The Joys of growing Crocosmia Bulbs

'Lucifer' crocosmia

Crocosmia produce masses of sword-like foliage and brightly colored blooms. Originally from south Africa, their name comes from the Greek words for “saffron” and “smell”.  'Lucifer' is the most popular scarlet red but also they come in many varieties of yellow and orange. Why grow crocosmias? Few diseases or pests (including slugs!) seem to trouble crocosmias. Humans and hummingbirds alike appreciate the red, orange and yellow crocosmia flowers. During crocosmia’s typical mid-summer to fall bloom period, other flowers have finished blooming or are looking tired. Crocosmia flowers last well in the garden and in the vase...and also do well in containers.

Crocosmia 'George Davidson'

Plant these bulbs (more exactly "corms") in spring after all danger of frost is gone. Plant the corms 2-3 inches deep and space them 6-8 inches apart in threes. They do multiply so having more is always good. Place the corm face up in soil with compost. With our blazing hot afternoon sun in the Treasure Valley, put them in an area with morning sun afternoon shade - they seem to do much better.  They are drought tolerant and only need occasional moisture when very dry. Remove the spent blooms to encourage more blossoms. After blossoming for the season let the foliage die down naturally.

Crocosmia Prince of Orange

All crocosmias are winter hardy in zones 6-9. Some species, including Lucifer, are hardy in zone 5  If you are concerned about hardiness, dig them up, put them in a box with some sawdust and bring them in to a garage or somewhere it doesn’t freeze but keep them cool.

When planting in containers, make sure your container has drainage holes and good potting soil (not soil from your garden). Plant the corms as above, water and sit back. An easy-care flower, crocosmias are a wonderful addition to a Hummingbird and Butterfly Garden.  Plant some and ENJOY!                      

Crop Rotation

Planning for crop rotation is a must for any home gardener and will help with the health and productivity of your garden year after year.  From container gardening, raised beds, or garden beds, crop rotation plays an important role in the success of your home garden.  The practice of crop rotation has been found throughout human history in agriculture.

What is crop rotation and why is it so important?

Crop rotation is simply changing the location where you grow plants within a family, every season. The practice of crop rotation each season will help maintain the health of your soil and reduce the risk of plant diseases and pests associated in certain plant families. For effective crop rotation, a plant family should not be planted in the same area for a minimum of three to four years.

What is an example of a basic four method rotation plan?

For a home garden with four garden spaces, here is an example of growing four categories of plants by legume, root, leaf, and fruit. Each growing season the category of plants are rotated to the next garden space, going right to left in the diagram shown below.

For home gardeners with more space, rotation by family is another option for more complex crop planning. Here is a table of common vegetables and their plant family classifications:

To help keep track of your garden’s crop rotation plan, it is important to keep a yearly garden map or journal where plants are located.  It can be difficult to remember plant locations by year three or four; so keeping a record is important for implementing a successful crop rotation plan.

Although crop rotations for a small garden can be a challenge, ensuring plant families are not grown in the same area each year will lead towards a healthier and more productive garden.

Crop Rotation in the Vegetable GardenAgricultural Technology
Using Crop Rotation in Home Vegetable Garden

Early start this year for Turf and Tree Team

Our 2018 Tree and Turf team

With above average temperatures in the valley this early Spring, the local trees and plants are getting head start on their growing season. With that in mind, the newly combined Turf and Tree team of Master Gardeners from Univ. of Idaho Canyon County Extension office is getting its earliest start to the new year.  

We now have higher than normal volume from area residents giving us a call as well as emailing the team with their questions and concerns.

The new team got started back in early March with series of turf training classes taught by local University educator Rich Guggenheim. 

New sod being cut and rolled up

We followed the training classes up with field trip out to local DG turf farm. There, the owner, John went through what it takes to run a turf farm and different varieties of turf he has available.                         

     

Middleton fruit tree visit

With the classes and field trip behind us, we were all eager to get started. We had our first site visit out to Middleton to visit a local resident that had many questions about her recently planted fruit trees. She had many questions from watering schedules, to proper pruning and when to start fertilizing. We spent a good couple hour answering her questions and looking at each of her 20 trees individually for any unique issues or problems.  

    

     

The affected spruce tree

After the Middleton visit, we made dash down to south Nampa to another site to check out some Spruces that were feeling the blues. The owner had several Spruces that appeared to have dieback that was impacting his trees. The team took several pictures and small clipping samples from couple of trees to take back to office/lab for further evaluation. What's wrong with my trees blog Part 1

Here's Part 2 - The following Monday, the Turf/Tree team started investigating possible causes to Spruce tree impact including hooking up microscope to take closer look at needles. We also used several University “.edu” web sites looking for clues. During our search a new client walked in extension office door with very similar problem with her Spruce trees.  After giving her what we believe was the answer to the problem with her Spruce trees Rhizosphaera Needle Cast, we were also able to answer other questions she had on turf maintenance and how to get rid of gophers. We put together an email detailing each of her issues that was found thru Penn State and Colorado State Extension web sites. She seemed thrilled at the quick response to all her questions and concerns...and she left with a smile.

Well this next week doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down at all. We have several emails requesting more information from several new clients needing help with their trees and lawns. We are doing site visits to conduct LISA for a 20$ fee (Lawn Irrigation System Audit) if you have concerns about your lawn. Looks like we're going to have really busy summer.  So, till next month, keep on pruning.