Although I've been growing flowers longer than I'll admit, Istarted trying to grow food just a few years ago. Where did I turn to get up to speed on fruit and veggie growing? The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension.

The Cooperative Extension is Information Central for all aspects of Northern Nevada gardening, which is why I've had a link to it here forever and why you should consider signing up for its "Grow Your Own!" classes if you've been thinking about growing your own food.

From a UNCE news release:

The University of Nevada Cooperative Extension has eight new “Grow Your Own!” classes to help you get on the path to sustainable, local, healthy living.

Beginning in February and ending in late March, UNCE offices in Carson City, Duck Valley, Elko, Ely, Eureka, Fallon, Hawthorne, Logandale, Reno, Winnemucca and Yerington will return with the ever-popular “Grow Your Own!” series, providing gardeners and health buffs in the Silver State with a “back-to-the-basics guide to great harvests in Nevada.”

Schedule

• Feb. 8: What to do with all those seed catalogs
• Feb. 15: Greenhouse growing
• Feb. 22: Raised-bed gardening
• Feb. 29: Edible landscaping
• March 7: Training and pruning fruit trees
• March 14: From anise to yarrow: growing herbs
• March 21: Saving seeds from your garden
• March 28: Preserving your harvest

“Anyone can become a better gardener by attending these classes,” said Horticulture Specialist Heidi Kratsch. “From the beginner to the advanced gardener, everyone can benefit from a Grow Your Own class.”

Extension experts will touch on seed storing, raised-flower-bed construction, best practices for growing delicious herbs and vegetables, and the benefits of low-cost, high-yield greenhouses and hoop houses.

“Hoop houses are really taking off here,” Kratsch said. “Some Nevadans who built hoop houses last season are reaping the benefits of this warm, dry winter by growing some of their foods year-round.”

To register for any and all of the upcoming “Grow Your Own!” classes, contact Ashley Andrews at the Washoe County Cooperative Extension Office at (775) 784-4848.

The class fee for Reno residents is $15, or $60 to register for all eight classes.

Class fees in other locations may vary. Carson City, Duck Valley, Elko, Ely, Eureka, Fallon, Lovelock, Pahrump, Winnemucca, Tonopah and Yerington residents should contact their local Cooperative Extension office for information on attending the series in those locations.

This is an orchid I bought at Trader Joe's for $7.99 two years ago. It's living proof that orchids are easy to grow, because I still have the plant. (I know, it's hard for me to believe myself!) Getting it to bloom again might be another story, but it did bloom for months after I bought it.

Before I took a chance on this plant, I thought orchids were just for prom corsages and eccentric people who obsessed about them. Now I know their beauty is within the reach of even a black-thumbed person like me.

I'm telling you all this as a way of introducing the rest of this post, which is based on a news release I got from Moana Nursery today.

The nursery will be hosting the Northern Nevada Orchid Show Friday through Sunday (Jan. 27– 29). The show will include the Easy Orchid Seminar Saturday.

A selection of several varieties of unusual orchids–including funky masdevallias, foliage jewel orchids, dendrobiums, phaleonopsis, lady slippers, and cattleyas–plus orchid supplies will be available for purchase. Ten percent of orchid purchases made during the show will be donated by Moana Nursery to the Orchid Society.

Schedule

Orchid Society of Northern Nevada Show - Moana Lane Garden Center

Friday, Jan. 27—Noon to 5 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 28—11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sunday, Jan. 29—11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Members of the society will be exhibiting some of their rare plants at the show and will be available to answer questions about orchids and the society throughout the show.

Easy Orchids Seminar with Sean Abbott of Moana Landscape & Design Center

Learn how easy it is to have gorgeous blooming orchids. With a few simple tips, you will be able to grow orchids that bloom for months. According to Moana Nursery, the hardest thing about orchids is choosing a color!

The following post is based on a Moana Nursery news release:



The 15^th annual Great Backyard Bird Count takes place Feb. 17 – 20.  It is the perfect opportunity to enjoy nature and be a citizen-scientist. This study helps scientists better define bird ranges, populations, migration pathways, and habitat needs.

Wild Birds Unlimited is the major sponsor of this joint project between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Bird Studies Canada, and the National Audubon Society. Individuals, families, schools, and organizations are encouraged to count birds at bird feeders and in backyards, local parks, or other locations. Those tallies are then reported online through the BirdSource website at www.birdsource.org/gbbc.

The BirdSource website is a revolutionary partnership between citizens and scientists. It gives participants almost instantaneous feedback through graphics, animated maps, and other regularly updated information.

The GBBC is a fun and educational way to get kids excited about birds and nature. Kids are encouraged to participate in the count. To learn more and get additional activities for kids, visit the GBBCWebsite. Additional kids' activities can be found on the Wild Birds Unlimited Pathwaysto Nature for Kids Website.

Results from the 2011 Count

• More than 92,000 checklists were submitted. 2011 was the third year in a row for which checklists have topped 90,000.
• 11,471,951 individual birds were counted. The northern cardinal was reported on the most checklists, followed by the mourning dove.
• The counts for the American crow were up, the first time in eight years. Crows were hit hard by the West Nile virus starting in 1999.

For more information about the Great Backyard Bird Count, call or stop by the Wild Birds Unlimited store located within each Moana Nursery location:  1100 W. Moana Lane (825-0600); 11301 S. Virginia Street (853-1319); or 7655 Pyramid Highway (425-4300); or visit www.reno.wbu.com.

Wild Birds Unlimited, located in Reno and Sparks, is part of the original and largest franchise system of backyard bird feeding and nature specialty stores with more than 275 locations throughout the United States and Canada. Wild Birds Unlimited specializes in bringing people and nature together with bird feeding and nature products, expert advice, and educational events.

I so hoped I'd have a pretty rose garden to show my readers by now, but reality prevailed.

Early this year we moved more than a dozen rose bushes from the front yard to the back because they were all in the wrong places—scratching people coming up our front walk, getting in the way of the faucet, growing where they're hard to water, etc.

We moved them while they were dormant and arranged them in an area of the yard separated by concrete curb and covered with shredded bark. The soil seemed decent, and I added my homemade compost. Like magic, all but one eventually put out leaves and several even bloomed this summer.

I use the word "magic:" because I have never had much luck growing roses with the exception of pioneer roses, miniature roses, and my son's Chrysler Imperial rose. In fact, I never would have been foolish enough to try a rose garden if I hadn't needed a place to put all the bushes that were already here. I hate to discard living plants.

I meant to fertilize them all summer but just never got around to it, which is normal for me. I did manage to keep them watered, even without an irrigation system installed yet.

Results

Only a few of them bloomed. At least one is a miniature rose, so it will be out of place. The worst thing is I suspect many of them are rootstock roses—that is, the hybrid roses of various colors that were grafted onto rootstock have died and the branches coming up from the roots are plain red ones.

Here's one that bloomed and not from the rootstock. Yellow is not my favorite color, but I'll take it!

Excuses

Once I got all the weeds pulled this summer, I spent my gardening time on the rose garden and pond/waterfall area. I have a huge time-sucking project along the fence there: pulling the dirt away from the fence. Attention previous owners: Rickety old fences do not make long-term retaining walls!

I've managed to kill most of the whitetop that was flourishing there. I've thoroughly sprayed the salt grass two and a half times (half the grass the third time in case you're wondering), but it's not giving up yet. When it's dead I'm going to have to pull it out by hand.

Then there's all the weed cloth that (see previous paragraph) doesn't keep weeds from growing. I'm pulling out as much of it as I can and resigning myself to the fact that I'll be finding pieces of it as long as I'm gardening here.

And now that we've had a hard freeze, the roses will be on their own until next April. Maybe, just maybe, I'll manage to get them fertilized then.

I saw these leaf scoops in a magazine this week and instantly knew I had to have them.



OK, in this little picture they look hair combs. However, have you ever raked up a pile of leaves or debris and then looked around for something you could use to pick up as much of it as possible to put in a garbage can or bag? These are the size and shape you need, and they have handy handles and teeth.

Maybe they're in local stores, but I've never seen them.

Another tool I've been meaning to recommend is the Keter Easy Go cart. It's like a lidless plastic garbage can with wheels and a high back with a hole at the top to use as a handle. I can fill it with gravel, rocks, soil, leaves, compost, etc. and drag it around the yard easily. I bought one early in the summer because I was afraid they would all disappear if I waited. I'm glad I did, because I've used it a lot.

I wanted to show you how easy it is to make seasonal decorations with Northern Nevada plants. I'm as far as you can get from a designer, but I like what I've done this fall.

Above, I've tied rabbirbrush and chaste tree blooms to a purchased wreath. I confess that the chaste tree blooms wilted quickly. I originally planned to use lavender on this, but the flowers on that were long gone. I think I'll try Russian sage with rabbitbrush next time because I like the purple-gold combination.

Below is an idea I got from Better Homes and Gardens. I just put showy milkweed seedpods in a vase.



It's been fun for me to look around outside for things I can turn into decorations. If I can come up with these, imagine what you could do!

I've just finished reading Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older by Sydney Eddison.

As the title implies, it gives advice to aging gardeners who don't want to give up their gardens. It appealed to me because I've realized in the last few years I probably will be alive longer than I'll be able to do the yard work I do now. I even made a conscious effort at our old house to start replacing high maintenance areas with lower maintenance landscaping.

Here are the tips from the author that I'm planning to keep in mind as I plan the new landscape here. I think they are just as valuable for young, busy gardeners as they are for older gardeners:

• English-style perennial borders are very high maintenance. You don't have to plant perennials every year, but you do have to remove dead leaves, deadhead the flowers, divide them every few years, stake some of them, and so on.
• Keep the perennials that need the least work and give you the most pleasure.
• Use shrubs instead of perennials, even though some do require annual pruning. Research them before you buy.
• Work with the existing environment. Eddison wrote at great length about gardening next to and in Connecticut woodland. Here, I let rabbitbrush grow wherever it pops up in the rear part of the back yard.
• Use mulch to control weeds and enrich the soil.
• Plant in containers. Yes! It took me a long time to realize how much easier it is to take care of plants in pots. One of the best things is no weeds. I also like being able to rearrange them.
  
• In a new garden, use lots of bulbs, ground covers, and shrubs and plant fewer perennials.

I'm ignoring some of her advice:

• Hire help or recruit volunteers. The main reason I garden is I enjoy being outdoors when the weather is nice. Having other people do the work defeats the purpose. With that said, I do need and get help for the physically demanding tasks.
• Don't be a perfectionist. Are you kidding? If I were a perfectionist in the garden I'd have given up soon after I started. Again, I just enjoy spending time with my flowers. The only time I realize how imperfect (sloppy) everything looks is when someone visits.
• Turn your lawn into a meadow. Sorry, but meadows sound like a lot of work if you still want to keep weeds out of them.
• Be willing to give up high maintenance mature plants such as overgrown hedges or old trees. I think I'm pretty practical when it comes to these. I'm hoping to get rid of a couple of cottonwood trees and and all the juniper bushes this fall or winter. (Did you know junipers are called "gasoline plants" because they burn so quickly?)

I would add one more piece of advice of my own:

• Embrace tools, especially power tools. When I finally got around to buying a lightweight electric chainsaw, I was amazed at how much time and energy it saved me. I use an electric hedge trimmer to mow last year's ornamental grass and some perennials and weeds. I've tried a couple of different kinds of garden carts that have made yard work easier, too.

I found an ongoing theme of the book pretty amusing. Both the author and I love daylilies. I love them because they have pretty flowers, they bloom for a long time, their foliage looks good most of the time with little work, and they'll tolerate poor soil and irregular watering. She loves them as unique cultivars (and she has a hundred or so unique ones). She says they take all her time for the month of July and she spends 2 hours each evening snapping off all the day's blossoms (while they're still fresh) instead of waiting and deadheading them in the morning.

Whoa. One of the things I've always liked about daylilies is you don't have to deadhead them. I just cut off the stalks after all the flowers have bloomed. Clearly I'm way ahead of the author in the area of giving up perfectionism!

The intent of my Good Garden Award series is to call attention to outstanding gardens that my readers can easily find and see from the street. This one goes to Renown Regional Medical Center for the landscaping around its Mill Street entrance.



It took me a while to catch on, but the Russian sage matches the Renown logo and color. I wish I'd had my camera handy when I saw an employee wearing purple scrubs walk down that sidewalk. The choice of Russian sage must have been intentional, but I don't know. Purple is one of my favorite colors, so I just enjoy it.

We were driving down the street a few weeks ago and saw a landscaper pruning the flowers off some Russian sages. That's right, cutting all the purple sprays off them. Every time I go by them now, I wonder why.



Sure, you need to cut the dead branches off in the spring, but why would anyone want to cut the flowers off now and leave them like this?

Then there's this tree. Every time I drive by it I wonder, What were they thinking????



It's been like this for more than a year; it's not going to grow back. The more I look at it, the more It looks as if the tree is holding up its hands in supplication, asking, Why? Why? Did someone decide it was yard art after they pruned it to death? It just makes me sad.

"Oh! You haven't done anything in the back yet," our visitor exclaimed last weekend as she looked out the window at this:



Ouch. We rushed to defend ourselves.

This year in back I've—

• Planted potatoes.
• Killed the whitetop.
• Hand-pulled all the flixweed.
• Hand-pulled the prickly lettuce and cheat grass in the rear area.
• "Mowed" the weeds in the former lawn several times, using the hedge trimmer when the string on the Weedeater kept jamming.
• Hand-pulled the weeds on the concrete deck.
• Smothered more weeds with carpet pad.
• Sprayed the salt grass in the "rose garden" with Roundup (took a full 2.25-gallon tank).
• Moved plants out of the corner planters on the concrete deck to the garden.
  
• Planted a few more perennials in the garden.
  
• Kept flowers and veggies alive in pots on the patio.
• Started to dig out the dirt and bark piled up against the back fences.
  

Together we've—

• Cut down several dead fruit trees and hauled them to the dump.
• Cut a large, dying branch off this cottonwood tree and cut it into firewood.
• Moved 14 rosebushes from the front yard to the back.
• Pruned the trees.
• Pulled a lot of the rocks out of the pond we're going to get rid of (we'll need a backhoe for the rest).

I shouldn't blame our visitor for not noticing the absence of a 4-foot-high weed jungle. But still—she didn't give us credit for doing anything at all. Ouch.