Times-Call Home & Garden

HOME GARDEN

Top Trends to Inspire Your

OUTDOOR LIVING

HOME REMODELS from floor to ceiling, bathroom to kitchen

A Times-Call Publication

HOW TO START YOUR FIRST GARDEN (while saving money)

Beautify Your Home, Inside and Out.

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Table of Contents

Top trends to inspire your outdoor living ..................... 4 Four things that could cause headaches in your home this spring ............................................. 6 Home remodels from floor to ceiling, bathroom to kitchen ............................................... 8

Miracle Method surface refinishing, Make your kitchen or bath beautiful again!

Smart home update 2018: New products that organize your life through voice ....................... 10 The time is now to incorporate Scandinavian style into decor....................................................10 Home and Garden Shows..................................... 12 Yardsmart: How to start your first garden (while saving money) ............................................13 Resource Central’s Xeriscape garden series Now in Progress..................................................14

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303-776-3449 Home & Garden 3

Top trends to inspire your

OUTDOOR LIVING (BPT) - Outdoor living spaces rank first among special function rooms desired by consumers, according to the American Institute for Architects, and so homeowners are expected to be going all-in for the outdoors in 2018.

Trex Company, a maker of premium decking and railing, has gleaned insights from contractors, homeowners and industry experts to compile the following outdoor living trends that will dominate this year:

Year-round enjoyment

Among the biggest trends is a shift away from seasonality as consumers adopt more of a yearround mindset, no longer restricting outdoor living to spring and summer. Thanks to new high-performance materials and innovative design approaches, homeowners everywhere are transforming their outdoor spaces into multi-seasonal extensions of their homes. For example, Trex contractors have reported an uptick in requests for its RainEscape deck drainage system by clients looking to add multi-seasonal living space underneath an elevated deck.

Minimal maintenance, maximum enjoyment

resist fading, staining, scratching and mold - and won’t rot, warp, crack or splinter. No sanding, staining or painting is required, and food and drink spills wash off easily with just soap and water.

Comfy cozy

Just because people are spending more time outdoors doesn’t mean they’re willing to put in extra hours for upkeep. In fact, high-maintenance materials like wood are seeing a decrease in demand as people are opting for offerings that deliver better performance and sustainability.

Unlike wood, high-performance composites

Among the hottest design influences right now is “hygge” (pronounced hoo-gah) - the Scandinavian term for a feeling of coziness and comfort.

This year, outdoor spaces will beckon homeowners and their guests to relax and rejuvenate with hygge-inspired accents, from plush cushions and throws to protective pergolas, cozy warming features and outdoor lighting.

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Residential goes commercial

While railing matched to the decking remains popular, an increasing number of homeowners are taking advantage of the complementary decking and railing pairings afforded by new railing materials in modern, metal finishes, as well as sleek designs inspired by commercial architecture.

More homeowners are inspired by outdoor spaces they find in commercial settings, such as hotels and urban rooftops, and want to replicate those looks in their homes. A prime example of this commercial-to-residential trend is the growing popularity of horizontal railings such as rod rail a sleek, industrial look that’s ideal for optimizing a panoramic view.

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spaces for all ages are on the rise, including everything from swimming pools and embedded sandboxes to regulation cornhole courts, horseshoe pits and dedicated spaces for volleyball, badminton and bocce ball.

Beyond yard games, electronics manufacturers now offer televisions and entertainment systems specifically designed for the outdoors, taking into consideration differences in lighting

and outdoor acoustics. Meanwhile, new storage options include durable wall-mounted television and entertainment centers that beautifully protect pricey electronics from the elements, while concealing all of the unsightly - and potentially unsafe - cords and cables.

For more information about outdoor living trends, go to trex.com.

LANDSCAPING is an integral part of an enjoyable outdoor living space. Ground coverings from flagstones for paths and patios, to sand and gravel for play areas, visually separate spaces. Larger boulders and moss rock add visual interest, and can even be turned into pleasantly bubbling water features. All of this and more is available locally at Midwest Materials.

Hide and chic

With the increased usage of outdoor living spaces comes higher demand for chic decor and privacy. An easy design trick that adds personal style and functionality, lattice panels are perfect for enhancing privacy and concealing storage areas or unsightly views. With styles ranging from

romantic to deco, lattice panels can be integrated into any outdoor area and applied to structures such as arbors, trellises and gazebos, or used as decorative wainscoting or deck skirting.

In the landscaping business for over 30 years, Midwest Materials is happy to help customers determine and achieve their outdoor oasis.

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BUILDING SUPPLIES

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Home & Garden 5

Four things that could cause headaches in

YOUR HOME THIS SPRING

things.”

When there’s a warm spell, people hook up their hoses and wash their cars or water their trees, Moskal said.

“Then they forget to disconnect the hose and a cold spell freezes the water in the hose and creates a vacuum.

Another warm spell and the water comes inside the house. That’s when we get a call.”

He recommends having an expert look at the hoses and the sprinkler systems. “If those weren’t drained properly, the lines will freeze and split. You don’t know that until you try to use them again,” he said. He also makes sure dryer vents are clean and he checks the hot water heater from top to bottom.

SKEPTICAL SEPTIC

By Linda Bond for Home & Garden

In just-spring when the world is mud-luscious And the air conditioner falters and the roof leaks and the pipes rattle and the septic system rises to the occasion In just-spring when the world is thawing Then, oh then it is time to call the professionals --(Apologies to e.e. cummings) 6

Home & Garden

S

pring means more than flowers blooming and mudluscious puddles. It’s the time to apply preventative medicine to your home. That means calling in the local experts to look at your cooling, plumbing, electric, septic, roof and attic.

BLOWING HOT (OR COLD) AIR

You could start with M and M Heating, Cooling, Plumbing and Electric, a company that has been in Longmont since 1998. Vice president Justin Salvador said it’s smart to have your air conditioning unit checked before you flip it on.

“When it gets hot inside the house, most people turn on the air conditioner. That’s when we get a lot of calls saying the AC’s not working,” Salvador said. “That can be prevented if we check it before it’s turned on.

The last thing you want is for the air conditioner to get turned on with something like a twig stuck in blades and then it’s not going to work.

We’ve got the correct equipment and the instruments; we can do an AC clean and tune, check or change the filters, look at the compressor or fan motor and the coils then when we do start up the system, we know there’s not going to be an issue.”

Salvador said that the 60 to 70 percent of the calls they get are for problems caused by dirty filters and plugged drains. That dusty, musty smell that blasts into the house when the system is started can be fixed by new clean filters, one of the standard things M and M looks at.

CHECK YOUR PIPES

Stephen Moskal of Steve’s Plumbing has been in Longmont for 40 years. He said every spring he gets calls when people turn on their water.

“Basically, people have to realize March is often our snowiest month of the year,” he said. “There’s often one last big snow storm, and a good cold spell freezes the pipes and hoses.

A lot of people move here from warmer states and don’t know these

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Approximately 15 percent of the homes in Longmont have onsite Advanced wastewater treatment systems (ATUs), or septic tanks, according to Scott Kapala, owner and certified technician with NoCo Septics.

Kapala said, “The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” is coined for septic systems. When there are no backups in the home, we often neglect the fact that systems still need inspection and maintenance. ATUs require scheduled maintenance, generally every six months. Preventative maintenance for a standard gravity flow septic system is typically on a 2 to 5 year schedule. This schedule is dependent on usage habits in the home and how many people are utilizing the septic system. Septic tanks are designed to capture the waste from the home utilizing what’s known as detention time. As sludge builds up in the septic tank the detention time of the wastewater decreases. It is recommended to keep the sludge in the septic tank at a level that is less than 25 percent of the total tank volume.”

NoCO Septics uses a sludge sampling device to measure the amount of sludge that has built up in the homeowners tank prior to tank cleaning. Kapala said, “If you are experiencing slow drains, back ups in the March 18, 2018

house, odors or you can’t remember the last time it has been cleaned it’s probably time to start thinking about a service visit.”

Spring brings the real estate blitz, with that comes the requirement of the Property Transfer Inspection for homes with septic systems. Kapala explained that this is a thorough inspection of the septic system prior to the sale of a property and is good for up to 12 months. Being prepared with this inspection will ensure a smooth real estate transaction for all parties. He cautioned that if you are planning for a remodel, you should remember to keep in mind septic systems are sizes for a certain number of bedrooms and any additions should be reviewed by Boulder County. If it is time for a routine service and cleaning of your septic system, spring is the time to reach out to service providers to ensure the work is scheduled. At time of service make sure to inspect the tank condition for deterioration, inlet and outlet baffles and mid-tank baffle if applicable.

pany and the skilled repair technicians can replace damaged or missing shingles, concrete or clay tiles and leak resolution as well as gutter maintenance and repair.

According to their website, roofcheck.com, they’ll provide detailed roof analysis that includes details of current roof condition, your current roof life expectancy, long term goals for maintenance and even budget numbers for roof replacements.

For preventive maintenance, Roof Another strongly encouraged tip is to consider adding a retrofit effluent filter to the septic tank. Kapala said, “It prevents suspended matter from exiting the septic tank and causing harm to the soil treatment area. Remember, septic systems are the largest capital equipment cost to a home with new systems ranging from $15,000-$25,000 whereas a roof or furnace may only cost $5000$10,000.”

THE ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD

Roof Check, Inc. was started in 1984 by Chris and Linda Cain and they are experts at getting roofs ready for Spring. They make sure your roof is free of debris and all penetrations are sealed properly to make it watertight and prevent any leaks that you may encounter in the spring rains.

Roof Check is a full-service com-

Check will clean and clear roof drains, enhancing vulnerable roof details and clearing your roof and gutters of debris.

They’ll also help with roof accessories such as the ridge vent, gutters and downspouts and gutter accessories, skylights, snow guards and brackets, heat tape, water diverters, venting options, leaf guard systems, replicated shingles and rain chains.

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March 18, 2018

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Home & Garden 7

HOME REMODELS

from floor to ceiling, bathroom to kitchen

Brighter, bolder colors are making a comeback from the long-standing trend of greys and beiges. (Shutterstock)

By Shelley Widhalm for Home & Garden Remodeling your home doesn’t require a complete overhaul and a great deal of money to give the interior a fresh, new look.

The changes can be as simple as painting the ceilings or installing new flooring to a complete bathroom or kitchen remodel. When considering what to pick, knowing the trends is helpful to keeping the home up to date and appealing to buyers if and when it’s time to sell.

“If you’re trying to sell your home, you can paint the walls and recoup the investment,” said Alex Miller, owner of Five Star Painting, a residential and light commercial exterior and interior painting company based in Longmont. “It just makes it look fresh and new.”

Freshly painted walls indicate to buyers that the rest of the home is kept up-to-date; plus, the cost can be added to the price of the home, Miller said.

“Painting in general, especially in the interior, is one of cheapest ways to drastically improve the look and feel of the home,” Miller said. “You have a whole new look in the room for a few hundred dollars.”

Homeowners are moving toward white ceilings and brighter colors for the walls and away from the neutral colors of gray, taupe, tan and white, Miller said.

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Home & Garden

Choosing a flat white for the ceilings can bring more attention to the wall colors and make them feel higher and the room larger, Miller said.

Trendy wall colors are colors that have a rich, bold look, which work well for an accent wall in a room and smaller spaces, such as a bathroom or kitchen cabinets, Miller said. The reason for the trend this year could be an improving economy and a desire to add a personal touch, he said.

Paint companies release their color of the year further indicating what’s in style. For instance in 2017, Benjamin Moore Paints selected a dark gray called Shadow and Sherwin-Williams Company chose taupe. This year, the colors are livelier with Benjamin Moore going for Caliente, a bright red peppery color and Sherwin-Williams picking a dark aqua called Oceanside.

“You don’t have to paint the whole room that vibrant color. You can add splashes of color here and there,” Miller said. “Adding these rich colors in your home can be a great thing in the right place.”

As for the home’s exterior, homeowners are going away from the stained or natural wood trims in favor of white or bold colors, Miller said. They are using accent colors on the front doors, shutters and roof peaks, never using more than three colors for the body, trim and accents, he said.

“The base would be a bold statement color and the trim would be a more mild paint color like white or gray,” Miller said.

To keep their homes fresh, homeowners should repaint the exteriors every seven years to avoid the fading that comes with Colorado’s constant sunshine and extreme weather conditions.

The interior paint has a longer lifespan and can be done every 10 to 15 years before the paint starts showing its age, he said.

For the floors, homeowners replace the carpet an average of every eight

years and the hard surfaces, which last longer, every 15 to 20 years, said Mishelle Nauman, owner of Carpet Masters in Longmont, which provides residential and commercial flooring and window coverings.

The trend for flooring is installing tiles, laminates and luxury vinyl that have a wood look but are not necessarily real wood, Nauman said. The materials mimic natural wood but are more durable and easier to maintain, while also presenting wood’s aesthetics, she said.

Another trend is to use wide plank flooring with longer and wider planks, Nauman said.

“It makes the room look larger, because there are (fewer) seams. It’s a very modern updated look,” Nauman said.

Subway tiles with big patterns and in a larger format also are popular to make interior spaces appear larger, while also requiring less maintenance from a lower use of grouting, Nauman said.

“The reason that it’s trending is larger patterns make the space look larger,” Nauman said.

Another trend is with carpeting, which remains a strong seller, but in the area of eco-friendly and pet-friendly lines, Nauman said. Nearly 70 percent of U.S. households own a pet and desire a product that is easy to clean and able to maintain its appearance over time, she said.

As for carpeting colors, gray and beige hues remain popular and in 2018, gold hues are trending back, Nauman said.

Once the floors and walls are updated, the individual rooms of the

Wide-plank flooring, whether wood, vinyl or tile, remains on trend. (Shutterstock)

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March 18, 2018

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Two tone kitchens and large kitchen islands are growing in popularity. (Shutterstock) home are another place to give remodeling attention, such as the kitchens and bathrooms.

In the kitchen, homeowners are opting for two tones either in their color selection or the wood finishes, a trend that has been occurring for the last 1 ½ to 2 years, said Sean Angelo, co-owner and general manager of Budget Home Supply in Longmont. For instance, they might select a light finish for the cabinets and a dark finish for the kitchen island, or the cabinets may be beige and the island sage moss, or they may choose one color for the lower cabinets and another for the upper cabinets, he said.

“The islands are getting bigger,” Angelo said. “Lots of homes are choosing to do away with the dining table.”

That’s because the kitchen is becoming more prominent in the home as families spend more time there to eat, do homework and engage in other activities, Angelo said.

Homeowners are choosing different materials for the islands and countertops, moving away from granite, which was popular for about 15 years, toward quartz and marble, all of which are upgrade materials, Angelo said. Quartz is a denser, harder manmade material that can withstand the placement of pots and pans and has more variation than granite, he said.

For their fixtures, homeowners are opting for stainless steel or nickel over oil-rubbed bronze that was popular, along with bright brass, in the 1990s, Angelo said. Matte finishes also seem to be trending, he said.

When it comes to selecting cabinet styles, flat or shaker style panels are trending over traditional raised panels to achieve a cleaner, more streamline look, Angelo said.

Another trend is incorporating kitchens into outdoor living spaces, Angelo said. Before, decks would have a grill but now have elaborate living rooms and cooking spaces with a full kitchen and seating area. The trendy color is gray in keeping with the outdoors look, he said.

“Natural looking wood tiles seem to be more prominent than they used to be,” Angelo said. “In mimicking what nature does, gray seems to be the way to go.”

Two-tone is the way to go in the bathroom, particularly with stone finishes for wall tiles and the vanity and a bright white bathtub, said Brian Weber, president of Miracle Method of Boulder, which provides bathtub and countertop and bathroom tile and tub refinishing. “People are going back to white,” Weber said, adding that the bones and biscuits hues are losing favor. “If you do everything in stark white, it looks so sterile. Two tones give you more hues. … It really pops and makes it look real nice.”

As for the plumbing fixtures, brass and polished gold are going out of style in favor of oil-rubbed bronze and brushed nickel, Weber said.

“I think people go to that to get away from the chrome look,” Weber said.

March 18, 2018

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THE TIME IS NOW

to incorporate Scandinavian style into decor (BPT) - As homeowners look for ways to refresh their spaces, Scandinavian style has become ever more prominent and popular among designers and interior decor experts. The clean, modern, minimalist aesthetic shows up in interiors and exteriors, from streamlined furniture to low-maintenance landscaping. Here’s how to achieve a Nordic look in your own home:

tones of whites, grays and light browns.

Pale wood and whitewashed floors create a clean, spacious look. That look can be achieved with oak and maple styles, as well as wood-look tiles and laminates with wood graining. Retailers like Lumber Liquidators, who regularly publish seasonal trends reports, have an array of cool-toned flooring options to choose from, such as

“Slow design” and minimalist decor

Perhaps the most common association with Scandinavian style is minimalist decor.

Less is more when it comes to decorating, and the concept of “slow design” focuses on fewer, higher quality pieces collected over time.

Melding indoors and out

Scandinavian style incorporates materials that meld indoors with outdoors - natural woods, slat walls, leather accents and greenery. “Cottage culture” architecture

Dream Home X2O Misty Morning Oak, a water-resistant laminate with a soft seashell tone and realistic oak graining.

If homeowners want to be on trend style draws on these influences and makes interiors feel like cozy cabins in the woods.

Functional furniture: Storage and good looks

Another key aspect of the Nordic style is hardworking, functional furnishings. A piece can be beautiful and also have utility

- like eye-catching shoe racks and shelving, or built-in bed storage that creates a unique frame.

with Scandinavian style in their home, the key is updating with clean, modern and light-toned accents. Functional furniture will help you organize your space and ef-

Cool, natural tones and light woods in flooring Scandinavian style incorporates natural

ficiently use the room. Finish off the room with sunny wood grain flooring and your Nordic look is complete.

SMART HOME UPDATE 2018

New products that organize your life through voice

(BPT) - Throughout the year, consumers worldwide are expected to spend $102 billion on hardware, services and installation related to smart home systems, an amount expected to ramp up to $157 billion by 2022. The number of connected things installed in smart cities by next year?

Nearly 1.1 billion, predicts Statista. Increasingly, people will enjoy being able to monitor and control their surroundings with a simple touch or a few words of direction.

In fact, a 2017 study found 24 percent of consumers already own a voice-controlled device and another 20 percent plan to purchase one in the next year.

“Pretty much anything can be made smart these days,” notes Bernard Marr in Forbes. “For our homes, there are obvious smart products like TVs and less obvious 10

Home & Garden

ones, like yoga mats. We can carry out a whole range of tasks on the move simply by touching a screen.”

Some of the hottest smart home products that have recently debuted: • LG’s entire line of OLED TVs is now AI enabled. They also let you speak right into the remote control so with one word, you can check weather reports, search for content from over-the-air or streaming sources (including Netflix, Amazon, Hulu or YouTube), order items through Google or even control other IoT devices within your network. Even better, LG Electronics has invented a next-generation OLED TV that combines the most powerful A9 Intelligent Processor created with Atmos audio technology. The result? The LG SIGNATURE OLED TV W8 offers stunningly clear and detailed pictures, cinema-quality sound and ultra-fast response times.

• Seeking the smartest refrigerator on the market? The Wi-Fi-enabled LG ThinQ InstaView is the first to offer built-in Amazon Alexa that responds to your spoken directions by creating to-do lists and grocery lists, ordering the groceries

themselves, controlling your refrigerator settings, playing the music of your choice and otherwise stepping up to make your life easier. A convenient touchscreen panel lets you instantaneously peruse the weather, recipes, shopping sites or the contents of your fridge - without losing energy by opening the door.

• Hands-free speakers with voice-activated assistants such as Google Home and Amazon Echo are helping tens of millions of people worldwide efficiently manage their lives by interacting on command with everything from home appliances to entertainment systems to information sources to online shopping venues.

• What’s for dinner? Recipe apps like SideChef and Innit already deliver, giving everything needed to plan and prepare the next meal. Voice-controlled AI takes this to the next level. Innit is now connected to some models of smart ovens, and for SideChef that feature is online in 2018.

What does that mean for home chefs?

When they tell the oven to start heating, it will already know those roasted veggies need 25 minutes in a 425-degree oven.

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• In its latest version, the Bluetooth music headset that may already be a staple of your life allows you to access the Google Assistant by voice so you can instantly access a range of functions beyond just music. The LG TONE PLATINUM SE lets you request and receive notifications and answers to questions, send text or audio messages and more while you’re on the go.

Thanks to the continual evolution of technology, we can expect new products aimed at making our lives more efficient, organized and enjoyable. And that pattern should only continue into the future.

“Already, many of us wake up in our ‘smart beds’ to a Bluetooth-connected alarm clock that communicates with our WiFi-enabled speakers,” notes marketing consultant A.J. Agrawal in Entrepreneur.

“Soon, all our devices - microwaves, washing machines and even bird feeders - will be connected to the web. With geospatial data from all of our devices, tech-savvy companies will be able to optimize and automate systems, eradicating inefficiencies caused by human error.”

March 18, 2018

March 18, 2018

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Home & Garden 11

HOME & GARDEN SHOWS Birds are chirping, weather is warming and green things are sprouting; spring is almost here.

Longer daylight hours turn the mind of every homeowner and gardener to improvement season.

Landscaping beckons and all the little things that need doing, in and out of the house, start to make themselves known.

Homeowners on the prowl for ideas to refresh their indoor and outdoor spaces will be happy to know that with spring comes Home and Garden Show season. From Denver to Greeley, vendors gather to display their wares and share advice with eager weekend warriors.

The list encompasses everything from gardens to gadgets to grills.

BOULDER COUNTY HOME AND OUTDOOR LIVING SHOW

This event showcases products and services for every type of home improvement project on your list. Boulder County Home & Outdoor Living Show presents over 100 exhibitors, showcasing an impressive array of home solutions and garden ideas.

Attendees will find information on home renovation and remodeling from roof to floor with exhibits in areas such as doors and windows, paint, energy efficiency and interior design. View demonstrations and talk to direct sale vendors as well as get tips on tools and DIY techniques.

And who doesn’t want to take advantage of outdoor living when it comes to your home. It’s just part of living in Colorado. At this show you’ll find more ways to make the most of your outdoors. For more information visit: greatwesternproductions.com/ shows.html.

NORTHERN COLORADO ANNUAL SPRING HOME AND GARDEN SHOW

Close to 200 vendors will have information on just about everything for improvement inside and outside your home including technology, energy and resource conservation, gardening, patios, landscaping, decks, curbing, and water features. Local businesses will provide helpful hints and tips for all of your home improvement plans.

Oh...and if you notice a mouth-watering smell, head for the cooking demonstrations for recipes, techniques and the latest in kitchen equipment. For more information visit: mile-high-productions.com/home.html

When: April 27, 12 - 5 p.m.; April 28, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m; April 29, 10 a.m.-4 p.m

When: March 23: 12-6 p.m.; March 24: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; March 25: 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

Where: Exhibit Hall, Boulder County Fairgrounds, Longmont, CO

Where: First National Bank Exhibition Hall, Larimer County Fairgrounds, 5280 Arena Circle, Loveland

How much: Free admission and parking

How Much: Free admission and parking

MOUNTAIN AREA HOME & GARDEN SHOW

You don’t have to live in the mountains to get inspiration from this home and garden show. Local construction, remodeling and landscaping goods and services as well as artisans provide a look at what foothills businesses have to offer. The money raised at this show goes back into the community through the local Rotary clubs as well. For more information visit: homeshowcolorado.com.

When: April 28, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; April 29, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

Where: Evergreen Senior High School, 29300 Buffalo Park Rd., Evergreen How Much: Adults: $5 donation (good for the whole weekend); Children 18 and under: free. Bring two canned foods items for the Mountain Resource Center food pantry and get in FREE!

LSO GUILD’S 40TH ANNUAL GARDEN TOUR The Longmont Symphony Orchestra Guild invites you on this traditional garden tour showcasing some of Longmont’s best gardens. Walk through six amazing outdoor environments and gather ideas for your own garden during this two-day event. For more information visit: longmontsymphony.org.

When: June 8-9, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Where: 1302 Carolina Avenue; 766 Sanctuary Lane; 2481 Collyer Street; 1324 15th Avenue; 2134 and 2138 River Walk Lane in Longmont How Much: Tickets are $15 and proceeds support Longmont Symphony Orchestra.

(Visit longmontsymphony.org for a list of local ticket retailers or to purchase tickets online.)

LONGMONT HOME SHOW

Nationwide Expos is a Home Show Expo provider based in Denver, CO. The company provides consumers and business around the county a prime opportunity to meet one another through its world-class tradeshows.

Consumers are able to see the newest in design trends, remodeling, lifestyle and full home automation. The Longmont Home Show features all of your favorite home show attractions with a technical bend. Visit with local and national vendors offering up products and services for your home, garden and family. Enjoy live demonstrations, food samples, and more. For more information visit: longmonthomeshow.com.

When: August 18, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.; August 19, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

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Home & Garden

Where: Boulder Country Fairgrounds, 9595 Nelson Rd., Longmont

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March 18, 2018

Yardsmart:

HOW TO START YOUR FIRST GARDEN (while saving money)

By Maureen Gilmer Tribune News Service (TNS) When I entered horticulture 40 years ago, making a vegetable garden was free and easy. We simply grew plants we could eat in the yard just like our grandparents did. But as the years passed, I watched this simple age-old process turn into a complex and expensive alternative to store-bought produce. While I made my mistakes and learned from them, I didn’t have the financial investment there is today. We just planted in the ground because we could, and it was easy.

Today, planting in ground has been left behind as raised beds take over in

backyards. They must be constructed with store-bought materials, filled with store bought-soils. And they are not conducive to certain crops like corn.

This turns your first garden from a love affair with shovel and spading fork into a shopping experience. That makes it expensive if you fail. That’s why most folks are too discouraged to try again because they don’t know any other way.

Save money, get a good workout and make your garden the old fashioned way: hand digging. So many of our American communities were built upon really good valley bottomland where soils are fertile and deep. Bringing in all that storebought stuff to grow things is not using natural resources around and under

your house. It is not sustainable to grow vegetables in wholly manufactured raised beds when they can be easily grown inground naturally.

Most residential vegetable gardens can be made in a weekend with nothing more than a strong back and hand tools. Start by removing all the grass and weeds in the area you’ve designated where it gets full sun much of the day.

Next, use a fork or shovel to turn over the soil one shovel-full at a time. It’s slow and tedious, but fun if there are two of you working from opposite ends.

While the ground is open, add some nutrition. Composted steer manure is the cheapest soil conditioner out there, and one of the best. You can’t use too much.

It will bring in microbes and micronutrients that may be lacking, as well as organic matter. Plus, there’s something different about manures that offers more immediate fertility, which is why it’s used to cover newly sown lawn seed.

Work the manure in as you use the iron rake to pulverize clods, remove sticks and roots and rocks. Your goal is a smooth, soft surface to accept seeds and seedlings.

This method takes much of the guesswork out of a first garden. It’s hand-watered, as folks have done for a century here, and it will produce like gangbusters. Without beds to restrain you, the space can be fortified and tilled

year after year for a large family garden.

Maybe its size grows unhindered by boundaries. Above all, you can rearrange your garden each year for crop rotation, which is vital to maintaining soil fertility overall.

Is this an organic garden? That’s up to you. It’s OK to be a hybrid gardener.

That means we are aware of the all-organic ideal, but not consumed by it. We prefer organic products when we have the choice. This frees you of the fear of making a mistake that irreparably harms the soil or the garden with the wrong thing. Truth is, it’s not that critical. Your garden comes from nature, not Home Depot. In nature, very little is absolute.

It’s more important for you to enjoy the food than to get overwhelmed with the nuances of organic gardening in potting soils in relatively tiny boxes.

Learn the basics and the rest takes care of itself, said an old mentor. Before you can understand the science of true organic gardening, you must learn to garden first. Trying to do both at the same time leads to failure and discouragement. Let’s bust out of labels and get back to the basics so everyone can find success the first time without taking a course.

——— Maureen Gilmer is an author, horticulturist and landscape designer. Learn more at MoPlants.com

Ideas to help you reap big rewards from your garden (BPT) - As a pastime, gardening can help you eat delicious, more flavorful food while transforming your patio or yard into a colorful hangout for butterflies and bees.

Many people don’t realize how easy it is to have a fresh supply of fresh-grown veggies, herbs or flowers. Whether you have a balcony, rooftop or patio, gardening is a hobby that allows you to harvest big rewards.

One of the most exciting parts of gardening is deciding what to grow.

With thousands of plants to choose from a small pot of soil can be a canvas.

To find the most popular flowers and plants this year, we checked in with Ball Horticultural Company, a global leader on all things gardening, to see what the top trends are in 2018.

March 18, 2018

Strong and colorful When spring arrives, we crave color and warmth. To get that wow factor and get it fast - try planting flowers that grow and fill in quickly and thrive in extremes. The Megawatt Begonia brings magnetic color even in shaded spaces.

It’s also a low-maintenance option if you’re new to gardening. Likewise, the Echinacea Sombrero Sangrita is a perennial flower that returns each year with stunning red blossoms.

For foodies who want to show off Every chef knows the secret to tasty cooking is great ingredients. For many gardeners, the truly magical combination is finding that edible veggie that looks as good as it tastes. Take 2 Combos combine two sweet pepper plants with a

touch of heat and beautiful orange and yellow fruit. There’s also a combo of a slicer and cherry tomato perfect for small spaces and for snacking and cooking.

Speaking of peppers, a new, attractive variety is Candy Cane Red Pepper. It has green fruit striping that ripens to red and offers up crisp, sweet flavors, much like a candy cane!

A refuge for bees, butterflies and beyond There are dozens of reasons people choose to garden: fresh food, interior and exterior decoration, relaxation, stress reduction and more. One emerging trend is that people want to make their garden a destination for pollinators like bees, butterflies and hummingbirds.

A few captivating flowers that attract

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these beautiful and helpful creatures are: • Lucky Star Pentas - Provides butterflies summer-long flower clusters in eyecatching colors • Copper Prince Ornamental Millet - This thriller makes a dramatic statement with foxtail plumes that birds feast upon • SuperBlue Lavender - A deeply colorful and fragrant bee magnet Gardening helps you relax and decompress. What’s more, there is a huge amount of satisfaction involved in seeing your vegetables and flowers grow. Follow these trends and watch your plants blossom and beautify your home and yard. After all, we could all use a little more color in our lives.

Home & Garden 13

RESOURCE CENTRAL’S XERISCAPE GARDEN SERIES Now in Progress

Local nonprofit invites public to free seminars on how to replace thirsty lawns with water-saving gardens

By Resource Central – As Colorado’s dry winter has brought more sunshine than snow, local residents are invited to attend one of the upcoming WaterWise Landscape Seminars in Boulder County. Resource Central, a nonprofit

Quality, Variety, Excellent Service and Value for Your Dollar!

based in Boulder, is offering the free educational sessions to support regional conservation efforts in collaboration with local water providers.

Despite recent flurries, Colorado’s snow pack is currently low—10 to 30 percent below average—though basins that flow to the Denver-Boulder region are doing better than other parts of the state. As the snow melts it feeds rivers, fills reservoirs and provides water for millions of people. Low snow levels indicate greater risk of spring and summer drought.

Water-Wise Seminars

The Water-Wise Seminar topics include: how to transform your lawn into

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make finding the right plants to work in any gardening situation convenient and easy.

As a testament to its popularity, the Garden In A Box program has tripled in size during the past four years. One of the largest programs of its kind in the United States, Garden In A Box has helped families in Boulder County and across Colorado transition more than 1.4 million square feet of landscaping to more water-friendly yards.

This initiative has saved more than 100 million gallons of water since the program started in 1997.

Learn more about the Garden In A Box program at: ResourceCentral.org/ gardens. All gardens are Coloradogrown, pollinator-friendly, and available for pickup starting in May.

Honey Bee Heaven and Purple Reign are two of the Garden In A Box options being offered this year.

a Xeriscape garden, expert tips and tricks, veggie gardening, and creating a pollinator friendly landscape.

Sessions began March 5 in Boulder and more are scheduled for Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, Erie, and other locations around metro Denver.

The sessions, continuing through June, are taught by local landscaping experts.

Water-Wise Seminars are free and open to the public. See the full calendar of seminars and locations at: ResourceCentral.org/seminars.

Garden In A Box

The nonprofit’s popular Garden In A Box program also launched on March 5, making it simple for people to take what they’ve learned in WaterWise Seminars and put it into practice.

Gardens include an assortment of drought-tolerant plants and flowers that can reduce outdoor water use by up to 60 percent. To encourage local residents to participate, many water providers throughout the region are offering $25 discounts.

“Water is a limited resource and

lawns are surprisingly thirsty – soaking up half of the typical family’s water use,” said Neal Lurie, president of Resource Central. “We designed our Water-Wise Seminars and low-water gardens to make it easy to conserve water and save money.”

There are five new Garden In A Box kits this year with a big focus on colors and pollinators including: Hummingbird Delight, Butterfly Bounty, and Purple Reign. Additional kits focus on vegetable gardens, partial shade, and xeric flowers. The boxes

About Resource Central

Founded in 1976, Resource Central is a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to putting conservation into action. Its programs have helped nearly 500,000 families save water, reduce waste, and conserve energy. Learn more at ResourceCentral.org.

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