HOME AND GARDEN Getting ready for spring gardening

RE/MAX Alliance Fort Collins agent Randy Ewan earns Lifetime Achievement Award

By Juli Saris CSU Extension Boulder County

It’s cold and wintry outside – which means it’s the perfect time to think about sunshine, warmer weather and getting your spring gardening on! Here are a few steps you can take in February to prepare for spring gardening.

Check your gardening tools

Pull out all your gardening tools and give them a look-over. Clean everything, look for areas of damage and consider replacing worn-out tools. Pruning shears and loppers can usually use a thorough cleaning and sharpening. Anything with a hinge can benefit from a drop or two of oil. How are your gardening gloves holding out? You really do deserve a new pair without worn-out holes in the fingers – just sayin’!

Think about vegetable seeds

Mail order catalogs may have varieties unavailable at local garden centers, but make sure they’re right for our zone. My personal favorite: pepperoncini. Burpees (burpee.com) and Park Seed (parkseed.com) have a huge selection. Dixondale Farms (dixondale.com) has leeks, shallots and a wide variety of onion sets (choose an intermediate variety).

Seed packs contain valuable information about planting and care:

Sun: the amount of sun needed (Most vegetables need full sun.)

Germination: the amount of time for the seed to sprout after it’s been planted

Time to harvest: the amount of time between planting and harvesting

Depth: how deep to plant the seeds

Spacing: how far apart the seeds should be planted from one another

Thin: If the sprouts are too close together, some will need to be pulled out. Many of us find it painful to pull out a perfectly happy little sprout, but if the plants are too close together you’ll have a lower harvest.

Time to plant: Check the online Colorado Master Gardener. Garden Notes number 720, cmg.extension. colostate.edu/Gardennotes/720. pdf, is a useful vegetable planting calendar and often more accurate than the map on the back of the

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Kelly Myers: 720-340-9936