know at least three of you will say, "So what?" That's because I know what your baking is like and it's wonderful. For me it was a new experience. In 2019 I used wheat straw to mulch the garlic bed. That's normal and I didn't think much of it until the spring of 2020 when the garlic started growing. That's when I learned how much wheat...
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 challenging is our soil and the short growing season. Most vegetables require more time to ripen than we have with, at best, three and a half months of suitable growing weather. Over the years there has been a lot of discussion over hoop houses, high...
It was cold, bitterly cold, on December 18, 1620 when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts to form their first colony in the New World. Since they had no shelter on land, they had to live on the ship for the next few months and ferried back and forth to the shore as they worked hard to build homes for their new colony. In March they began to move ashore permanently as shelter became available. But, the months aboard ship were devasting. One hundred settlers started the journey,...
The drought of 2021 is now in full force in Laramie County. As of July we were the only county in Wyoming that was not being affected by the drought. At least most of the county. There were two small pockets in the extreme northeast and northwest corners that were in “abnormally dry” conditions. But the rest of us were experiencing normal moisture and we even had some rain in June and July. We thought we were going to escape a drought. Fooled us! By the end of July the tunnel of good moisture we had been experiencing began to shrink. First it...
For many years, I was told that bees only liked white and yellow flowers. That they would go to other colored flowers only when the first two were unavailable or in short supply. What a myth to believe in. Nothing could be further from the truth. I also grew up believing that bees were the only insects that provided any significant amount of pollination. Looking back on it, I have no idea where I got those foolish notions. As I grew older (and with age comes wisdom, right?), I began to realize...
Now that the harvest is finished it's time to do something with all of the delicious veggies. Or maybe, like me, you're still harvesting. I was out this morning picking crabapples. Normally I'm not able to harvest them because the wind blows them off the tree before they are ripe. This is only the second time in about 15 years that I've been able to get ripe fruit. I know some of you are saying, "Yuk!" but don't discount crabapples. Although nearly all crabapples are edible that doesn't that...
This year I didn't plant much outside. Most everything is going into the hydroponic systems that haven't been built yet. What I did plant outside ended up being about four weeks late, but the harvest seems to be coming a little early. Of course the peppers haven't stopped for the last two years because of the hydroponics and I have to say that it's been nice canning a little bit at a time rather than spending days in the kitchen in one stretch. Most of you will have it all crammed into a tight s...
This spring brought an abundance of wildflowers and other plants that I've never before seen, at least in the profusion that decorated my pasture. Quite a few of the plants were poisonous but one edible plant stood out to me. The wild onion. I've always had one here and there but this year they were everywhere. It's almost as if I'd planted them intentionally. At first I wasn't confident in what I thought I was seeing since there were so many. I only remembered my father-in-law's comments about...
