Gardeners’ Christmas wish lists

Some kind of greenhouse is on almost every gardener’s wish list. This geodesic design built in Fort Laramie seems to be holding up to Wyoming’s wind. Photo by Barb Gorges.

Gardeners’ Christmas wish lists include tools, vinegar and manure

Published Dec. 15, 2023, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

            I asked Laramie County Master Gardeners what they want for Christmas and received a variety of replies, from tools to greenhouses to sheep manure.

            Manure?!

            Donna Woitaszewski wrote, “My biggest garden wish this year is to have some sheep do-do tilled into my garden spot. I’d take basically any good organic soil-builder but that one comes to mind first. I don’t have a truck, a tiller, or any help to do it, so Santa would need to include that, too.”

            Equally basic, Peggy Zdenek wants wooden posts for installing a fence. Fencing can be so important. Not only does it separate animals and people from tender plants, but solid fences can throw a little shade and act as a windbreak out on the prairie.

            Tools are a popular category. Christine and Steve Johnson garden on a larger scale than many of us, so I’m not surprised by the larger tools in their long list. It’s actually from last year, but now that they’ve tried these items, they highly recommend:

–Raised garden boxes with hoop tops that can be removed

–Automatic timer for the outside faucet  

–Drip system

–Tree spade, (flatter than a shovel)

–Hoss wheel hoe plow and attachments (you push the wheeled plow) 

–Scythe or brush cutter with curved steel blade and two wooden handles from vidaXL.

            Power tools are on the lists of two women. Kathy Juniker says she wants a ‘girl-sized’ garden tiller. “I need to get rid of more turf grass and build more flower beds full of pollinator friendly plants. Digging out that sod by hand is back-breaking! There is a Black and Decker electric tiller that we had at the Boys and Girls Club this spring that I could handle. It’s not that expensive.”

            Rosalind Schliske wrote, “Earlier this year, Keren Meister-Emerich wouldn’t stop raving about her new battery-operated DeWalt pruner. She was so excited that she had filled her husband’s truck so many times with branches to take to the city compost facility.

            “Then in June, the Prairie Garden Club held its cleanup of the grounds at the Historic Governors’ Mansion. Members Jutta Arkan and Martha Mullikin were using their DeWalt pruners to cut back the numerous white roses and other out-of-control bushes around the building. They, too, raved about the pruner, and seeing it in action, I could understand why.

“However, I didn’t wait until Christmas to buy my own. In addition to cutting the usual suspects like lilacs and cotoneaster, it was amazing during fall cleanup on thick-stemmed goldenrods and hollyhocks and even thinner perennials. The lightweight pruner is wonderful for those who us without a lot of hand strength. I think we all would highly recommend the 20v MAX cordless battery-powered pruner (DCPR320).”

            Sabine McClintock hopes her Santa hears her wish for a way to store very long, heavy-duty hoses. And maybe make her a simple board with large nails for holding tools. And find some 30% horticultural vinegar for killing weeds.

            I don’t know if it will work for Sabine, but Suzy Sauls told me about her dream hose from Hoselink. A hundred-foot hose retracts itself into a tidy container the homeowner mounts on a post next to the outside faucet. And the company has fittings for hose ends so they easily snap together, instead of being difficult to twist and then they still leak.

            A greenhouse always makes this list—well, not made of glass in our climate. Marla Smith said, “The only thing on my Santa list is a high tunnel. The ability to extend the season for my flowers and vegetables would give an additional support to everything I enjoy about gardening in these high altitudes!”

            Having heard of at least two high tunnels self-destructing in our wind, I asked Marla if she had heard about the stronger, geodesic dome types. Yes, she had, even helping erect one during last spring’s Bee College at Laramie County Community College. She hasn’t been able to choose between them yet.

            Jutta Arkan, on the other hand, thinks the Master Gardeners could play Santa by contributing a garden-themed bronze to the collection on downtown street corners. She’s even picked out Loveland, Colorado, artist Julie Jones’s “Sweet Moment.”

            If you are tasked with finding a gift for a gardener, consider gardening magazines like “The American Gardener.” Or, a Cheyenne Botanic Gardens membership which gets members into 300 other gardens across the country for free or special rates.

            Or, maybe a gift certificate for an appropriate seed catalog like Pinetree Garden Seeds from Maine. They specialize in vegetables for short growing seasons like ours.

            Or, a big, fat, garden-filled coffee table book to sink into when winter is at its worst.

“Greenhouse in the Snow” tour

Here’s a peek inside the Brights’ “New Greenhouse in the Snow.” Photo courtesy Greenhouse in the Snow.

Geothermal “Greenhouse in the Snow” is popular way to grow fruits and vegetables year round

Published Oct. 13, 2023, in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle.

By Barb Gorges

A greenhouse is at the top of many gardeners’ wish lists in a climate like ours.

Hoop houses are affordable, but our wind can quickly shred them. Plus, greenhouses are expensive to heat if you want to grow through the winter, not just get an early start in spring and extend the season in the fall.

Russ Finch, of Alliance, Nebraska, where winter is even colder than here in Cheyenne, gave the problem some thought about 35 years ago.

First, for heating, he decided to go with geothermal. He’d already tried it and liked it for his home. In our climate, the temperature is a constant 50 degrees at 8 feet below ground level. If you put tubes filled with air (some systems use fluids) down there, you can circulate it to help you warm a structure in winter, or cool one in summer.

Second, he put a third of the greenhouse height below ground level. A conventional greenhouse may have tables at counter height filled with pots of plants, or plants are planted in raised beds or directly in the ground. Russ dug out a 4-foot-deep trench that was 4 feet wide for planting citrus trees. The shoulders on either side, held in place with retaining walls, grow shorter plants.

Conventional greenhouses have glass or other light-conducting coverings all the way around. Russ put a solid wall in on the north side of the long, south-facing structure to conserve heat.

Russ’s “Greenhouse in the Snow,” https://greenhouseinthesnow.com/, worked so well, other people wanted to build one. Eventually, Russ, now in his 90s, partnered with Allen Bright, who has a machine shop in Alliance and can make the overhead trusses from steel.

Laramie County Master Gardener Charles Pannebaker suggested we take a tour of this amazing greenhouse last month, and 13 of us went with him. He is the most likely of us, partnering with his son, to build one.

We toured the “New Greenhouse in the Snow,” built at Allen’s house eight years ago. His wife, Lisa, gave the tour. She has orange, lemon, lime, kumquat, grapefruit and fig trees growing along with pineapples, everbearing strawberries, vegetables and herbs, plus flowers for the bees.

While Russ made it a business taking his produce to the farmers market so people could buy locally-grown citrus, Lisa is more interested in experimenting and gives away surpluses.

Much of Lisa’s information concerned general greenhouse management issues such as how to deal with pests like whiteflies and aphids. She has turtles and toads helping, plus safe sprays. She uses a combination of drip irrigation and spray irrigation on timers.

Some crops can be grown regardless of the season, but others, like tomatoes, require additional lighting in winter because winter days are just not long enough. Lisa does not use supplemental lighting and adjusts her crops seasonally.

While a kit and labor for building this geothermally-heated greenhouse is comparable to a conventional glass one, the difference is that heating and cooling cost very little. A conventional garage heater may have to kick in when temperatures get down to minus 20.

Kits can be ordered for a structure as short as 56 feet long and in 6-foot increments up to 102 feet. Some components you buy locally. You can save on labor if you have your own backhoe and have construction experience.

Ballpark cost for the newest full-length kit is equivalent to one new pickup. Labor would equal a second, fancier truck. But you would save on your grocery bills and could skip the trips to Hawaii you used to take to warm up mid-winter.

Next to the “New Greenhouse in the Snow” at the Brights’ is the “Newest Greenhouse in the Snow” that was still under construction when we toured it.

The idea, Lisa said, is to make this one more accessible and more aesthetically pleasing. The trench is still 4 feet deep, but it is 8 feet wide and the beds on either side are only 3 feet high. The retaining walls have planting pockets in them and there are upright supports that could support hanging baskets and vines.

The north wall is heavily insulated. The 230 feet of geothermal tubes are laid directly under the greenhouse instead of buried in a trench circling it. Solar electric runs the system. The floor is covered in concrete pavers instead of woodchips. The pavers can be removed wherever trees are going to be planted.

It will be interesting to see how the newest version works. Meanwhile, the “new” version is selling like hotcakes, 700 so far. Russ and the Brights have licensed businesses in Canada and France to offer the kits so shipping costs don’t get out of hand. A deal in Australia is pending.