Si Pak Tani

By Abi Saeed Coming out of a challenging 2018 filled with record high temperatures and severe to extreme drought designations through most of Colorado, we are all thinking about our yards, gardens, trees and shrubs for 2019. Although many areas have received some precipitation over the past couple of months, recovering from a drought takes time, and we need to work towards tending to our drought-stressed landscapes in order to set ourselves up for a successful 2019 season. Supplemental watering in the winter is a reality for Coloradans, especially in the Mountains, where the air is drier. Most trees have shallow roots, found in the first 18 inches of the soil. These sub-surface roots are vulnerable to dry conditions, and require supplemental watering in particularly hot and dry seasons. A drought-affected landscape has depleted its subsurface soil moisture content, requiring extra care in the fall to restore soil moisture for plants. Fall and winter care is critical in restoring that s...

By Sharon Faircloth, Master Gardener Typical Colorado winter landscape We’re in the throws of another record, dry, winter.  The dry wind that brings those unseasonably warm days in the winter, cause substantial damage.  The seed catalogs are coming in the mail so spring MUST be just around the corner.  Hopefully, we’ll get feet of that lovely moisture-laden snow in March and April to help mitigate the stress created from so little precipitation (without the damage that can come along with that wet heavy snow)! In the meantime, if you have no snow cover but do have water rights, consider watering trees, shrubs and susceptible plants.  Trees that are particularly susceptible are spruce, alders, mountain yews, maples, mountain ashes and conifers.  Watering can be done when temperatures can get to about 40 degrees by mid-day.  Ideally, you’d like to be able to get the water down about twelve inches and to give the enough time to soak in before temperatures drop...