Five Inches of Snow on The Ground; Temps in the Single Digits

Hard to think about the garden right now.

Christmas Cactus

My Christmas Cactus thinks it is Christmas - probably because it lives in a room that gets bright sunlight during the day and is dark at night.

By-Product of Gardening - Honey

Here's a golden jar of honey, I spotted at a Wheat Ridge gas station recently.  I loved the label.

The Tomato Guy, Part V and last in this series

Water is very important with tomatoes as they like it hot, the Tomato Guy said.

He waters his plants three times a day - before he leaves for work around 6 am, again when he gets home in the early afternoon around 2 pm. and again in the early evening around 6 pm.

He told me that he went on a three-week vacation this summer and a very responsible neighbor watered for him, it wasn't the same.  He didn't think waterings were skipped or incomplete, but his tomato plants were never the same.  Still, he got a bumper crop.

This watering schedule seemed like trouble to me with my active lifestyle.  It seems like a watering system  tailored to his specifications would be a good project to test out.  Wonder what he will do for his next crop.  I will keep you posted.

Miss the Garden Yet?

Here's a video entitled "Colorado Garden 2011" by TaxidermyOutdoors that gave me a hankering for next summer.  How about you?

Hit the left arrow to return to this blog.

Spot for My Night-Vision Camera

A couple of days after each snow, I walked the garden looking for animal tracks.

This past snowstorm, I found a single set of coyote or dog tracks heading for the cul de sac.  if I was a betting person, I would put my money on someone's dog.

At the north west corner, there were lots of small tracks going in and out of a brush pile.  My guess is rabbits.  I thought we had only a few on The Place, but the tracks in the soft snow made it look like quite an extended family lives there.  Our staycation (Prowler travel trailer) backs up to the brush pile, and the critters are using the travel trailer as a covered patio.  Great...

So that is where we will put the night-vision camera.  Will let you know what we see.   In the meantime, this is what the camera looks like:

my birthday gift from our son and family

Jodi Torpey, a Colorado Gardener

Western Gardeners by Jodi Torpey, a Coloradoan, is another great gardening and cooking website.  Hit the back arrow to return to this blog.

She writes that she is "Your online guide to gardening in the West."  She is a public speaker on gardening for hire and wrote "The Colorado Gardener's Companion: an Insider's Guide to Gardening in the Centennial State (Colorado) in 2007.  Her book is available through her website for $14.95 with free shipping.

 Her store has more great Christmas gift ideas for that special gardener on your list.

When you join her website you will get her .pdf entitled "101 Ways to Save Water & $$ in the Landscape."  Will let you know about this publication in later postings.