Plan a Colorado Vegetable Garden - A Rewarding Experience to Add to Your Family’s Activities.

Plan a Colorado Vegetable Garden - A Rewarding Experience to Add to Your Family’s Activities.

By:Jonathan Manning, CLT
A Better Garden Maintenance, LLC
Denver, CO

Home grown vegetables are a great, healthy way to add nutrition to family meals. Planting a vegetable garden starts with timing of planting seeds, starting them indoors or buying vegetable starts from your local greenhouse. Along with this, you must consider how much area to devote to growing a crop and stagger planting time and variety to ensure a continuous harvest. Crop rotation is an important factor in reducing pathogens in your home garden. Home vegetable gardening is a rewarding experience and should be done to provide healthy food for your family


The first thing which needs to be done to have a good harvest is knowing when to plant each vegetable. Some seeds require what is known as stratification to have a seed germinate. Stratifying a seed can be accomplished by a thaw freeze cycle or even by washing away certain chemicals produced by the plant. Various seeds only germinate under the right temperature. This is why it is usually easier to research the veggies you are wanting grown in your garden to see the best way to plant the crop. A good choice is always to go down to a nursery and get plants which have already been started. Some gardening services also offer at the least installation, while others, such as A Better Garden Maintenance LLC, install, maintain and assist in harvesting your garden.


Planning spacing and which types of vegetables seeds to sow for the harvest can be a new experience. Along with the area devoted to supporting a plant of a specific crop, you must also look at use of the garden area in regards to shading, crop height, water usage and any effect on second plantings of fall season or cool season crops. Something to consider in a garden recommendation for planting does not mean the plant will be confined between these areas. Watermelon and squash are very invasive and can quickly cover lower and slower growing plantings. Planting these along your path will help in allowing this unutilized area to become a space to grow a juicy melon. Additionally tske a look at planting corn as this may cause a shading effect which will affect the crops grown behind and beside it.


You also want to consider planting based on having a continuous or prolonged harvest. This is done by planting every few days or choosing different cultivars of the same vegetable. Most vegetables have an estimated time to harvest based on field trials conducted. By considering sun, harvest time, invasiveness, and how to prolong your harvest you will have a garden which provides fresh vegetables for your family throughout the season.


Call now (303) 433 - 3750, if you need consultation for a vegetable garden in the Denver Metro Area. It is a great opportunity to work as a family or enjoy the fruit of your land. A Better Garden Maintenance, LLC is a full service lawn maintenance &, garden maintenance firm which offers services for both residential and commercial properties.

Container Gardening - Not just for Annual Flowers

Container Gardening - Materials & Preparation is Critical!

By:Jonathan Manning, CLT
A Better Garden Maintenance, LLC
Denver, CO

Concrete and patios should not limit the garden potential you have at your homeor business. In these concrete porches, paver patios, and other open space you can have beautiful color and even produce vegetables. Installing tomato plants along with marigolds will brighten up the grey and give you delicious mile high city ripened tomatoes for those summer salads.



Container gardens do take more maintenance, yet the reward is worthwhile. If you choose to have a container garden, make sure toco use a large pot and the correct media (potting soil such as Miracle Grow can be used, but is not ideal). We use a special composition of media which specially for the needs of Colorado. If you are using Miracle Grow or a similar potting mix, adding peat moss and vermiculite helps by increasing water holding capacity for the media.

A few things to remember:

The media in pots dry out much quicker than soil in the ground. Pots should be watered daily and in some situations multiple times per day if in direct sunlight. Drip irrigation should be on a separate irrigation drip valve which is used to support only annual flowers and vegetables. Drip irrigation should only be regarded as a fail-safe and hand watering deeply should not be neglected in any circumstance.


Installing high grade media (soil) you ensure good root establishment and a higher ability to retain water. Media for container gardens should be replaced and fresh & clean media should be used one year to the next to prevent disease. This is similar to how farmers rotate crop to reduce pest populations.

Ensure you have a large enough clay pot, container or plastic liner. This has many positive affects survive the heat and drying effect of direct sunlight. An added trick to help to protect expensive clay pots is the added use of a liner. A liner is a plastic pot, or insert, to allow reduced pressure and corrosion of the container. Each type of flower and vegatable has differing rooting structures and rooting depths. Having a deep liner or pot helps maximize growth and flowering.


To maintain healthy plants, the contents of a containers with flowers or vegatables should be checked daily for correct moisture if it is not irrigated. In the case of flowers, dead/dying flowers and seed pods should be removed to increase and rejuvenate bloom. Vegatables, such as tomatoes, produce their fruit (in this scenario, tomatoes) from flowers. These flowers can be thinned to increase size of each tomato or to help establish the plant in the beginning. Research the type of plant you are going to plant in your Denver container garden or have A Better Garden Maintenance help you with your gardening needs.


Contact us today if you would like to have a beautiful variety of flowers to accent your Denver business or Greenwood Village residence.