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There's nothing better than biting into that first, ripe, juicy tomato. Or, how about picking fresh lettuce or spinach for a salad, or rhubarb for a pie or strawberries for shortcake? Just because you live on the 10th floor of an apartment building or in a patio home with only a "patio", doesn't mean you have to give up vegetable gardening. You just get to be more creative. The old vegetable garden with rows as straight as fork tines has become obsolete. Vegetables are taking their place in the landscape as border and foundation plants, vertical elements on trellises and fences and walls and as striking accent plants as beautiful and exciting as any perennial.
One of the "rules" of landscape design is to vary the shapes in your landscape - 1/3 spreading, 1/3 mounding and 1/3 vertical. Lots of vegetables fit these criteria. Think of summer squash, sweet potatoes or cucumber plants as spreading. Mounding plants could be lettuce, spinach, bush squash, bush beans or broccoli, peppers, tomatoes or eggplant. Vertical is pretty easy - - corn and asparagus or peas, melons and pole beans trained on a fence or trellis.
Two other techniques used in landscape design are mass plantings and varying textures. Look for a balance between contrast and repetition. Consider the fine texture of carrot tops mingling with the bold foliage of zucchini or the airy ferns of asparagus contrasting with the broad leaves of rhubarb or cabbage. Contrast makes the design exciting, too much though, and it will lose its impact. Repetition of form or color will pull the plan together. Plant a border of light green Black seeded Simpson lettuce or a red, frilly variety like Four Seasons. Purple is very popular in the garden right now and you can repeat that color in your garden with different plants. Royal Burgundy bush beans or Dragon Tongue - a yellow bush bean with purple streaks, Black Beauty or Rosa Bianca eggplant, lilac sweet peppers and even purple kohlrabi.
Container gardening is hot right now and the choices for containers are unlimited. Hanging baskets could hold patio tomatoes as easily as petunias or alpine strawberries instead of geraniums. Try bush beans, carrots, spinach, lettuce, radishes, peppers, tomatoes, green onions or Swiss chard in a wooden barrel or even a window box. Of course you can use any regular clay or plastic pot but a plastic bucket or pail will also work. An old bed frame will make quite the conversation piece as a "planter". Just remember to have a drainage hole in any container and to water and fertilize regularly.
Trellises, arbors, fences, teepees and even trees can become the vertical elements in your landscape. I've used string to make a diamond design against a blank side of the house and trained scarlet runner beans to follow the design but any pole bean would work. Most vining plants will work but you will probably be more successful choosing plants with smaller fruit like lemon cucumbers, mini pumpkins or pole beans so you won't have to prop up your harvest at the end of the season.
Architectural form / accent plants is another category that the landscape designer tries to fill. And there are some vegetables that are just dazzling in that role. Artichoke, cardoon (another member of the thistle family), Brussels sprouts, rhubarb and Bloody Butcher corn that gets to be 12 feet tall could easily take the place of that Pampas grass in the landscape. See your landscape in a new way - - there's no reason you can't have your beautiful design … and eat it too.
Q: Are there other types of mint besides peppermint?
A: The family of mints, which is botanically known as Lamiaceae, contains a large number of shrubs and herbs. Many are medicinal herbs that often go by another name. Spearmint and catmint are familiar species. Others include basil, lavender, lemon balm, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme.
Q: When is the best time to water?
A: Water during cool, quiet evenings or during early morning hours to
minimize evaporation and maximize water retention. Evaporation begins
as soon as water is exposed to the atmosphere. Extremely high evaporation
results when fine jets of water are sprayed into the air on a hot, dry,
windy day. The wind, heat, sun and dry air combine to evaporate much
of the water before it lands on the garden. Using a coarse, low-pressure
spray or drip irrigation rather than a fine mist can also reduce water
loss from evaporation.
Very few of the vegetables that we eat are indigenous to North America or northern Europe. Most of our important food crops originally came from the Near East, northern China and parts of South America. Central Asia is thought to be the center of origin of carrots, spinach, onion, peas and broad beans. Squashes, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and French runner and lima beans are thought to be from South America.
Pyrethrins are naturally derived botanical insecticides derived from the flowers of Chrysanthemum Cinaerifolium. It has a very low toxicity to most mammals and it is approved for use on almost all food crops and ornamentals. It is also labeled for use as a post harvest treatment. Pyrethrins rapidly break down in light.
Ageratum, snapdragons, cosmos, dianthus (pinks) babies breath, peonies, zinnias and Japanese anemone are flowers that will like our high pH soil and grow well here.
Cutworms are any caterpillar that cuts and kills seedling plants around the soil line. They feed at night and hide in the soil during the day. Adult stages of the army cutworm are medium sized gray or brown moths known as "miller moths". They can be a nuisance in and around the house and car during their annual migration from the plains to the mountains.
Increase the yields in your vegetable garden by using the rectangular block or close row system instead of the usual row style garden layout. Plant crops with equal spacing in both directions. Using rectangular beds that are no more than 3 - 4' wide - and any length - will make it easy to plant, weed and harvest. This system is ideal for raised bed gardening.
The authors have received training through Colorado State University Cooperative Extension's Master Gardener program and is a Master Gardener volunteer for Larimer County.
Fact Sheets are available at the Larimer County Extension Office, 1525 Blue Spruce Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado, telephone (970) 498-6000, or contact us by e-mail at larimer@coop.ext.colostate.edu
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