Memorial Day Weekend
Denver Arts Festival, Central Park, May 27 and 28. Art, food trucks, live music, and kids zone. https://denverartsfestival.
Boulder Creek Festival, May 26 – 29, Along the Boulder Creek path, downtown Boulder. Food, bands, 3 entertainment stages, artists, and more. https://bouldercreekfest.com/
BBQ Festival, May 27 and 29, Empower Field at Mile High, Eat and drink your fill of smokin’ barbecue, cocktails, and beer while listening to live bands. https://qbbqdenver.com/
June Events
Farmers Markets start this month. Support your local farmers and enjoy all the varied bounty of summer. https://www.denver.org/things-
Manitou Springs Wine Festival, June 3 in Memorial Park, wine tastings, food trucks, and music. https://manitousprings.
Parker Days Festival, June 8 – 11, Live music, food, and carnival rides. https://parkerdaysfestival.
Strawberry Days Festival. Glenwood Springs, June 16-18. Hometown parade, entertainment, arts and crafts festival, food, free strawberries and ice cream. https://www.
Cherry Blossom Festival. Sakura Square, Denver, June 17 -18, Celebrating Japanese heritage and culture with entertainment, food and drink, and more. https://cherryblossomdenver.
Denver Pridefest, June 24 and 25, 5K run, parade, music, performances, food, and fun.
https://denverpride.org/fest/
Free Days – remember to reserve a space ahead of time.
Denver Botanic Gardens – Tuesday, June 6
Denver Art Museum – Tuesday, June 13
Denver Museum of Nature and Science, free night – Wednesday, June 29, 5-9 pm
For more ideas check out:
https://scfd.org/find-culture/
Before another summer goes by in a blur, take time now to mark off some dates to get out and have fun.
This is a great month for garden tours and plant sales. Take a look at Colorado Gardener Monthly Magazine, https://www.
The recent rain has been a blessing for gardeners. With global warming, record temps, and drier summers it’s time to rethink our water-guzzling, high-maintenance lawns and consider the beauty, resilience, and low maintenance of xeriscape gardening. I am not talking about colored rock here. Check out https://www.denverwater.
Time to finally put in all those tender annuals and vegetables, but keep an eye on nighttime temps. Keep control over weeds and retain moisture in your gardens by adding a generous layer of mulch. Pine needles, straw, bark, cocoa hulls, and other possibilities are available at your garden center. If you are using bark, it will leach nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down so you will need to fertilize.
Start deadheading (removing dead blooms) so you have healthy, bushy plants all summer long, full of flowers. Pinch flower buds off of your herb plants to preserve taste. You can start clipping back your herbs once they have reached a decent size and dry them for your winter pantry.
Garden Centers still have a great assortment of plants that often go on clearance as the heat escalates. Don’t have room or time for a garden? Go with containers. You can grow everything from vegetables and herbs to fragrant flowers and stunning foliage. Try some gallon-size sweet 100’s, a few basil plants, and some edible flowers like nasturtiums. I like to buy larger pots of annuals and plant them in interesting combinations in a large container. Voila! Instant garden. Container gardens don’t take a lot of time, planning, or wedding; just make sure you have good drainage and quality potting soil.
For your rusty garden tools, spray them down with white vinegar, cover them loosely and let them sit overnight. Scrub them down with steel wool, oil them, and voila! Like new.
Nasturtiums
Nasturtiums are one of my favorite edible flowers. This easy-to-grow, fragrant and tasty little plant is a must for every sunny garden.
The flowers come in hot colors from red to orange and yellow. Easy to start from seed. It likes a sunny location, well-drained soil, and moderate water.
Use the beautiful little flowers for their peppery taste to garnish salads, platters, cheeses, open-face sandwiches, appetizers, and any cold dish. The leaves are also edible.
Stuffed Nasturtium Blooms
cream cheese or soft goat cheese
fresh herbs of choice, basil, dill, marjoram, thyme, savory will all work well
fresh nasturtium blooms
Mix the herbs with the cheese and gently insert a scoop into each blossom. Serve alone or on top of dressed salad greens or to garnish your favorite pasta dish.
Chickweed - Stellaria media
With all the moisture we’ve had recently the chickweed is abundant this year. Chickweed is a high-nutrient, edible weed that is one of the first plants to appear in the spring. It likes a cool, moist environment and is gone once the hot weather arrives.
I have used chickweed for salads, pesto, and as a soup and casserole ingredient, though I prefer to use it fresh. Chickens also enjoy chickweed, thus the name.
Medicinally chickweed is a soothing skin herb that you can add to oils and salves. I have also used it mashed with some water into a paste to relieve pink eye. Put the fresh herb paste wrapped in cheesecloth over the afflicted eye. Let sit for 5-7 minutes to draw out the inflammation.
Use chickweed in recipes as a replacement for spinach. Make 100 % sure you have identified it correctly and don’t collect from a contaminated or sprayed area.
