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Planter Box

Rocky Mountain News

Published April 3, 2008 at 5:53 p.m.

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Garden wisdom

"To know your soil is to work with your land and to let the land work you as well. How you cultivate your ground depends on you - maybe you will dig deep down like a joyous, unleashed dog and mound up your garden. . . . or perhaps you will choose to create a long-term, slow-pulsed permaculture garden with soil that is hardly moved at all. What matters most is that you are in relationship with your land and listening to the soil as you work, finding your true place in the body of your garden."

- From Gardening at the Dragon's Gate by Wendy Johnson, (Bantam Books, $25)

What's in bloom

* Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)

A "natural" for Colorado gardens, this tough flower from Siberia thrives without the slightest attention. Growing just a few inches high, its pendant flowers are rich, deep blue. Once established, it will seed itself and create blue carpets in early spring. Siberian squill will grow in sun or partial shade and is valuable planted at the feet of shrubs such as lilacs. Purchase and plant the bulbs in fall.

Bug-eat-bug world

Gardeners choosing environmentally friendly controls over chemical pesticides should be able to distinguish insect friend from insect foe. Here's a sampling of commercially available insect predators:

* Ladybugs, ladybird or lady beetles: Efficient predators as adults or larvae. They consume a variety of pest insects, from aphids to mites. Ladybugs are migratory, however, and seldom linger without a steady food supply. Costs vary with suppliers, so shop around.

* Green lacewings: Lacewing larvae are extremely effective against aphids, thrips and caterpillars. Adults prefer pollen and nectar but, with the proper habitat, may remain long enough to deposit eggs, providing the cadre for a resident population.

* Predatory mites: Great for greenhouses, where they'll dine on some of their more troublesome cousins, like spider mites and thrips. Costs run high for beneficial mites because they're so perishable.

* Mantids: Praying mantises are fun to watch but are losing favor with gardeners because they're so indiscriminate in what they hunt.

Associated Press

Cool tools

* Garden Tool Organizer - a 60-inch-wide polyvinyl mesh wall hanger - holds long-handled shovels, rakes and brooms in eight deep pockets and hand tools in smaller front pockets.

Four detachable straps

hold everything from hoses and extension cords to weed whackers. $49.95, ginnys.com

* Want to learn to recognize beneficial insects? Check out CSU's Gillette Entomology Club's insect flashcards at lamar.colostate.edu/~gec/. $25 for the waterproof 60-card set.