Denver Post Garden Colorado

Tough. Gorgeous. Just like our state’s heart-stopping mountains, gardening in Colorado is a beautiful balance of extremes. The Denver Post’s Garden Colorado harvests a decade of the best advice and inspiration for anyone who grows anything here, be it a lawn, a vegetable garden, breathtaking flowers or a grove of sheltering trees. Because like everything else at a mile high, gardening here is different.

We’ll tell you how:
• To understand and tend the soil, lawn, and landscape you’ve already got
• Create bounty and flavor with productive, pest-free vegetables
• Wow the whole neighborhood with season-spanning flower displays
• Thwart the limits of small spaces with containers

You’ll understand Colorado’s climate and its challenges in new ways, and be able to tap all the resources in your community with the touch of a finger. Month-by-month to-do lists chart the whole growing season for the lawn, trees, perennials, flower, herb and vegetable patch. “Five easy species” features clue you into specific varieties tried and tested in Colorado’s soil and Colorado’s temperatures. You’ll also learn about how to garden in ways that sip water — and thwart wildfire risks.

Learn how to grow and nurture:
• Lettuce — one of the easiest crops for our state, in a garden or in containers.
• Herbs — the crop no kitchen or cook can do without.
• Bulbs — repeat guests with showstopping color and glamour.
• Shrubs — bringing structure, bloom, scent and pollinators to your yard.
• Berries — the taste of summer that makes you the envy of the town.
• Tomatoes — manage the “difficult divas” with the right soil and care.
• Trees — select, plant, prune and enjoy the best choices for our region.
• Plants — to enhance, protect and beautify your property.

A visually satisfying array of photos to illustrate the explanatory text is also part of this app. And just to round things out we throw in some high-country recipes and visit some amazing Colorado gardens to meet the fascinating, funny, quirky and ingenious gardeners behind them.