The Steamboat Pilot & Today

Deb Babcock

Deb Babcock's gardening column appears Fridays in Steamboat Today.

With the record snowfall we received this winter, many gardeners have been wondering if spring would ever arrive! We’re ready to begin planting and enjoying some color in our gardens.

I met with Margie Arbogast, a Master Gardener and winner of the Helen Sherrod Award at three Routt County fairs for the many ribbons she has won for growing vegetables at her high-elevation Steamboat Springs home. The purpose was to pick her brains about which vegetables she has experienced the greatest success with and why. Anyone who has won 57 awards for plants and preserves ought to have a pretty good handle on what will grow in a garden that has a short two or three month season from planting through harvest, right?

When we met, Margie brought in a large box of seed packets categorized by leafy greens, crucifers, legumes and root vegetables. Almost all her produce is grown from seed. She doesn’t get things planted until around June 1 when her soil is finally warm enough to promote germination. “I’m usually good into September for harvesting,” she adds.

Among the leafy greens, she’s had excellent luck with ‘Chin-chiang’ Cabbage, a fast growing vegetable with sweet, tender leaves; edible ‘Garland’ Chrysanthemum; Butterhead Lettuce; Curly Cress which looks like sprouts; a celery-flavored parsley called Par-cel; Swiss Chard ‘Bright Lights’ which features red, purple, yellow, pink and orange leaves all on one plant, and a spicy Arugula. Tatsoi is one other oriental green that Margie grows for its delicious leaves as well as its sweet white stalk that also is edible.

“Two greens that people tend to overlook,” says Margie “are collard greens ‘Georgia Southern’ and Kale.” Both grow well here as does Spinach (‘Avon hybrid’, ‘Bloomsdale’, and ‘Long Standing’), Mache ‘Corn Salad’, Lettuce ‘Little Leprechaun Romaine’, ‘Curled Green Endive’, ‘Vivian Romaine’, ‘Amish’ Butterhead, Mesclun, ‘Winter Density’, and ‘Spicy Greens’ mixture.

Among the crucifers Margie recommends are Brussel sprouts ‘Long Island’ picked young. They take a “huge amount of space,” she warns. Also recommended: Broccoli ‘Purple Sprouting’ and ‘Romanesco Veronica’; Cauliflower ‘Snowball’; and Kohlrabi ‘Early White Vienna’. A type of Bok Choy, called ‘Pak Choi’ is another favorite in the Arbogast garden. Purple cauliflower also will grow here.

Bush beans, sugar peas, blue lake beans ‘274’, golden wax beans, sugar snaps and snow peas all do well at our elevation and growing zone. The Scarlet Runner Bean is another plant that adds to the beauty of the garden as well as to its harvest, featuring beautiful orange, red blossoms.

Among the root vegetables that Margie is partial to are ‘Bolina’ carrots which are round, ‘Parmex baby’ round carrots, and the long, red ‘Kuroda’ carrots. Other root vegetables to grow here include parsnips, and radishes (varieties: ‘Daikon White’; ‘Icicle’, ‘Sparkler’, ‘French Breakfast’; ‘White Globe’; ‘Champion’; and ‘Scarlet Globe.’)

Turnips ‘Globe Purple’ and ‘Shogan’ as well as beets ‘Cylindra’ and ‘Kleine’ are good garden choices. Margie reminds us that the greens on turnips and beets are also good to eat.

This is just a highlight of the many vegetables that can be grown successfully in the Steamboat Springs area. Seed packets will tell you when to plant and what to expect in terms of days to maturity. Go pick up some seeds today, and start savoring the idea of fresh vegetables from your own garden this summer.

Deb Babcock is a Master Gardener through the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension office in Routt County. Questions? Call 879-0825 or email: gardeners@co.routt.co.us