Gardening & Flowers: Do you have a green thumb? Or would you like one? S BY NIKKI CARLSON Spring is in the air, and if you’re like many Havreites your thoughts are turning to flowers, gardening and the smell of freshly cut grass on a sunny Saturday morning. Everyone has their own ideas of what grows best on the Hi-Line and when to plant, water and fertilize. It seems there is little consensus in that regard, so I sought out local experts in the business to see what they had to say. I spoke with Bob's Greenhouse co-owners Bob and Kathy Doney and co-owners Paul and Lorrie Hanson of Downtown Gardens to get the low-down on flower and vegetable gardening and what grows best on the Hi-Line. I also researched the best approach to planting a lawn. Vegetable Gardening For success with a vegetable garden: • Insure that the soil is not too wet or cold before planting. • For organic gardening treat the soil with seaweed or fish emulsion, or add compost. If using compost, insure that it has been aged a year or two to prevent vegetable burn. For the less patient, bagged compost will do the trick. • For most gardening a general-purpose fertilizer will work nicely • Select vegetables with a Zone 3 or Zone 4 designation* and plant late May or early June. • Many varieties of vegetables grow well on the Hi-Line, including cabbage, kohlrabi, beets, onions, squash, radishes, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and corn. • Thinking about potted gardening? Tomatoes, peppers or patio cucumbers grow well with limited space, and container gardens with vegetables, fruits and herbs are a growing trend because people don't have weeds to contend with. • Soil needs to be moist and covering the top soil with leaves helps retain the moisture and limits evaporation. • Water when the top soil is dry. Depending on size, an irrigation or drip system is an option, or overhead sprinklers work well. In a pinch, hand-watering has been working for generations. 1 6 L I V I N G M A G A Z I N E A P R I L 2 0 11 continued on page 17 H AV R E D A I LY N E W S