I live in Farmington (about halfway between Salt Lake and Ogden). I'm in the process of replacing my "traditional" KBG/fescue lawn with a lawn that will use substantially less water. I'm using mostly native cool season grasses (western and streambank wheatgrass and sheep fescue) with a little blue grama and some strawberry clover. If I had it to do over, I'd kill the existing lawn first.

I've got a garden, but don't use it much anymore because I travel sporadically and end up with poor results.

I think I'll post here just to give it a bump up and give an example of good info to share.

I'm in Nederland, at around 8250 feet.

I love roses and anything pretty! I am a slob of a gardener except in my beds, one rose bed and one perennial bed.

I don't have a real lawn, I have random grasses that get real tall and dandelions.

I use organic methods to the best of my ability and would rather squash aphids then spray them.

It is mainly a zone five, but some winters are harsher than others and we can get to a zone four. I shop for zone four things so I don't have to worry about them.

I've had tomatoes two years now but this year I'm trying lettuces.

I prefer heirloom veggies but will try the others, too. I may still start those beet seeds that I lost earlier this year and just found while tidying.

I have some indoor plants but have been known to have my thumb turn brown and black when I walk inside, green again when I step outside. I've only murdered a couple house plants in the three years we've been up here, yay!

I don't fertilize except for my roses and when I have tomatoes. I like Fox Farm foods.

We are in mostly full sun and I ignore the spots that have shade. Right now, probably thanks to the winds and all the rain, there are tons of columbine seedlings in the shady areas!

I studied horticulture in California and loved it! Maybe one day I'll take the master gardener courses, for fun.

Hi all,

I just responded to GMsandov over on the original WhoÂs Here thread, and IÂm going to transfer his/her post over here to the Part II thread to make it easier for everybody to read since the first thread is taking so long to load now. Thank you for letting us know youÂre around, and for telling us about yourself, GM. And thanks for your comment about mixing sand with clay! That subject seems to come up a lot around here! Somehow I suspect it was some gardening "expert" who originally made that suggestionÂand unfortunately a lot of people still seem to believe itÂs a good idea!

And where are the rest of you newbies that weÂve all been seeing around here? Come tell us where you live and a little bit about yourself. We like to welcome newbies around here!

Welcome everyone,
Skybird

Posted by gmsandov on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 12:09 Hello all. Just joined Rocky Mtn group though being in Albuquerque, I know we are not truly in the RM's. This area was once considered a Chaparral, but then the cement trucks rolled in and road crews did their work and now it's just hot and the grasses are gone. I live about a mile from the Rio Grande and have clay and silt alkaline soil. The water is so hard you can almost see the salts. I read a blurb somewhere saying that the only way to counter\-act all the clay in this soil would be to bring in some sand. Now that person doesn't know that clay and sand are a great mix for adobe bricks. I hope he was being facetious. About me: I am at about 5800 feet and am basically a newbie at gardening. I've grown a tomato plant or two, but last year was my first REAL attempt at veggies and flowers. I have three small beds of native plants for flowers and space allocated to green chili, peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, butternut, basil, watermelon, cucumbers, lots of beans (trying bush and pole). Besides spending time fighting off squash bugs, I have been working on building a truly hot compost pile\-\-it works! I would like to get involved with the row for hunger project. Also experimenting with ditch irrigation rather than city water. I am Recently "retired" though I think of it more as a change in careers from administration to backyard farming. I don't spend much time at the keyboard...maybe once a week, so I guess I would consider myself a lurker. But your knowledge is invaluable and greatly appreciated.

Hi all and thanks for the welcoming words.

We're just south of Denver in the burbs. After 20 years of suffering with the "gravel doughnut of death" landscaping in the backyard that came with the house, we've been slowly reclaiming it with compost and mulch in selected areas. Gravel is great for weed-free zones, but someone went a bit overboard. So, if you need some medium gravel and can pick it up, let me know :)

The multi-purpose perennial/vegetable garden under the kitchen window is three years old and absolutely thriving this year with all the rain and cool weather, and since we don't have A/C, we're enjoying the cool weather too!

Last year we reclaimed an area west of the fence and have been rewarded with a beautiful pink Lupine (one of three survived so this year we started more from seed) and are hoping that the hyssop and rhubarb settle in.

This year's project is a small sunny strip along the back fence. We're also about to tackle - literally - the creeping Mahonia to make way for a shade garden. Words to the wise from personal experience - do not plant Mahonia repens unless you enjoy very hardy,very prickly invasive little plants popping up everywhere you don't want them.

I work from home and anyone who works from home will understand when I say I have no spare time. My daughter helps with the garden and also works at a local plant nursery.

Look forward to reading your posts and learning from the group!

I'm Ben, here in the Chicago area, zone 6. Working on way too many hot peppers to list, tomatoes, onions, rasberries, zucchini, radish, bok choy, brussels sprouts, leaf and bib lettuce, spinach, watermelon, blueberries, peas and so on and so forth. The bugs got to my apple trees early on so no apples for me this year however the cherries are always abundant. I've been using these forums for awhile but just recently signed up.

Hello. I'm excited to find a forum where I can ask questions about growing veggies in our area! I live in Black Forest at 7300 feet. I've been growing flowers for awhile but decided it was time to tackle something a little more challenging like growing veggies here. I convinced my husband to buy me a greenhouse this Spring where I can start seeds early. I also now have 11 raised bed in a 27 x 27 foot enclosure that has six foot chain link fence all around it to keep out the deer and the bears. My husband affectionately refers to it as "the compound."
Everything was doing really well until our big hail storm nine nights ago. I'm impressed by how much is coming back but feel like we've been set back a month.
My ten year old son and I spent two solid days last week putting up wood structures in each of the beds with hail screen over each of them. It was a daunting task but I would like to think I can learn from these lessons from Mother Nature. I'm hoping our handy work will hold up to our next hail storm, whenever that will be.

Well, I'm a new RMGF lurker. I've been a gardenweb member a while. I got rid of our lawn several years ago to replace it with mostly edibles, but also goodies for birds, bees, butterflies. I don't use any chemicals in my yard, so I can eat the various berries and herbs I grow as well.

Last year, I really grew a bunch of tomatoes, peppers, lettuces, herbs and other veggies as well. It is really great to have so much to eat after a trip out back. But after the hubby passed away in the fall, it has been difficult to garden with the same fervor. Glad I have the perennial goodies like the blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries, but I've pretty much neglected everything because all the house upkeep, repairs and weeding are overwhelming.

I usually enjoy photography, especially in my garden. But although I have a new camera this year, I just don't take photos or hang out in the garden much. Maybe next year I will have my zeal for life and gardening back. This has been a very tough year, including getting laid off from my job and losing my dog so I usually lurk on gardening and photography sites. I try to participate once in a while, even local gatherings but mostly I try to do one day at a time, sometimes, one hour at a time.

Hello all,

I started lurking on these boards back in fall of 08. By winter I had stopped visiting since my life got busy else where. Due to a surgery I was supposed to have in May I didn't plant much this season. I ended up having the surgery on August 4th. I live in Colorado Springs. We have a decent amount of space but I want to make better use of it. This coming fall I should be in the best condition for me to get the garden in better shape. I planted a lot of garlic last fall and it was a total wash out. I had sprouts this spring but they died off before mid May. I have 3 earth boxes that I got a killer deal on last fall that have 2 Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes in and OMG are they good! 2 Celebrity tomatoes and 5 cucumbers. I think most of them are Boston Picklers but hopefully 1 or 2 is the Marketmore slicer I planted too. The cucumber plants I bought in May didn't make it after I transplanted them so had a late start on them this year.

Greetings!
I am brand new to Gardenweb, and new to the Rocky Mountain area. I live in Summit County, Co at 9,600'. That still blows my mind.

In my previous, closer to sea level zone 6 life, I was an avid organic heirloom vegetable gardener and worked year round at a fantastic greenhouse.

I am currently a gardener at one of the ski resorts here, and am limited to houseplants in my personal gardening. I am an admitted begonia junkie, and dearly miss the plants I had to leave when I moved.

I'm adjusting, but am still shocked (and a little horrified) that we are already experiencing some isolated killing frosts up here.

Looking forward to getting some good first hand mountain garden info!

Greetings everybody! I am new to the forum and live in Parker, CO. I recently purchased a home with an extremely overwhelming backyard/garden. It has been along time since I've got my hands dirty in the garden, and being that I am originally from Southern California, I am basically starting over in a new climate. TONS to learn, and ALOT of work ahead of me, but I am excited at the chance to have a garden again. I'm sure I will have lots of questions, and I look forward to communicating with you all.

Thanks!

Welcome to RMG everyone! ItÂs really great to be seeing some new faces around here! I donÂt have time for a long post, but weÂre all glad youÂre here and hope youÂll join us in asking questions and in answering questions.

I also want to extend an invitation for all of you newbies to join us at the Fall Swap! ItÂs a good way to meet some of your fellow Rocky Mountain gardenersÂand to score some free plants to take home with you! Check out the swap thread for all the details!

Welcome to each of you,
Skybird