Wintry blast catches some gardeners off-guard
By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Monday, May 12, 2008
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Gardeners all over the Front Range were hauling out buckets, sheets and blankets Monday to cover fragile plants and flowers to stop the freezing rain-and-snow showers that blew in late in the day from killing them.
"If you can, bring them inside," said Camille Burkard, Master Gardener with Colorado State University Cooperative Extensive Service in Douglas County.
For those plants already in the ground, she recommended covering them with a sheet or plastic.
"If they're very small, mulch over them with bark or peat and bark," Burkard said.
Another tactic for small plants: Cover each one with a bucket or plastic milk container with the top cut off.
"It creates a little micro-climate" that keeps moisture and warmer soil inside and the worst of the cold and wind out, she said.
Tomato plants shouldn't be planted until the end of the month, Burkard said. But if they're already in, she suggested digging the plants up and putting them inside or putting products such as Wall-of-Water, which is "like an air mattress with water," around the plants.
Many backyard gardeners paid attention to the canard "not until Mother's Day" this year, horticulturists said, when they should have paid attention to another axiom: "Not until May 15."
"We don't recommend planting annuals or warm-weather plants until May 15 at the earliest," or, to be safer, May 31, Burkard said. "When you try to jump the system, it can be fatal."
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May 13, 2008
3:11 p.m.
Suggest removal
SASQUATCH writes:
GLOBAL WARMING FLUNKS THE LOOK OUT THE WINDOW TEST---AGAIN!
May 13, 2008
6:12 p.m.
Suggest removal
greenleaf writes:
SASQUATCH FLUNKS THE LOGIC TEST STILL!!!!!
SQUATCH looks out his window and can't find the family brain cell, but reports anyway!!!
May 13, 2008
11:05 p.m.
Suggest removal
MattGuyver_007 writes:
Global warming flunks the 'Naivety test' once again. Why do so many people think that 100 years worth of recorded weather trends prove the hypothesis of global warming? Read what real science journals conclude, not what Dateline, Greenpeace or other high profile groups with agendas knee jerk. One volcanic eruption emits more ozone and CO2 into the atmosphere than LA does in 50 years.
Hey, I'm all for our environment but it's so selfish when people talk out their @ss about recycling, carbon credits, etc. when science, often times, overrules the 'feel good' conversation. More harm, then good can ultimately occur- a la E-85.