Spring for the Golden Plains

Spring is more like fall this year.  Wet heavy snow and temperatures below freezing, sometimes dipping into the teens.  Gardeners here are anxiously awaiting for warmer temperatures to start their vegetable gardens.  This year the last spring frost will be as late as May 20th.  In the meantime, garlic is coming up and the moisture is good for the early development of the bulbs.  This is also true of onions.  Snow will not damage either.  If you had the presence of mind to plant spinach at the end of last season, this moisture would have given you a wonderful crop.  So as we wait for warmer season crops, sit back and enjoy the rain, ice and snow. 

This picture was taken outside the Phillips County Event Center in Phillips County Fairgrounds.  The early warm temperatures forced most of the early season daffodils into bloom.   Then came the snow and temperatures below freezing and the daffodils never lasted more than a day.   Be sure to plan on these extreme weather events and plant early, middle and late blooming bulbs.   Happy spring!

Spice up your life with herbs

January is the time to sit back with all your catalogs and add plants that add flavor to your cooking: herbs. If you do not want a separate herb garden, then plan the herbs of your choice in areas where you have empty space.  While doing this, keep in mind the requirement for caring for herbs is full-sun and well-drained soils.  Herbs make good companion plants that contribute to the health and flavor of other plants as well as repel insects.

Once your herbs are planted, keep cutting them frequently in the first stage of their growth called the leaf stage.  Harvesting herbs at the right stage is very important with a few exceptions.  Picking your herbs at the leaf stage gives you the opportunity to capture optimal flavors.  If you wait until the second stage of growth, the flowering stage, the leaves slow down or stop growing.  Once the leaves slow, the taste changes and they can yellow.  The tastes can change to grassy, woody and bitter.  Who would want to eat herbs at this point?  Flowers do have their purpose.  At the flowering stage, some herbs are used as fragrant garnishes for salads or deserts.   

What can herbs do for you besides add flavor to your food?  Herbs are a natural food.  Food that has nutrients, enzymes, proteins, vitamins and minerals which your body uses.  Eat well and you have a better chance of staying well. So why not add herbs to your garden for fragrance and to enhance the flavor of the foods you love and add nutrients to your diet from a fresh food.
What herbs should you add to your garden?  The kitchen herbs are the basic essential herbs for cooking.  There are eight essential kitchens or culinary herbs: basil, coriander/cilantro, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, tarragon and thyme.  Basil, cilantro and rosemary are all annuals.  Mint, oregano, sage, tarragon and thyme are perennials. 

Basil is an annual which you can easily reseed in the garden each year.  It is a very aromatic herb which can be used as a culinary herb, condiment or spice.  The best way to use basil is fresh, or if not fresh, then dried.  During the growing season, it is important to keep basil watered on a regular basis.  Basil is intolerant of water stress.  It is also best to keep cutting basil.  The first main cuts should remove up to half the stem.  And keep pruning to keep the basil bushy.  If you wish to plant basil in the vegetable garden, it will improve the flavor and growth of tomato plants.  Repelling thrips, flies and mosquitoes, basil is also beneficial for peppers, oregano, asparagus and even petunias.

Coriander aka Chinese Parsley is often mistaken for parsley and easily reseeds itself each year in the garden.  With this herb, Cilantro refers to the leaves and Coriander refers to the seeds of the plant.  The leaves are best used fresh, added to the dish before serving.  When the leaves are dried or frozen they spoil rapidly.  The seeds are used in cooking as well.  As a member of the carrot family, coriander using this in the vegetable garden to repel aphids, spider mites and potato beetles.
 
Mint is a perennial herb which can be very aggressive in the garden.  Create an underground barrier or place the mint in an area where it can go wild.  Some of the mints are hardy, such as peppermint which can grow in zone 3.  Spearmint, on the other hand, tolerates the heat best in zone 11.  Mint can be used in teas, with lamb, added to fruits such as berries and melons, and even vegetables such as beans, carrots, potatoes and peas.  If you wish to use mint in the vegetable garden, you can use cuttings of the plant around any member of the brassica family which would be cabbage, cauliflower and kale.  Mint deters a number of pests including cabbage moths, ants, rodents, flea beetles, fleas, aphids and improves the health of tomatoes and cabbage.  The flowers of mint attract hover flies and predatory wasps.

Oregano is a perennial which can seed itself in your garden.  The ideal soil is well-drained and slightly alkaline with full-sun exposure.  Oregano is a slow grower.  It is good to keep the soil free of weeds around the plant to help oregano get established.  Like Basil, keeping the plants pruned will keep them bushy and full.  If you wish to plant oregano amongst your vegetables, it is very versatile.  It can be beneficial for most all crops, especially cabbage.

Rosemary is difficult to start from seed.  It is best to take cuttings of this every year to keep inside for the winter.  Rosemary will not tolerate our cold winter temperatures.  A temperature of 30 degrees Fahrenheit is about the lowest temperature before the plants are damaged.   Rosemary can be used to enhance any food.  The key words are any food.  Rosemary is often added to meats, but is equally great with salads and desserts.  So add rosemary to lamb, veal, rabbit, poultry, fish, eggs, pickles, fruits, jellies, jams and cookies.  If you wish to use rosemary in amongst your vegetable plants, they deter cabbage moths, bean beetles, and carrot flies.  So place your rosemary next to cabbage, carrots, and beans.

Sage is another strongly flavored herb that is a perennial which requires slightly alkaline, well-drained soil and full-sun.  Every spring sage needs to be pruned back.  Take away half of each stem.  This way it will retain a bushy habit.  For its culinary uses, sage can be used in salads and omelets.  Since sage is a rather strong flavored herb like rosemary, the best way to use it is lightly, if you have no experience with it.  To use sage lightly, we need to use the younger leaves and sometimes you may want to use only 1/3 of the leaf.  For those with experience in using sage, using the older leaves will bring its strongest flavor out in cooking.  If you wish to plant it in the vegetable garden, sage deters cabbage moths, flea beetles, beetles and carrot flies.  So plant it next to broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and carrots.

Tarragon is a perennial herb with an aromatic smell similar to anise.  It is an herb that is difficult to grow from seed.  It is best grown from a root division.  If tarragon is not divided regularly, the roots can choke the itself out.  Besides that, it thrives on neglect.  Our climate of hot and dry in the summer is what tarragon prefers.  Tarragon is one of the basic herbs used by the French in their cooking.  Tarragon is used with chicken, fish, lasagna and eggs.  The most interesting characteristic of tarragon is its scent and taste.  Insects dislike both, so tarragon is used as a companion plant.  Tarragon has the ability to enhance both flavor and growth of nearby vegetables in the garden.

Thyme is a perennial herb that can be picked at any time of the year, but as one of the exceptions, the best time is when it is in bloom.  It prefers full-sun and well-drained soil.  It can be easily started from seed, stem cuttings or division.  Thyme is used in soups, sauces, poultry stuffing, fish and other meats.  Thyme can be dried or frozen without damaging the quality of the herb.  Thyme is said to deter cabbage worms, if you choose to use it as a companion with cabbage in the vegetable garden.

The Origin of Christmas Trees

Christmas Trees     Ever wonder about the origin of the Christmas Tree?  According to the National Christmas Tree Association, the earliest written record of a Christmas Tree was in Riga, Latvia in 1510.  A local group of merchants decorated a tree with artificial roses which they associated with the Virgin Mary and then set fire to it.    The first evidence of a Christmas Tree in the United States was not until the earliest German settlers.  The early pilgrims in 1620 had orthodox beliefs.  Christmas was not an official federal holiday until 1870 after the American Revolution.  But slightly prior to that in 1851 Christmas Trees were sold commercially.  The first President credited for bringing the Christmas Tree to the White House as decoration was Franklin Pierce.  Today, the White House has 57 decorated trees.  In fact it was not until 1966, that the National Christmas Tree Association presented their Grand Champion grower’s tree to the First Lady.  The first tree to be displayed in the Blue Room was during President Lyndon Johnson’s term.  This tree was grown by Howard Pierce of Black River Falls, Wisconsin.    In 1901, Theodore Roosevelt was so concerned about the destruction of our forests that he tried to stop the practice of Christmas Trees.  His own sons fought against this argument and got the support of Gifford Pinchot a conservationist of the day to support the theory that thinning the forests was helpful and not harmful.    Today, approximately 25-30 million trees are sold and most all come from Christmas Tree plantations.  To save from cutting live trees, the first company to sell an artificial tree was Sears, Roebuck and Company around 1883.  They offered a tree with 33 limbs for $.50 and 55 limbs for $1.00.  Despite the availability of artificial trees people begin to decimate the natural supply of evergreens.  Popular magazines of the day, published articles to encourage people to purchase artificial trees instead.    In 1901, the first Christmas Tree farm was started in New Jersey by W.V. McGalliard where 25,000 Norway Spruce were planted.  In 1930, President Franklin D. Roosevelt started a Christmas Tree farm on his estate in Hyde Park, New York.    So in preservation of Christmas Trees, if you purchase a live tree, you could take cuttings off the tree and root them to start even more trees.  You could purchase a live tree in a container.  Not all trees down through history started at floor to ceiling in height, but rather were table top and up to four feet in height.  Or you could just purchase an artificial tree and conserve our shrinking habitat.  After all it is the “Going Green” and Sustainability Era.

More on Water Conservation

How could you conserve water?  Colorado State University has a fact sheet titled, "Water Conservation in and Around the Home" by R. Waskom and M. Neibauer. 

Did you know that when you operate a conventional washing machine you use between 35 and 50 gallons per load?  Do you only use the washer when there is a full load?  Do you select the minimum water volume per load?

Did you know that a newer front-loading machine uses between 18 and 20 gallons per load?

Did you know running the dishwasher when its full can save you up to 1,000 gallons of water?


Did  you know that a leaky faucet can waste anywhere from 192 gallons/month to 429 gallons/month?                    

• 60 drops/minute = 192 gallons/month
• 90 drops/minute = 210 gallons/month
• 120 drops/minute=429 gallons/month

These and other interesting household water use information can be found at the following web address:  http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/pubs.html

Or type in Colorado State University Extension Website and click on Fact Sheets and Publications.  Once you are on the fact sheet page, then click on the topic heading titled - water. 

I encourage you to read and do your part to conserve a very precious commodity.  We need to conserve water in drought and at all times for our future generations.  We need to keep our water clean as well. 

How much water do you use on your lawn?

This information is based on research and provided to inform people and raise awareness.  I hope that it encourages everyone including homeowners, lawn maintenance services and landscapers to be more aware of how much water is used.  In times of significant drought, I would hope that we would aim to be conservative with our resources and therefore better stewards of the earth for future generations. 


When considering how much water you use on your lawn, it is based on the type of grass you plant. The following is a breakdown based on three main types of grasses:

Kentucky Bluegrass:  1/2" every third day

over 5,000 square feet = 1,500 gal/watering = 18,500 gal/month

Turf-type tall fescue: 1/2" twice/week

over 5,000 square feet = 1,500 gal/watering = 12,500 gal/month

Buffalo grass: 1/2" every 2 weeks

over 5,000 square feet = 1,500 gal/watering = 3,000 gal/month


These figures are from Denver Water published in 2003. The above picture is a lawn established with buffalo grass taken by the area horticulturist.

A Favorite Fall Perennial

Here it is at the end of October and we have fall color of blue flowers along with its striking bronze-red foliage. A great herbaceous perennial with a common name of Leadwort which grows to 6 to 10 inches tall with a phlox-like flower and spreads to cover a foot to a foot and a half of area. Its botanical name is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides. This perennial tolerates clay soil, but it will not tolerate continuous wet soils that are not well-drained. It is truely low maintenance. You will not need to deadhead the flowers or cut the stems back to the ground. What could be more ideal? It grows in zones five through nine. It is not a native since its country of origin is China. An ideal location will be in a sunny to partly sunny area. The picture was taken in such a location. The area receives morning sun and by two o'clock in the afternoon this perennial is in shade. In the spring this perennial is late to leaf-out. You might think it is dead and then it springs to life. This plant would do well under trees that allow the plant to receive afternoon shade. It helps with erosion control and would do well on slopes. It will be beneficial to grow in rock gardens and in your herbaceous border amongst bulbs. Give this perennial a try.

Fall Crocus, Fall Color

Crocus speciosus 'Oxonian' with its deep violet blue flowers and darker veins will add some rich color to your garden. Just when you think everything is finished flowering. There are a number of different species that will bloom from September into December. They need to be planted in a protected area with some sun and some shade and a light covering of mulch. The Crocus speciosus 'Oxonian' grows in zones 4-9. Enjoy the color.

Best Trees Suited For Northeast Colorado

What is one of the most popular questions asked in our area? What trees grow best in our area is one of the most asked questions. From traveling over the last several years through the Golden Plains area, we have a good variety of tree species that do well throughout our area. But to determine what grows best in your landscape, it is recommended to do a soil test and determine the exposure of the location you wish to plant a tree. These two factors have the most bearing on how well the tree will do. When these two factors are the most compatible to the tree’s requirements, your tree will have a healthy start and with any unforeseen environmental stresses will stay healthy. Bur oaks are one of those trees. But no one wants to wait a lifetime to see it grow even to a decent height of 20 feet. Bur oaks have the largest acorns of all the native oaks according to the National Forest Service. This tree is easy to grow. It grows on dry uplands and sandy plains or fertile limestone soils and moist bottomlands. The bur oak wood is a hardwood and is marketed as white oak. The bur oak’s range is vast. It grows in eastern United States and the Great Plains. It is the most drought resistant of all the North American oaks. After this summer’s drought and heat, you need a tree that can endure. Bur oaks have been known to hybridize with nine other oak species. These are white, swamp white, gambel, overcup, swamp chestnut, chinkapin, English, post and live oak. Littleleaf Linden trees are moderately drought tolerant in comparison to bur oaks. The Littleleaf Linden can grow to about 60 feet high by 40 feet wide. They have a wide range of soil where they will grow well. Sandy soil, loam, clay, acidic, alkaline, well-drained and occasionally wet. Other than being susceptible to verticillium wilt, Littleleaf Lindens do not have any serious diseases. Many trees are susceptible to verticillium wilt particularly maples. Verticillium wilt can cause dieback of branches and death to the entire tree. This is a soil-borne fungus. Once inside the tree this fungus blocks the conductive tissue so that water cannot flow through the limb(s) and then wilts. The tree may have other symptoms beforehand such as slow growth, small yellow foliage, and scorching and heavy seed crops as chronic symptoms. Acute symptoms can be leaf curling, drying, red or yellow between the leaf veins, wilting and dieback. Powdery mildew and anthracnose are leaf diseases and can be easily controlled. Powdery mildew is a white coating caused by a fungus on the leaf. Anthracnose is also a fungus which has a red-purple margin around a tan/brown area. The American Sentry Linden is a smaller size linden which can grow to 40 feet high and 25 feet wide with a narrow straight trunk. All Lindens share in the characteristic where their limbs tend to droop or curve towards the ground, especially the lower limbs. A lot of people favor the honeylocust. The most popular is the Thornless Honeylocust ‘Shademaster’ which gets to a height of 50’ with a width of 40’. People favor these types of trees because they are fast growing and want the shade to cover their yard quickly. However, there is a down side of a short-life span and weak limbs. Weak limbed trees do not withstand ice and snow storms or high winds. But despite this fact, the honeylocust has been used for windbreaks. And lucky for us with our alkaline soils, honeylocust do well in soils with a pH of 6.0 to 8.0. Honeylocust are also used for erosion control. This tree has become so widely used that it is used as a replacement for the American Elm. Another better replacement for the American Elm is Zelkova serrata, the Japanese Zelkova is also in the elm family and is rated as hardy in zone 5. I have seen only one of these in our area and it is growing in town in Burlington, Colorado. If you have lots of honeylocust and own a farm or ranch, your cattle and/or hogs may readily eat the fruits of honeylocust. The honeylocust is in the legume family and produces long bean pods at the end of the season. The beans in these pods contain about 12 to 13 percent protein. Other livestock will eat the young vegetative growth according to the National Forest Service. There is a high competition for the fruits since gray squirrels, fox squirrels, white-tailed deer, bobwhite, starlings, crows and opossum feed on these fruits as well. Other trees to consider are trees in the Plant Select® Program. A smaller tree that does well in our area is a Russian Hawthorn, Crataegus ambigua . This tree will be stay in the height range of 12 to 24 feet with a width of 6 to 12 feet. It requires moderate to xeric water. It will grow in soils that are sand, clay or loam. This tree has attractive bark, foliage and flowers. The fruit which is eaten by birds is a red fruit in the fall. The leaves have a golden color in fall. The Seven-Son Flower, Heptacodium miconioides is another small tree with a height ranging from 12 to 20 feet with a width of eight to 15 feet. The water requirement is moderate. The soil requirement is sandy or loam soil. The best attraction for this tree is the fragrant white flowers that bloom late in summer and then the persistent cherry-red sepals in the fall. This is a fast-growing tree. This is unusual member of the honeysuckle family which is very adaptable in a wide range of climates. This tree is not native, but collected at Hangzhou Botanical Garden during the 1980 Sino-American Expedition. Lastly, another Plant Select® tree, Clear Creek® Golden Yellowhorn, Xanthoceras sorbifolium ‘Psgan’ will grow to a height of 18 to 22 feet and a width of 10 to 15 feet. The water requirement is moderate to xeric. The soil requirement is garden loam, clay or sandy soil. This has white flowers with yellow centers that turn maroon. The leaves are ferny. The tree/shrub develops into a vase-shaped habit. This is especially hardy. This strain was developed at Green Acres Nursery in Golden, Colorado. This is a fast growing tree. With this small selection of trees listed in this article, they can make a spectacular landscape. The more variation you add in your landscape, the better the chance will be to keep your landscape healthy and not be devastated when a host or disease comes along and wipes out the only variety of tree you planted such as the elm.

Indoor plants and their effect on cleaner air

NASA and the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA)  collaborated in a joint study based on fifteen indoor plants.   Dr. Bill Wolverton, a former research scientist of NASA,  lead a team of researchers for two years testing house plants and their effect on removing indoor pollutants from homes and offices.

The three main pollutants present in homes and offices are the following:

• Benzene
• Formaldehyde
• Trichloroethylene

Where do these pollutants originate?  Our furnishings, office equipment and building materials.

• Benzene found in gasoline, inks, oils, paints, plastics and rubber as well as in the manufacturing of detergents, explosives, pharmaceuticals and dyes.
• Formaldehyde found in particle board, urea-formaldehyde foam insulation (UFFI), in consumer products treated with UF resins such as grocery bags, waxed papers, facial tissues and paper towels.  These UF resins are used as stiffeners, wrinkle resisters, water repellents, fire retardants and adhesive binders in floor coverings, carpet backings and permanent-press clothes.  In addition, formaldehyde is also in heating and cooking fuels like natural gas, kerosene and cigarette smoke.

Different plants help remove different pollutants.  Here is a listing of what each of the plants do:

• English Ivy, Dracaena marginata "Janet Craig", Dracaena "Warneckei", Chrysanthemum, Gerbera Daisy and Peace lilies removes benzene.  Peace lilies also remove carbon monoxide from the air.
• Philodendron, Spider plant, Golden Pothos, Bamboo palm, Corn plant, Chrysanthemum and Mother-in-law's tongue removes formaldehyde.
• Gerbera Daisy, Chrysanthemum, Peace lily, Dracaena "Warneckei" and Dracaena marginata

Decorate your offices and homes with plants.  Now, I know what you are thinking, that you would probably kill the plant with forgetting to water it or not enough light.  Well, you are in luck. 

Low-light level--  Corn plant, Pothos, Bamboo Palm, Mother-in-law's tongue and Chinese Evergreens.  All these plants need for low-level light is a north-facing window or less than 50 foot candles.  This translates into two feet from a north-facing window from April to September or if using a south-facing window six to ten feet back from the window or one foot to the side April to September.

Medium-light level-- Dracaena, Philodendron, Peace lily all take 500 to 1,000 foot candles or two feet of a north-facing window from April to September and two to six feet back or one foot to the side of an east or west-facing window.

High-light level-- Spider plant, Chrysanthemum and Gerbera Daisy all take over a 1,000 foot candles or two feet from a south-facing window from October to March and two feet from an east or west-facing window all year.

Watering requirements for these plants is fairly easy.   Wait for the soil to become dry before watering again.  However, there are two exceptions to this general rule.  Philodendron likes to be  moist, but well drained.   You should reduce the water in winter with a Philodendron.  Chrysanthemum likes to be watered regularly and kept evenly moist. 

Fertilization requirements for these plants vary depending on light levels and their genetic make-up.    

Chrysanthemums need fertilization if there are no blooms on the plant.  Fertilize once every other week until blooms develop. 
Philodendrons are heavy feeders.  Fertilizing at half strength and feeding on a regular schedule will keep them healthy.
Spider plants need fertilizer every two months in high light and every three months in medium light.
Corn plants only need fertilization in spring and through the summer once or twice a month and then no fertilizer during the winter months.
Pothos require the same fertilization schedule as corn plants.
Dracaena plants require fertilization in spring and summer once or twice a month and then once a month in the fall and no fertilizer during the winter months.
Bamboo palms require fertilization in spring and continue through the fall.  Do this once a month and no fertilization in the winter.
Mother-in-law's tongue requires fertilization in spring through the fall and then no fertilization in the winter.
Peace lilies need a regular monthly fertilization throughout the year.  Brown spots on the leaves is an indication of over-fertilization.
Gerber daisies need a fertilization of every other week.  They can last up to six months indoors.
Chinese evergreens need a regular fertilization once a month from spring through fall and then no winter fertilization.

Vegetable gardening in September and October

Tasks for September:

Harvesting!  Most vegetables are at their best for a short period of time.  This means the vegetables are palatable and have nutrition.  

• Peas, corn, beans and cucumbers are at their best for a short time.Harvest peas when the pods are full.  Beans are harvested when the pods are tender.  This means do not let the beans get too large.  Corn should be in the milk stage.  Cucumbers are best when harvested at a small size. 
• With radishes, beets, carrots and turnips, they should be picked also at a small size. 
• Parsnip can be left in the ground for winter. 
• If you have cauliflower, tie the leaves over top as soon as the head starts to form. 
•  As for broccoli, as soon as the head is compact it is time to harvest.  Remember, light frosts improve the taste of your broccoli. 
• If your summer squash is still growing, harvest when it is small and tender. If your endless Zucchini is still producing pick when the fruit is 6-8 inches long.  With winter squash and pumpkins, apply the thumb nail test before picking.  If your thumb nail can puncture the skin, your winter squash or pumpkins are not ready.
• Don't forget how nutritious and delicious beet and turnip greens are.  

 A critical tip while harvesting your vegetables:

• Cutting and bruising your vegetables will cause decay to occur faster.
• Lettuce, radishes, tender carrots and greens can be crisped by plunging them into cold water immediately after harvesting.

Tasks for October:

Understanding storage conditions for your vegetables will keep your harvested vegetables from spoiling.   Store vegetables in a dark place.  Check frequently for spoilage.  Using a basement storage area or room and/or an outdoor storage cellar.

• Harvest and store your root crops in October.
• Clean the garden of any refuse such as leaves and stems.
• Harvest and store pumpkins after the frost nips the vines and before the pumpkins are frosted.
• Mulch your parsnips by placing a few inches of dirt or leaves over the row.
• Onions can be stored in netted bags or on trays in outbuildings that do not get to freezing temperatures.

Critical tips for storing your vegetables:

•  Keep a storage chart handy for vegetables and fruits.  Refer to a local Extension Service, they should have access to a chart for temperature and relative humidity requirements.
• Correct temperatures for proper storage will lengthen the storage for your vegetables.  Purchase and outdoor thermostat for the storage area.
• Correct humidity will maintain freshness and help prevent some of the shriveling.  Purchase a simple humidity gauge for the storage area.

Requirements for storage area:

• Chose a place with at least one window for ventilation and with the ability to block out the light.
• A basement with a furnace is good for ripening green tomatoes at 65 degrees, but not ideal for vegetable storage.
• Store apples and pears in a separate area from vegetables since they release a large amount of ethylene gas.   Secondly, fruits absorb odors from vegetables such as potatoes and turnips.

Both fruits and vegetables can be stored on shelves or in wooden crates or boxes.  If you have flooring that will allow you to place an inch or two deep of sand, this will help you keep the humidity up.  You can moisten the sand on a regular basis.  A number of fruits and vegetables need 90 to 95% humidity.  Some fruits and vegetables that need this high humidity are as follows:

Apples, Apricots, Blackberries, Blueberries, Peaches, Peas, Sweet Peppers, Radishes, Rhubarb, Spinach, Corn, Cucumber to name a few.

Other Alternative Storage Methods:

A second refrigerator, an unheated garage are other areas to consider for storage.  In ground storage can take many forms including burying a metal or plastic garbage can with straw and plastic bags around the produce for insulation purposes and odor absorption.

This is all another type of food preservation to enjoy the "fruits" of your labors throughout the year and save on the grocery bill.