Food Donations

If your neighbors and everyone at work have had enough of your generous giving look locally to share your harvest.  The Weld County Food Bank will accept donations of garden surplus and eggs Monday - Friday from 8-5p.m.  1108 H Street / 970-356-2199/www.weldfoodbank.org

It is the season of bounty!  Remember to share the harvest and let nothing go to waste!  Email me if you would like me to post something for you!  Urbanfarmgirlz@gmail.com.

Share the Feast

My favorite thing about summer is fresh sweet corn!  Straight from the stalk to the table is the only way!  Steamed in the stalk on the grill has become my favorite way to prepare it.  And, don't forget the butter and salt. Enjoy the bounty of your summer and be sure to share your surplus with friends, neighbors and those in need.

FREE: Two Pair of Pretty Little Bantam Chickens

2013 spring birds!  Should be laying soon!  One white pair and one black pair.  You'll love watching them strut around your yard!  email: urbanfarmgirlz@gmail.com

Local Lectures

Mark your calendars! The City of Greeley and the High Plains Library are hosting the following lecture series:

1. June 26 Xeriscaping: The seven basic principles
2. July 24 Landscaping and Design: Step by step basics including some sprinkler system info.
3. August 28 Composting: The how and why of composting

All lectures will be held at the Farr Library from 6:30 to 8:30p.m.  Hope to see you there!

Garden in a Box

The City of Greeley is hosting a really cool program called Garden in a Box.  This is a program that offers a predesigned plant bed and plants for one lump sum.  If you are a City of Greeley citizen you can get a discount of $25.00 off the purchase price.  The plant materials in these kits have been chosen for their hardiness and suitability in our area.  I recommend giving it a try!  Hurry and  make your order they are set for delivery May 18th.

Irrigation Installation: Phase II Mainline Installation

The next step in the installation of your irrigation system is to have the mainline installed.  This is the largest line in your irrigation system and carries water to all of the laterals.  For this installation a pipe puller was called in to do the work.  This is the yellow machine you see below.

Installing the main and laterals in this fashion has many advantages.  The number one being that you do not have to spend hours breaking your back digging trenches.  This machine essentially pulls the pipe through the ground with a combination of force and vibration.  A wire mesh that looks much like one of those Chinese finger traps grabs the end of the line and pulls it trough the earth at precisely the right depth.  The second major advantage is that the surface disturbance is minimal so there is no reseeding of trenches in areas of established vegetation.

While the machine is pulling the pipe  through, someone holds the coil on the other end feeding it as needed.  Its important to note that this machine will pull through just about anything.  Including a shallow electric line.

This is the main electric that feeds my house!  Typically they are much deeper than the depth that the mainline would be pulled in at.  This one was marked and accurate, just not very deep.  My house was built in 1919. While I am sure the electrical has been updated since then, who knows what kind of surface grading has occurred making the line shallower than expected.  You can see below where the electricity arched through this quarter inch steel bar on the pipe puller.  It blew the breaker on the pole in the street and no one got hurt.

So even if you have your lines marked, things can still happen.  The procedure here is to call the electrical company out to do the repair.  While on site doing the repair, they will file a report to decide who is as fault. If the contractor is found to be negligent, they will fine the contractor.  I have no idea if the contractor was fined.  I can definitely confirm he was none to happy about the incident.  I'm sure any fines will cancel the profit he made in my yard.  If you did not get your utilities marked and subsequently caused damage to any of the electrical services you will definitely be fined so remember: Call Before You Dig!

Garden Safely: Utility Locates

Before you do any digging in your yard, you should call for you utility locates.  In Colorado, the quick number is 811.  Its a simple, FREE and important process.  Typically you want to call about 7-10 days before you dig.  An operator will ask you for your address and some questions about the type of work you intend to do.  If you are contracting the work, your contractor should be responsible for this process.  It still does not hurt to make sure he intends to do so. This one phone call will mobilize the major utilities to your residence to mark the utilities with paint and flags. Locates are important for two reasons: 1) to keep you safe! 2) address liability.  If you do not call in locates and you damage a line,  the cost and responsibility is on you!  My house is old.  I have encountered major utilities within 8" of the surface.  These are not typical depths, but grading over the years has changed the lay of the land.  So even if you think you won't be at depths that you would encounter utilities, it does not cost you a thing to make sure this will not be an issue even if you are just planting a shrub!

Irrigation Installation: Phase 1 Backflow Preventer

After ten years of hose dragging I am ready to join the followers of automated irrigation.  The realization that this half acre property is not going to make the next step to curb side oasis without it is a reality and a battle I am ready to give up.  I am tired of spending every evening pulling hoses and setting the oven timer trying to stay on top the needs of my yard.  I want to play with my 5 year old and go camping without the worry that the yard will be crispy when I get back.  The first step in that process is the installation of a backflow preventer.

In an effort to spread out the costs of the system installation I had mine installed in the fall of last year.  This part of the project must be installed by a licensed plumber.  Its purpose is primarily to prevent the backflow of stagnant or potentially contaminated water from your irrigation system into your household.  The cost was roughly $350.00.

I have a basement so this shut off valve and drain is installed inside in the basement allowing it to gravity drain.  In the fall the valve is turned to the off position as shown and the spigot is opened to allow water to drain out of the outside portion.  This prevents freezing and damage to the back flow in winter.  

The next step in this process will be the installation of the system in the yard.  I am just about giddy with excitement!

A Little Laugh

Garlic

During my fathers visit this fall he brought me several garlic heads that he grew in his own garden in Texas.  I have never grown garlic before so there is no better time than the present!  Fall is the time to plant so I selected the largest bulbs and planted a dozen or so.  As a general rule, seeds and bulbs are planted at a depth that equals their height.  So for these, about 1.5 inches.  These are large bulbs with a mild flavor.  It will be fun to see how they do next fall.  I plan to mulch them in with some leaves to protect them.  Hopefully they are not too soft given that they came from Texas!

Millions of Peaches

This is my peach tree.  Just a little tyke in the world of peach trees and hardly more than about 7' tall.  It has been in the ground two seasons now.  The warm spring brought tons of little peaches.  I picked about 50% off to start as I knew there was no way the tree would hold that many.  The second time I cleared another 25% as it was looking really heavy.  Last week I came home to find it nearly laying on the ground and decided it was time for a little intervention.  The peaches were mostly red so I picked 75% of them keeping the largest.  I knew there had to be a way to turn them so they didn't go to waste.

A google search turned up the following idea.  I placed them in the basement between two tea towels.  Carefully laying them in one layer, stem side down and not touching, I tucked them in. About one week later, I have some wonderfully ripe peaches!  I wish I had kept the small ones too but it will be wonderful when the few left on the tree ripen naturally.  It seems pretty common to think they can be put in a paper bag to ripen but most of the research I turned up discouraged it.

The birds are coming now.  Pecking at the ones that are visible.  After the birds come the ants come.  I hope there are a few ripe ones left on that that tree for me!

If you were wondering, I picked this tree up at Happy Life Gardens here in Greeley.  It is a Red Haven Peach.  I couldn't be happier with the selection!

To share...

I will be dividing many of my iris this season.  Let me know if you are interested.

Promises of Spring

Peach

Strawberry

Pear

Cherry

Has this gentle spring promised you plenty of fall harvest?

Dig it and its yours!

• Chives
• Mint
• Dandelions
• Tickseed Coreopsis
• Purple
• Lambs Ear

Email: UrbanFarmGirlz@gmail.com

Garden Clean Up

I cannot believe it is the first of April and I am half done with all of the garden clean up!  I have been furiously trimming, cutting, moving and dividing!  Spring is a great time to share plant material.  Be sure to be take inventory while you move through your gardens.  I will post a list soon.

Seed Share

The past ten days have been terrific garden weather!  I have seen sprinklers watering, heard mowers running and witnessed lots of people working on spring clean up!  Hard not to do when the weather has been in the upper 70's!  Some of you have probably already started your seeds, some of you are just starting to think about it...regardless, remember that this is a good time for sharing!  Hardly ever does anyone need the 30 seeds in the zucchini packet and most likely they will go bad before you get to planting them all.  We all know one plant will have your family hating zucchini by the end of summer so consider sharing or making available what you have  extra!

Happy Valentines Day!

Don't forget to get your sweetie something special!  You can often find garden items on sale this time of year as retailers try to jump start the garden season and get everyone in the mood.  I for one am ready!

Colorado Master Gardener Progam

Have you ever considered a Master Gardener Program? I myself, would love to! The only thing holding me back is the mid week schedule and the fee. But maybe, you are in the position to consider it. This is a great local and comprehensive program put on by the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension office. It is a 60 hour program that covers everything from plant and tree disorders to pruning and where, what and how to grow. CMG certified individuals can get continuing education by volunteering in the community and attending additional training. If your interested in our local program visit the Colorado State University website.
So if you are looking for a solid background in local garden information, give it a try.
Don't delay, most Master Gardener Programs start in January!

Goings On

Mark your Calendars! Lots of cool gardening events coming up. Winter is the time to educate yourself, get new ideas and plan for a gardening season that is really not that far off! The Greeley Tribunes Home and Garden Show has announced their dates. Click the link if you would like more information on becoming a vendor! The event will take place at Island Grove Park February 24th, 25th and 26th.

Currently in session we have Greeley Winter Farmers Market. 9-Noon every first and third Saturday through April!

Greeley's Local Community Gardens has also announced their lineup of lectures! The first one is February 4th: Starting and Swapping Seeds.  Its a timely topic!

Don't miss the  Colorado Farm Show next week.  Nothing like sitting in a brand new tractor to make you feel like your a part of Colorado's agricultural scene!

I'll continue to load events into the calendar so be sure to check back regularly!