Cote: A hand on the wheel of life

Published April 20, 2007 at midnight

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Let's get it out in the open. Miracle-Gro. Rebecca Kolls, Master Gardener and television personality, is paid to tout the stuff.

Not that she's obnoxious about it; she doesn't slip the name of the product into every sentence, as in, "The tomato plant is thriving! It's a Miracle . . . Gro." But when she drops by the Rocky newsroom, two bags of the stuff accompany her, like loyal grubby friends.

The one-time host of HGTV's Rebecca's Garden could be toting around bags of pig snot, and I wouldn't care. Kolls has informed me that she'll give me tips guaranteed to get my container garden thriving this year.

"Gardening is changing," says Kolls, who gardens on 3 1/2 acres in Wisconsin. "The word alone conjures images of long weekends sweating and crossing our fingers that what we plant will grow. But we have so little leisure time now. It's important to know that you can garden with little time and little space."

The key, she says, is to be specific in what you grow. "You don't like polka dots, so why would you buy a polka-dot dress? If you don't like green beans, don't plant them."

The gardener is very accustomed to offering advice: Rebecca's Garden on HGTV made her a familiar face (the Rocky Mountain News and HGTV both are owned by the E.W. Scripps Co.), but she's been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Regis and Kathy Lee and in a host of publications, including her own magazine, Seasons by Rebecca.

I tell her about the wimpy tomato plants I murdered last year, and after drilling me on my methods, Kolls tells me I'd crammed too many plants into a small space. She advises me to put only one in a large container. She also tells me I likely overwatered it, or overfed it - the most common gardening mistakes.

On the pristine white floor of the paper's photo studio, Kolls created a "pizza garden." A healthy tomato plant holds center stage, then the Master Gardener, crouching on 2-inch heels, surrounds it with basil, oregano and green onion.

She notes that the organic soil (Miracle-Gro, of course) will last the season. "Replace the soil in container gardens every spring."

All the herbs and the tomato plant in the nifty pizza garden have the same needs for sun and water, so they'll live happily together.

Kolls, who has been touting organic gardening for 20 years, learned at the hand of her grandfather, a coal miner in Utah.

"He taught me to give back to the Earth," she says.

But she wasn't always eager to learn.

"When I was 10, I was getting to that cocky age. I was ashamed of the garbage piles (compost) around his yard. I was afraid it made us look poor. So I asked him why they were there.

"He grabbed my arm and shoved it in the pile. Down deep, it was warm and moist, and it startled me. He said, 'This is where the wheel of life is turning.'"

Last summer, Kolls' daughter asked her the same question about the piles around their home.

"I did the same thing my grandfather did, grabbed her skinny arm, sunk it and and told her about the cycle. Right now she thinks I'm nuts. Both my teenagers think I'm nuts. But they'll come around, and they'll teach their children the same lesson. We have to give back to the Earth."

Tomato tips from Rebecca:

• When you buy a plant, avoid the temptation of grabbing the one with flowers and fruit.

• Roots should be creamy white. When you remove the plant from the container, gently tear the roots apart and pinch off bottom leaves.

• Bury the plant deep to anchor it.

• They love sun, up to eight hours a day. Water well after planting, but don't overwater. Sink your finger into the soil to the second knuckle. If your fingertip is damp, don't water.

• If it creeps above 90 degrees, offer some shade and don't let them dry out.

• Short, stocky plants - like heirlooms or cherry tomatoes - work best in containers.

Cotem@RockyMountainNews.com; 303-954-5169

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