By Katherine Placzek

With fall approaching, many of you are getting ready to put your garden beds and other portions of the landscape to bed. With a more eco-friendly mindset, we would like to suggest a couple of tweaks to your typical routine.

Old school: Raking and bagging leaves, tossing them out for the trash.

New school: Rake leaves from below trees, and use them as mulch around your perennials, shrubs, or on top of your vegetable garden beds. You can also run these over with a lawn mower to mulch them into your grass. 

Why: Organic matter, including yard waste, is the most prolific item in United States landfills.  Consequently, this unsustainable practice directly contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Conversely, organic material returned to the soil reduces your environmental impact while providing a useful garden resource. These local sources of organic material and nutrition (from your own yard’s leaves) will feed and insulate your yard all winter long! Decomposing leaf matter enriches the soil, adding carbon and nitrogen to the soil, while plants “sleep.” Leaves also create safe places for native bees and other pollinators. Did you know that almost three-fourths of Colorado’s native bees nest and overwinter underground? Tip: Deeply water the leaf litter in after it has been placed. This creates a wet decomposing mat that will not blow away as easily.

If you have excess leaves that you are not going to be using, please feel free to bring your bagged leaves by our nursery gate (located at 600 N. 18th St. Colorado Springs, CO 80904). This is a community pile that other members come to gather for their own gardening usage.

Old School: Trim any perennials and remove them before the first snow.

New School: Leave all of your woody stalks, leaf matter, and ornamental grasses all winter long!

Why: This allows for winter interest and provides shelter for any hibernating insects. This is especially true for native plants that act as habitat for many native and beneficial insects. Larger life forms, including birds and mammals, will also benefit from grass seed heads left standing, and other plants that provide shelter in the harshest months. If this is unsightly for you, trim your plants, but leave the stems and other leaf matter on the ground to help create shelter throughout the winter. When soil temperature has reached 50 degrees Fahrenheit it’s the preferred time to begin trimming these perennials in the spring, after many insects have completed their wintering cycle.

Old School: Let the winter snows water your outdoor plants.

New School: Water trees, shrubs, and perennials on nice days throughout the winter.

Why: Unfortunately Colorado Springs does not get enough reliable winter moisture to overwinter many plants. This is especially true for newer plants that do not have an established root system yet. Many trees and shrubs, even those that are well-established, should continue to be watered on warm winter days from October through March. When it gets up to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, pull out a hose or dust off your watering can and soak up some of those winter rays, yourself, while you water. Make sure you unhook any hoses after use, as temperatures can cause freezing in the hose bib and other hardware. 

Old School: Say goodbye to gardening until spring.

New School: Fall and winter sow, including vegetable and perennial flower seeds.

Why: Many annual vegetables and perennial flowers have a natural cycle where they drop seeds or fruit in the fall. Mimic nature and plant some of your own seeds in the fall to see what comes up earlier and hardier in the spring! In the vegetable garden, this especially works for cold hardy greens. Think spinach, lettuce, arugula, radicchio, etc. For perennial flowers, like wildflowers, it is recommended to put these seeds down in the fall, as many of our native flowers require a cold stratification period. While many people may set up sections in their freezer and fridge for cold stratification processes, direct seeding in the fall eliminates the juggling of space in your fridge/ freezer. Let the ice cream stay where it is!

Old School: Wait until spring to amend any of your garden beds.

New School: Amend your garden beds in the fall so you can plant right away in the spring.

Why: Fall is a good time to test your soil so you know how to amend your beds. Our soils typically fall in the basic pH range here in the greater Colorado Springs area. This can impact how readily available nutrients are to our plants. Do your research and get your soil properly in shape for your spring! Remember that you can also amend with what nature provides; leaves, manure, compost, and other organic matter. These sources do not have a precise N-P-K (macronutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium), nor spelled out micronutrients (calcium, magnesium, iron, etc) so it is recommended to test your soil in the spring again to see how your soil has changed due to any unregulated organic material. We offer pH and N-P-K, testing in-store, but the CSU extension office also offers a wide range of soil tests.

Now that you know these new school techniques, you might just try other new gardening techniques in the growing season. I know, I know- I am getting ahead of myself!  Happy gardening!

In preparation for our first deep freeze coming this Sunday, Rick’s Garden Center would like to remind our fabulous customers to take some steps beforehand to help your plant friends and tools out.

• Water in outdoor trees, shrubs and perennials and cover root balls with mulch.  Do not mulch up to the trunk.  Moist soil conducts earth heat better than dry soil.  The mulch will help keep in the heat and protect the sensitive root ball.
• Rose bushes, mulch up to the graft union at the base of the rose trunk.  You can use a rose collar or just pile up mulch up to and above the graft union.  The graft union will look like a bulging area on the main trunk just above the soil line.
• Bring in any tropical plants, cacti or succulents that are not at least a zone 5 inside.
• Check and move any plants that are blown on by heat vents.  This will dry out the foliage in no time!
• Outdoor trees, shrubs and perennials planted in pots should be insulated with burlap bags or mulch and placed against a south or west wall of your home.  Avoid watering these before the freeze.
• Water in newly established lawns and grass.
• Go ahead and plant those mums you bought in the ground..  They may come back next year!
• Disconnect and drain all hoses and drips lines from spigots
• Cover newly planted bulbs with leaf, needle or straw mulch.
• Blow out that sprinkler system!
• After the freeze, you do not have to pull up all of the dead material, so that pollinators and other insects have a place to overwinter.

Fall Perennial Planting

Planting in the fall can save you a lot of money while also giving plants a jump start next spring! Plants that establish strong roots during the fall will come back bigger and stronger in the spring time.

However, fall planting requires careful consideration and attention to detail from the gardener. The trick is to give fall plantings a little extra care to help them get established before the really cold weather sets in.

Here are four things you can do to help your plants get established:

Soil Inoculant

At the time of planting, be sure to use an inoculant specifically formulated for perennials, trees and shrubs. These products will help the plant to start establishing roots before all of the foliage dies back. We recommend using an inoculant over a root stimulator this late in the season so you can avoid giving any extra nitrogen to the plant before it goes in to dormancy.

Mulch

Mulch helps to retain soil moisture while also protecting roots from sudden changes in temperature. We recommend using 3″ of a good quality mulch to keep plants protected. Make sure that mulch does not contact the bark of woody perennials.

Protect Plants from Early Freezes

Keep an eye on the weather and cover the plants when the temperatures dip below freezing throughout September and October. This is most important for perennials. Trees do not need to be blanketed, but bark wrap should be used on all young trees to protect the trunks from splitting during our freezing and thawing cycles. When covering perennials, use heavy fabric or plastic and prop it up so that it is close to, but does not touch the plant (Plastic that touches the plant during a freeze can actually do more damage.) Be sure the covering goes all the way to the ground and cover the edges with soil or mulch so that it will trap heat from the soil.

Water

To support adequate root growth, plants will need to be watered regularly in the fall. Keep your soil evenly moist, but not soggy, through the fall time. Remember to monitor your plants regularly! A plant that crisps up due to lack of water in the fall time is not likely to survive the winter. When the plant goes dormant, they will require less frequent watering, but will also need to be watered throughout the winter. Remember that desiccation is the result of cold weather plus dry soil. For more details on winter watering, visit our Blog.

Fall-Planting-GuideDownload

Growing Garlic in the Pikes Peak Region

Garlic is a crop that is fun to grow and does best when planted in the fall. There are many interesting varieties, so take your time choosing a variety that suits your taste and cooking preferences.

When to Plant Garlic

Garlic grows best in the Pikes Peak Region when planted in the fall – typically in late October – when the soil temperatures are too cool to cause the garlic to sprout but still warm enough to allow the bulb to establish some roots before going dormant for the winter.

Choosing a Garlic Variety to Plant

There are two main subspecies of garlic: hardneck and softneck.

Hardneck varieties are most similar to wild garlic and also produce a delicious flowering stalk, known as a scape, that can be eaten raw or cooked. Hardneck varieties tend to be more flavorful, have larger cloves, and are easier to peel. Hardneck varieties may be purple, purple striped or white. Each cultivar has a distinctive flavor ranging from mild to very hot.

Softneck varieties do not produce a flowering stalk, but they can be braided. These varieties typically produce bulbs with 10 to 40 smaller cloves. Softnecks have a longer shelf life than the hardneck varieties, making them popular with grocery stores.

Soil Preparation

Garlic is best grown in a well-drained soil as it won’t tolerate wet feet. Garlic thrives in soil that is high in organic matter, so a raised bed is an ideal location for growing it. Be sure to amend the soil with well-rotted manure or preferably a quality compost. If possible, spread 1 to 2 inches of compost over the entire planting area and work it into the first few inches of soil. As with most garden crops, garlic grows best when the soil pH is between 6 and 7. If you amend the soil with manure or compost before planting, no further fertilizer is needed until spring. Garlic should not be planted in the same spot year to year; the crop should be rotated.

How to Plant, Harvest & Store Garlic

• Garlic cloves are best planted between November and April, although you will generally get a bigger and better crop if you plant in the autumn. If planted between October 1 and November 15, the clove will have a chance to develop some roots before it goes dormant for the winter. Here at Rick’s, we think the ideal time to plant is at the end of October.
• Separate cloves from the bulb and plant root side down (pointed side up) about 2-4 inches deep, 6-8 inches apart in the row and 12-18 inches between rows. A bulb planter used for tulips and daffodils is an excellent tool to get several cloves planted quickly.
• Mulching 6-12 inches of straw or mulch in mid to late November, when the ground begins to freeze, will ensure the garlic will survive the cold temperatures.
• In early spring as the ground thaws, look for the green tips beginning to emerge underneath the you mulch.
• Fertilize in spring with a complete fertilizer such as 10-10-10 (3 lb per 100 sq. feet), or an organic complete fertilizer at roughly twice the rate, as usually they contain roughly half the nitrogen as chemical fertilizers.
• As half of the leaves begin to die-back in July, harvest the garlic by gently pulling on the stalk while prying beneath the bulb with a trowel. The clove you planted last fall will have turned into a multi-cloved bulb. Gently shake off the dirt but do not wash before storage. Don’t wait until all the leaves have died-back or your bulbs will not store well.
• Cure the garlic by hanging in a warm, dry, well ventilated place.
• Give the bulbs another shake after two weeks of curing to remove more soil, cut off the stalks of hardneck varieties and store them in a cool, dry place. For softneck varieties, you can leave the stalks attached if you wish to braid and hang them for ease of use and aesthetics in the kitchen – but you may also cut off the stalks and store them with the hardneck varieties.
• Save some of your biggest bulbs for planting next fall.

Varieties Available at Rick’s for Fall 2021 Planting

All of our seed garlic is locally grown in Avondale, CO and is certified organic.

Metechi garlic is a hardneck with a robust flavor and sharp bite. One of the hottest garlics raw, cooking tones down heat while keeping tons of flavor. One of the best garlics for roasting.  Easy to peel, long-storing.

Pueblo Early garlic is an artichoke variety softneck derived from California Early. Medium tame flavor, very large heads, good all-purpose garlic. Very adaptable. Stores until spring under cool, dry storage conditions.

Inchelium Red garlic is a softneck artichoke variety, once the softneck variety winner for best flavor. Mild buttery flavor at harvest, flavor increases with storage to mild heat. Properly cured, may store up to 10 months..

Silverwhite garlic is a softneck variety, typically the last to mature each season and stores the longest. Richly garlic flavor. High yields of large, mild-flavored bulbs. Popular softneck in grocery stores and for braiding.