Slow start to gardening during a year when the weather warmed too fast

Got tomato seedlings?

Cheyenne blogger Karen Cotton tipped me off to today's "Gardening on the Cheap: 10 Steps to Becoming a Cheerful Cheapskate in the Garden" presentation by Denver's Jodi Torpey at the library. It was sponsored by Laramie County Master Gardeners and the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Jodi had many good tips for us frugal gardeners, and I plan to take her up on most of them. I am slow getting started on my veggies this year. I am slow and the weather is warming fast -- not a great combination. I've been posting for the past 4-5 years about my return to vegetable gardening after a long hiatus. First it was all about having a Victory Garden ("Eat a tomato for peace, ya'll!") and then it growing your own and being a locavore and sustainability and all that jazz. But gardening is a struggle around here. It's 6,200 feet and arid and possesses a very short growing season. We have been reclassified from Zone 4 to Zone 5, but a tad more warmth every summer won't make a big difference. It may 50 years from now, but I'll be long gone by then (to Florida).

So I'll persevere with herbs and lettuce and tomatoes and squash and beans, etc.

Meanwhile, I ran into Lindi Kirkbride at the gardening talk and her Cheyenne Alliance Church has started a Seed & Feed Community Garden. Church members and residents of a nearby housing complex are gobbling up the plots. Some of the church's teens will be raising veggies for local shelters and the food bank. Anyway, Lindi says that there are five plots left to interested parties. Fee for each raised bed is $20 per year and water is provided. This is good news because both of the community gardens in Lions Park are booked solid and have waiting lists. If you're interested, e-mail seed&feed@gmail.com.