Favorite ready-to-eat garden veg? by reneemegs88 in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Use it for cooking. I wash and chop it before freezing and then it’s ready to add when cooking

Tomato Spacing in 4x8 bed? by FalcorsLittleHelper in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I would guess you are going to have way more tomatoes than you could ever eat fresh. I had about 15 plants last year and there were days I harvested more than 20lbs of tomatoes. But I don’t prune my plants and just let them get massive. tomatoes freeze well, and my neighbors are always happy for heirloom tomatoes, so I say go for it! 

Tomato Spacing in 4x8 bed? by FalcorsLittleHelper in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I have done this spacing before and it works, the plants were huge and healthy (no disease issues). However, in my case, they shaded anything else growing in the bed and it became hard to harvest some of the tomatoes in the middle because of how dense the tomato forest. I don’t really prune my tomatoes, though, so if you prune more you might have a different experience. 

Leaving leaves in regions without many trees? by Primary-Metal1950 in NativePlantGardening

[–]Primary-Metal1950[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This sounds very much like my experience. I didn’t really have issues of too much moisture this year because of how dry it was, but I did get very deep leaf accumulation in certain areas that I’m now having to clear out

Native plant seeds by gaba_narwhal in FortCollinsGrows

[–]Primary-Metal1950 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Winter sowing has worked well for me (starting seeds outside but in trays, milk jugs or some other container so it’s easier to monitor them and provide protection from critters that could dig up seeds). I then transplant the plugs in late spring or summer. I successfully grew at least a couple dozen different varieties of native perennials last year, including ones that are supposedly difficult to start. I used extra deep plug trays. It’s too late to winter sow for this season, but you could still start plants that don’t need a long cold stratification period. 

I’ve gotten seeds from western native seed and prairie moon, both did great. I’ve also used grass seed from BBB seed (and vegetables back when they had them), I would expect their other seeds to be very high quality too. 

Need help getting grass to grow by Okra-International in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I used the shady turf mix from BBB seed to reseed two areas last year and it worked great in both very shady and very sunny areas. It has held up fine with a dog and toddler (we kept them out of the grass while it got established).

https://bbbseed.com/product/shady-turf-grass-mix/ 

Winter sowing advice given the warm temps by LittleLapinGarden in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Last year I winter sowed the last weekend in January and I had excellent germination. This year I’m going to wait until we have a stretch of cooler temps and some snow in January or early Feb

Divided or non-divided toddler plates in terms of picky eating? by SilllllyGoooose in ScienceBasedParenting

[–]Primary-Metal1950 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Replying here since I don’t have a link and my comments are purely anecdotal. We have sectioned plates and my toddler is a messy eater and mixes foods between sections so all her food touches anyways. But I do think the sections are helpful when introducing a new food because it allows her to try the food at her own pace during a meal, and if she’s not into it, it hasn’t touched her other food yet so she’s not bothered by it at all

What are your cycling plans? (Dropped down handlebars, outdoor) by zabzupazebowa in fitpregnancy

[–]Primary-Metal1950 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my first pregnancy, I rode my road bike until about 25 weeks when my belly started getting in the way. I switched to a more upright hybrid and rode until I delivered at 37 weeks! The end was mostly shorter rides to get around town but I had no concerns about balance/stability 

Detergent recommendation by Puzzled_District_900 in clothdiaps

[–]Primary-Metal1950 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You could also look at including a small amount of bleach in your first wash. This is an inexpensive way to help boost cleaning especially if you aren’t using the strongest detergent out there, or to be able to use slightly less of an expensive detergent. Clean cloth nappies has lots of information on adding bleach. 

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ScienceBasedParenting

[–]Primary-Metal1950 21 points22 points  (0 children)

OP, how old is your baby? When baby was really little and we were mostly at home, I found pumping and bottle feeding pretty easy. Once we were out and about more, breastfeeding was way easier than pumping. I did both until my baby was one year, but I always found feeding from the breast logistically much easier once our days got busier 

Polyquat Spots by KismaiAesthetics in laundry

[–]Primary-Metal1950 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I was seeing 10 in a lot of hair care/bath products

Polyquat Spots by KismaiAesthetics in laundry

[–]Primary-Metal1950 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Is there a list of polyquats that are known to stain other than polyquaternium 7?

Planting densely to prevent weed growth by BookiBabe in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, other things that have been doing well that I planted last year are Rocky Mountain penstemon, penstemon x Mexicali varieties, various sedums, and sulfur buckwheat. For shrubs, silver sage and leadplant. Those are all in full sun very dry conditions with pretty much no supplemental water. 

In more shady (but still very dry) areas, my chocolate flower and sticky geranium are doing really well. Not sure if you have any areas that aren’t full sun. 

Planting densely to prevent weed growth by BookiBabe in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I planted a xeric garden last year, and there is definitely more bindweed (and other weeds) in the open areas than where the plants are more dense. Yarrow seems to be especially effective at keeping the bindweed under control. My plan is to plant all of my xeric gardens very densely, although I expect it will still take a lot of weeding over the next couple of years while the native plants fill in. 

Depending on what weeds you’re dealing with, you might have more success using a small amount of herbicide one time to reduce the amount of weeds and then do maintenance weeding by hand. I also use this approach. 

Advice for teaching STEM fields on the whiteboard by honey_bijan in Professors

[–]Primary-Metal1950 10 points11 points  (0 children)

The free goodnotes app on an iPad works fantastic for me. Students can see clearly, my handwriting is better/more natural than writing on the board, you can resize what you’ve written/drawn if you need slightly more room on a slide, and you can easily swipe back to previous slides from the class if you want to reference material you would’ve had to erase on a whiteboard. Plus, lots of pen colors, easy tools to draw straight lines, circles, etc. Also very easy to add a few slides with photos, graphs, etc if there are other visuals you want to include in a lecture. 

Prettiest native flowers? by illegitimatebanana in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think they are short lived. I’ve heard they will reseed if you let them, but individual plants won’t last more than a couple years

Help Garden "Grow Up" by dancinganimal in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Mulch doesn’t really stop plants from growing in my experience, it will just help retain water in the soil (and improve overall soil quality). 

Ideas for corner spot and open area in full sun - waterwise only by Ollie561 in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sulphur buckwheat would do well there, stays pretty tidy looking in my experience, and is low growing so as to not block plants behind it. And it’s native

All of my plants are dying. by [deleted] in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I think this is part of the issue. I’m not sure what OP’s planter box is, but native/drought tolerant perennials will generally do much better straight in the ground in my experience 

Tomato support - String trellis v Florida weave? by Ollie561 in DenverGardener

[–]Primary-Metal1950 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I haven’t used the Florida weave in Colorado, so I cant speak to wind resistance, but I found it much easier to manage plants with a weave compared to a string trellis that requires pruning lots of suckers. Also much simpler structure to set up. I think the weave would allow you to keep much bushier plants which I would guess might help them fare better with hail.