Dear MOTHER

“If more people share what works for them in their areas, we’ll all be successful growers!”

Cultivating Crops in Colorado

I read Editorial Director Hank Will’s “Obvious Solutions” (August/September 2018), and I want to share some solutions I’ve discovered.

I live in Black Forest, Colorado, up on the Palmer Divide in the forest. The soil here is sandy loam with pockets of clay and rock. Most people here have raised beds. I have them too because of the soil, and also because of my bad knees. But I’ve learned a lot in the years I’ve lived here. We’re in Zone 4, so our growing season isn’t long. We can’t put anything in the dirt until the last chance of frost has passed (generally the last week of May or first week of June). The only exception is garlic, which I plant in October and dig up the next July.

I’m always trying new ideas. I’ve learned that my garlic does best if it’s a cultivar that can handle the cold, such as ‘Romanian Red,’ ‘Estonian Red,’ and ‘German White.’ I also found out, after years of unsuccessfully growing onions, that I need to plant my crops only 1⁄2 to 1 inch in the ground. The soil has to warm them up, and it can’t if they’re too deep. So I never follow the seed packet instructions.

A local friend who consistently has a beautiful squash and pumpkin crop told me how to avoid fungus. He uses drip lines to