The newly acquired barred rock chicks, pictured here from ... · The newly acquired barred rock chicks, ... Those balls of fluff grew into teen-age chickens, a painfully awkward stage

T he chickens really couldnt care less, but its their birth-days. Yes, the Chick-en Five are 1 year old!Im celebrating, because

this is important. I tried to make them celebrate, too, but they are immune to the

joys of pointy hats and noise-makers. Theyre downright terrified of balloons is that

a rotund hawk? Take cover! and to be honest, theyd rather eat a pile of squirming earwigs than a cake. Meh.

Maybe Im a little senti-mental here, but the first birthday is a significant mile-stone, as many of my friends with children will attest. The first birthday means Im not a terrible chicken mommy. Theyre still alive! And still laying eggs! And they gen-erally seem to enjoy doing their little chicken things in the chicken McMansion, when theyre not scratching around for bugs, mutilat-ing my garden and flinging themselves off our hammock like its a roller coaster.

HOME & GARDENHOMEGROWN

Help! I think my sycamore tree has borers. The leaves are fine and the tree looks good, but the bark is peeling off in big pieces all over my yard. Whats going on, and how can I stop it?

CatherineThough I can understand your

concern, the peeling bark isnt really anything to worry about.

Sycamores tend to shed their outer bark as part of their growing process. While it can make a real mess as it oc-curs, it doesnt damage the tree and actually adds to the over-all beauty of the

trunk as it matures. The shedding bark actually adds to the ornamental quality of the tree.

We have an area of low junipers, 8 to 12 inches tall that are getting a lot of grass growing up in the middle. Is there a nifty chemical that will kill grass but not the ever-greens?

DaveTheres a product called Fertilome

Over the Top that would do the trick for you. It kills grasses without harming broad-leaved plants.

Spray it well on the grass and do it a second time 1014 days later. Be patient with this product. It will take a week or more for the grass to start to yellow, but it really does the job.

Can you recommend a variety of strawberry that will be ever-bear-ing in our location (elevation 5,300 feet)? I am of the opinion that alti-tude, latitude and temperature all have an effect on the ever-bearing qualities of strawberries. For this or other reasons we have had difficulty finding a good ever-bearing variety.

NormanThere are three main groups

of strawberries available to you, June-bearers, ever-bearers and day- neutrals.

June-bearers fruit over several weeks in the spring, usually in June. June-bearers tend to bear heavier crops than the other types of strawberry and are the best choice for making jams and jellies since they set large crops of berries that ripen at the same time.

However, June-bearing strawberries are not as cold-hardy as the other types and are sometimes damaged or lost be-cause of low wintertime temperatures.

Ever-bearers generally produce two main crops (spring and fall), but yield less than a single spring crop from a June-bearer. Ever-bearers produce few-er runners and are considered hardier than June-bearers.

The first two groups of strawberries set flower buds in response to a partic-ular day length. Day-neutral strawber-ries are able to flower and fruit under any day length conditions.

They theoretically will produce fruit from spring through fall with several peaks throughout the season. However, temperatures above 70 degrees will inhibit flower bud formation.

As it gets hotter around here, pro-duction will slow and usually stop for a month or so during the heart of summer. You can increase production in the summer by shading your plants. Day-neutrals generally form fewer run-ners than June-bearers but more than Ever-bearers.

Being a bit higher in elevation should help with your strawberry production. We carry two varieties: Quinault, an ever-bearer, and Eversweet, which is a day-neutral.

I want to put in a strawberry bed. Can I plant different kinds of straw-berries, and can I plant asparagus with the strawberries?

NancyYou can mix different varieties of

strawberries in the same patch, but Id steer away from planting asparagus there. I think you may run into water-ing problems down the line.

Strawberries want a regular supply of water while asparagus does better with a more infrequent soaking.

We run into this problem when peo-ple plant rhubarb in their strawberry patch. They go great together in a pie, but they are not that compatible in the garden.

I suggest finding a separate spot for each so you can match the watering to the individual needs of the plants.

Dennis Hill is the nursery manager at Bookcliff Gardens, bookcliffgardens.com. Send questions to Bookcliff Gardens, 755 26 Road, Grand Junction 81506; or email [email protected].

Sycamores peeling bark nothing to worry about

DENNIS HILL

LIFE WITH CHICKENS, ONE YEAR LATER

WEST LIFE

The newly acquired barred rock chicks, pictured here from one year ago, are doing well and laying eggs. The chickens have become a cheap source of hilarious entertainment.

Photos by ERIN MCINTYRE/Special to the SentinelWhat started with persuading the husband to allow an urban chicken experiment has turned into one full year of learning and enjoying living with chickens.

Weve learned a lot during first year of poultry experiment

If you recall, Hubby finally caved in to this grand poultry experiment after enduring three years of pester-ing from yours truly. Im very per-sistent, and he finally said, FINE! which I interpreted as, Absolutely! Yes, dear!

This victory came after I suffi-ciently weakened him with a diet of rice and beans on the Armageddon Pantry Challenge and we dealt with the Worm Massacre of 2013, in which 2,000 worms perished (RIP, worms).

A year later, he loves the chickens. Yes, I said LOVES because he really does, deep down. Maybe he just loves Little Geri, who went through a slight identity crisis when we thought she was actually Little Jerry and just turned out to be a very masculine hen after all.

But he loves them enough to deal with chicken manure, and I argue that a commitment to dealing with another living beings manure over a period of time is evidence of love. You can find

this in many relationships, evidently.It hasnt always been pretty. Living

things die. Sometimes brutally, like when your jealous dog murders one of the chickens in front the neighbors. I still think that poor, mentally chal-lenged chicken was sentenced to be buried in the corner of the yard when she was so unfortunately named (RIP, Dumbass). OK, so Hubby didnt love all the chickens, its true.

But overwhelmingly, the urban chicken experiment has been a success. Learning about chickens is fascinating. Ive met people who know a lot more about chickens than I do, who have pro-vided invaluable advice and let me pick their brains.

While eggs are an obvious plus to keeping chickens, some other rewards came as a surprise. It turns out that chickens are a cheap source of hilarious entertainment. We could watch them all day long, puttering about their little chicken routines. We dont even have cable TV, we just sit in the backyard and watch our animated lawn ornaments.

Yes, they eat bugs. Yes, they eat weeds. Yes, they provide a constant source of fertilizer. But more than anything, the chickens have taught me a lesson I enjoy learning over and over again: There is a certain satisfaction one feels when you harvest something from your own yard. When you know where the food you are eating came from, it draws you to your surroundings.

Somehow it connects the dots for me, and makes that food more valuable in the sense that I appreciate what it took for it to get here, on my dining table.

So heres to a year, I raise my plate of scrambled eggs to you, dear chickens. Happy Birthday to Little Geri, Ofeibeia, Eleanor Rigby, Pollo Kata and Nugget. Youre an experiment worth continuing.

Erin McIntyre is an advanced mas-ter gardener, writer and Grand Valley native. Please email her at [email protected] with story ideas or feedback.

A chicken holds a sign celebrating its first birthday. (The chicken is not actually Little Geri. Little Geri wouldnt cooperate).

The Daily Sentinel Saturday, July 5, 2014 8A

Its a GIRL!I feel like hanging some balloons on the mailbox and crocheting a tiny pink blankie. Yes, the much-anticipated reveal of our chickens gender happened a mere 165 days into our grand experiment with backyard poultry farming.

The definitive evidence: beauti-ful, speckled brown eggs. One from each chicken, which means there have been five eggs so far.

In case you missed it, Hub-by and I have been urban

chicken farmers since last summer, when I brought home six little balls of peeping fluff.

Those balls of fluff grew into teen-age chickens, a painfully awkward stage for fowl and humans alike. One poor, unfortunate chicken met an untimely demise during an encounter with our dog. The surviving Chicken Five feathered out into adult barred rock chickens, complete with zebra stripes. Throughout this maturation, the gender of one chicken in particu-lar hung in limbo.

Little Jerry, the most aggressive and most colorful chick, perplexed us

all. Yes, Little Jerry was large and in charge. Yes, Little Jerrys comb was bigger and his/her legs were sturdier (a trademark of roosters). Yes, Little Jerry just looked different.

I purposely bought sexed chicks, which is accurate about 90 percent of the time. The odds were not really in

our favor for avoiding a rooster.But miraculously, Little Jerry is

actually Little Geri (short for Geral-dine). We can now stop referring to her as it, he/she, or Pat, from Saturday Night Live.

For a while there, I was a little worried we might be dealing with a weird situation. Like the time my lab partners and I dissected a frog in biology and it turned out to have both male and female organs (so confusing, but fascinating). I wasnt really keen on raising a hermaphroditic chicken. I wondered if our poor little chicken was confused. She didnt really fit in with the other girls, so maybe that was causing her bullying behavior. One day he was clearly a rooster, the next, maybe she was just a re-ally masculine hen?

I had no idea this kind of barnyard gender bending took place.

Seriously, discovering those eggs in the nesting box was like an early Christmas present. We were gone for 10 days on vacation, and I suspected the hens might lay their first egg while we were away.

But, they waited for us to return. That morning, Hubby was changing out their frozen water and noticed the chickens were making new noises.

Those chickens are going crazy out there. Little Jerry is making all kinds of noise, he said.

It was so loud, I didnt even have to step out the back door. Little Jerry was raising some kind of ruckus in the coop, a new kind of noise that sounded urgent. A noise that seemed to be part surprise, part relief and part celebration. Bawk-bawk ba-KAWK! It was a look-what-I-did, thank-gawd-thats-over kind of noise.

Ohmigod. I think thats an egg-lay-ing sound! I said. Dont ask me how I knew. I suspect I was reaching back in my mind to an old Looney Tunes VHS tape I used to watch with my siblings, which featured twitterpated cartoon chickens comically laying mountains of eggs when roosters crooned at them.

Sure enough, perfect little brown eggs lay in the nesting box. Hubby was so excited. Every doubt he ever had about having chickens vanished when he produced the loot from his coat pockets.

Of course, the most exciting thing about discovering that Little Geri is, in fact, a hen, is the fact that well get more eggs. The girls are starting to earn their keep around here and boy, is that exciting!

Erin McIntyre is an advanced mas-ter gardener, writer and Grand Valley native. Please email her at [email protected] with story ideas or feed-back.


Im planning ahead and want to put in a privacy hedge of New Mexico privet. I would like it to be dense and plan to let it grow naturally and unpruned. How far apart should I space the plants?

JosephActually, the answer to your

question depends a bit on the look you are trying to achieve and how patient you are.

New Mexico privet is a wonder-ful xeric shrub that will grow 10 to

20 feet tall. That size will vary depend-ing on how much water the plant receives. Though it is very drought

tolerant it will grow faster and get bigger with regular watering.

You could probably count on only watering it once every month or two (once its established) if youre re-ally trying to save on water, but wa-tering once a week to twice a month will result in a plant that gets much bigger much more quickly.

New Mexico privet grows in a somewhat narrow, oval shape. You could plant them 6 to 8 feet apart but they wouldnt fill out the hedge for five to 15 years and you may have some minor gaps in the hedge. Planting them 4 or 5 feet apart would probably give you a solid hedge in three to five years and ensure that the hedge is solid top to bottom and from end to end.

When is the best time to plant vines?

NicolaIf the vine is growing in a pot, as

most are these days, you can plant it almost any time of the year. When you plant a container plant, youre not disturbing the roots; you just slide it out of the pot and into the ground.

Because youre not disturbing the roots, theres really no trans-plant shock. It doesnt matter if it is 32 degrees or 102 degrees outside, the plant is just changing address-es and keeps chugging along.

Our landscaping crews typically plant from late February until early December in a typical year with great success.

Ive heard people argue about spring being a better time to plant or that fall is the only time. I sup-pose that there could be small differences, but I think any advan-tage or disadvantage one way or the other is really insignificant. Personally, I plant in my yard when two things are present: The plant Im looking for and the energy and enthusiasm to stick it in the ground.

This spring/summer my wis-teria vine will have been in the ground for three years. Its re-ally healthy and has rich green leaves and sturdy branches, Ive fertilized it with Miracle-Gro, but I have failed to get it to bloom. What ideas can you give me to make this beautiful bush bloom? At the present, I have it growing over an arch.

JerryIm afraid I dont have any mira-

cles for you. Chinese wisteria (the common one around here) can be notoriously slow to bloom. I have seen vines take as long as seven years to get started and have heard about instances when it took 12.

Before you go out there and dig up your vine, know that those are extreme cases.

Typically, I see wisteria starting to bloom after three to five years. As long as the plant is doing well, and it sounds like yours is, just hang in with it.

It will start blooming in its own sweet time, but some are later bloomers than others.

Dennis Hill is the nursery man-ager at Bookcliff Gardens, book-cliffgardens.com. Send questions to Bookcliff Gardens, 755 26 Road, Grand Junction 81506; or email [email protected].

New Mexico privet can

give privacy to your yard

DENNIS HILL

No longer an it, Little Jerry is Little Geri! WEST LIFE

WATER TIPBrrrr! Its Cold Out There With these cold

days and nights, water lines are starting to freeze.If you suspect a frozen line, call your water utility

to check the water meter and service line.

Because the meters are closer to the surface than the water lines, they can freeze sooner than the water lines. If frozen, meter repair is the utilities responsibility.

Dont try to thaw the meter. Call your utility. A technician will be dispatched to investigate.

The Drought Response Information Project

(DRIP) is the drought and water conservation collaborative education effort by the valleys domestic water utilities and CSU Extension. Every Drop Matters especially during drought conditions.

ERIN MCINTYRE/Special to the SentinelLittle Geri yes, shes actually a hen! was pulled out of the coop to be photographed with her first egg. It was cold outside, and she was not amused.

he holidays are a great time to pull out the old photos and reminisce, but theres no need

to huddle around a dusty album. There are a variety of ways to get them out in the open by making them part of your holiday decorations.

Song lyrics, photos combine for holiday decorBy HOLLY RAMERThe Associated Press

Photos by THE ASSOCIATED PRESSThis display features family holiday photos and a snippet of the song Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Small plastic clips make it easy to arrange and display a large number of photos without frames. The holidays are a great time to pull out the old photos and reminisce, but theres no need to huddle around a dusty album.

THROUGH THE YEARS

T

And once youve gone through the trouble of scanning and reprinting originals, its easy to make duplicates that can be turned into gifts for family members.

Make a bold, modern statement by printing 4-inch-square photos, con-necting them with small plastic clips in a grid shape and hanging it on the wall. A large square is striking, but the clips allow for endless possibilities. A Christmas tree shape, perhaps? Keep things bright with a series of color photographs, or go for a more elegant look with black and white.

For a more traditional look, arrange the photographs in a circle and stick them on a cardboard ring to create a photo wreath. Leave it plain, or deco-rate with a few sprigs of faux holly tucked among the pictures.

Take the photos off the wall by hav-ing them printed on a sofa throw pil-low. This project takes a bit more work because it involves printing on fabric, but the result is an unexpected way to showcase favorite family photos.

All three of these projects are built around a snippet of the classic song Have Yourself a Merry Little

Printing black and white pictures on fabric makes for an unexpected way to display a collection of old family favorites. Several photo-printing companies offer similar products, or you can make it yourself with an ink jet printer and sewing machine.

Christmas. Incorporating the phrase through the years we all will be together in each project adds a bit of color and ties together pictures that span many years.

WALL GRID MATERIALS: 21 4-by-4-inch photos photo clips (mine were called fotoclips,

purchased from photojojo.com) 1 sheet of card stock INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Use word processing or photo editing

software to create an 8.25-inch square. Fill with red or the color of your choice. Add white text that reads through the years we all will be together. Print and trim to size.

2. Arrange photos in a 5-by-5 grid, with the text box positioned in the lower right-hand corner, one row and column in from the edge.

3. Use the clips to attach the pictures to each other.

4. Hang on wall, using double-stick tape or other adhesive.

PHOTO WREATH MATERIALS: 12 or more 4-by-4-inch photos large piece of cardboard, at least 16 inches

square. craft knife double-stick tape faux holly or other greenery (optional) INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Use word processing or photo editing software

to create a 4-by-4-inch square, !lled with red. Add white text that reads through the years we all will be together. Print and trim to size.

2. Cut a 16-inch circle out of cardboard. Cut another circle in the middle to create a ring that is approximately 3 inches wide.

3. Arrange pictures around the ring, including the text box. Try to keep them in a circular shape, while avoiding overlapping key parts of any image.

4. Once the pictures are in position, carefully tape them to the ring and to each other.

5. Add decorations if desired.

A pillow decorated for the holidays is a way to put your pictures on display by turning them into decorations.

PILLOW MATERIALS: 15 scanned photos, each 3.5-by-3.5 inches 4 sheets of printable fabric 14-inch-square pillow insert fabric for pillow back INSTRUCTIONS: 1. Use word processing or photo editing

software to create a collage of photos in a 4-by-4 grid. Make one of the squares a solid box, !lled with red, with the text through the years we all will be together in white. You can position the text box wherever you like; I put mine in the third row and third column.

2. Since the pillow front is larger than the sheets of printable fabric paper, youll need to divide your collage into four quadrants and print one per sheet of fabric. Follow the instructions on the fabric sheets to make sure you use the best settings for your printer.

3. Trim each printed quadrant, leaving a quarter-inch border around all four sides.

4. Leaving the paper backing on the fabric sheets will make it easier to cut and line up the fabric for sewing. Sew the top two quadrants together, carefully lining up the edges. Use a seam allowance that is just a hair wider than a quarter-inch to make sure you are sewing right along the edge of the pictures and not on the white border. Repeat with bottom two quadrants.

5. Sew the top two quadrants to the bottom two quadrants to complete the square, and then peel off the paper backing from the fabric. Press seam allowances open.

6. Cut two rectangles of fabric for pillow back, each 14-by-9 inches. Fold over one of the long edges on each piece by inch and then again by inch to enclose the raw edge; sew along the long edge.

7. Lay the backing pieces $at, with the wrong side of the fabric facing down and the pieces overlapped to make a 14-inch square. Lay the pillow top over the backing, right side down, and pin around the edges.

8. Sew around the entire pillow with a quarter-inch seam. Turn right side out and insert pillow form.

The Daily Sentinel Saturday, December 14, 2013 9A

Hello and welcome to the 2013 Chicken Olympics. Today, our competitors will be participating in a vari-ety of events, as they do every day in the chicken compound.

Lets go to our announcers Frank and Bob, on scene at Backyard Stadium in Grand Junction, Colorado.

FRANK: Its a gorgeous fall day here in Backyard Stadium, and our contestants are really chomping at the beak to get go-ing with this competition.

BOB: We have a pretty exciting lineup today, Frank. Looks like the chickens

are getting ready for Keep-Away, Playing Chicken and Hungry, Hungry Chicken.

FRANK: You Chicken Olympics fans know how this works. Our chicken athletes earn points for being the fastest or best in each competition, or cheating other chickens out of something. And it looks like were ready to start with Hun-gry, Hungry Chicken.

BOB: Yes, all five chickens are in place and they all seem to know that when the keeper lifts that straw bale, crickets are going to jump out from un-der it like popcorn. The object is to see how many crickets each contestant can gobble before theyre all gone.

FRANK: And ... theyre off ! It looks like Eleanor Rigby has snatched up two already and there goes Little Jerry!

BOB: Look at Little Jerry go! Some of the others are playing Keep Away with their crickets, even though thats entirely another event. Chicken Nugget seems confused and is sitting on top of the bale, and Pollo Kata is desperately trying to gulp her cricket down before Ofabeia rips off one of its legs.

FRANK: Mmmmhm. Extra points for stealing appendages from your opponents insect before its swallowed. The key to earning that winner, winner chicken dinner here is to really focus on speed, strategy and cold-hearted cheating.

BOB: It looks like Little Jerry is still in the lead with five crickets, and double points for the surprise grasshopper! No word yet on whether Little Jerry will be disqualified for enrolling as a hen if he is actu-ally a rooster. Obviously his/her size and aggressive behav-ior are still causing some confu-sion in the gender arena.

FRANK: Theres also been some speculation about Little Jerrys use of crack corn as a performance-enhancing drug, which could explain the size advantage.

BOB: Thats unfortunate. So much potential has been ruined by crack corn, and the pressure is on for the Division of Poultry Ethics (DOPE) to get this epi-demic under control.

FRANK: Looks like the judges have tallied their scores and, wow, a disappointing performance from Nugget. She really needed to shake her tail feathers to get some points, but

HOME & GARDEN

See WHITE, page 9A

HOMEGROWN

I live in Montrose and have a very nice patch of raspberries that produce a lot of berries. The problem is some of the drupelets on some of the berries turn white. It may be only one berry on a cluster of seven or eight or sometimes al-most all in a cluster. I have heard it is a virus, or bugs, or whatever. Do you know what causes this?

StanThere are a couple possibili-

ties out there. Far and away the most com-mon is simply a sun scald type injury.

In our hot,

dry climate, the UV radiation is especially intense and this causes some of those drupe-lets to turn white. They can be clustered on one side of the berry or scattered individuals throughout it. This condition doesnt make the fruit inedible, it just looks funny.

Obviously, theres not much to do about our weather, but good care of the plant (regu-lar watering, fertilizing in the spring) should encourage vig-orous growth that helps shade and protect the berries in the summer.

Another option that people sometimes use is to shade the plants by building a structure over the berry patch and put-ting some shade cloth on top.

The second possible cause for what youre seeing is damage from stinkbugs.

There are a lot of different species out there, but most of them are 3/8-inch to 5/8-inch long and somewhat rounded or angular in shape. They can be brown or green in color and hard to find as they have pretty good eyesight and tend to hide when we are around.

They suck the juices from the drupelet, which turns white or brown and is usually shriv-eled up (with UV damage the drupelet is plump and normal looking except for the color).

A thorough spray with Per-methrin should clean up those guys if thats whats going on.

I have an older Austrian copper rose bush that des-perately needs to be cut back. When should I do this, and how far do you recom-mend I cut back the canes?

MaryI think it would be best to

wait until March or April to do the pruning.

Im assuming this is a big old plant youll be working on. If thats the case, you might think twice about cutting the whole plant back to 3 or 4 feet. Because Austrian copper roses flower only on older growth, youll be cutting off the flowers for next spring. This doesnt hurt the plant, you just wont get any flowers next year. After that, the plant will get back on track and should look great.

A better way to go after this plant would be to try to renovate it. Roses such as your Austrian copper have a sucker-ing type growth habit where

White spots on berries

can be from sun or bugs

DENNIS HILL

Fun tales from the Chicken Olympics

WEST LIFE

Photos by THE ASSOCIATED PRESSBEFORE AND AFTER: This Sept. 12, 2013 handout photo provided by David Ulick shows a new concrete drive with an antique finish accented with reclaimed red bricks from the 1920s, in Pasadena, Calif. I wanted this to look like the original driveway, an original, nice driveway, and using used bricks gives it a nice old-fashioned look, Ulick said. The photo below shows the original, concrete driveway that came with the 1921 Craftsman style house that Ulick bought five years ago, marred by cracks and with tree roots starting to break through, in Pasadena, Calif.

See CHICKEN, page 9A

The driveway that came with the 1921 Craftsman-style house that David Ulick bought five years ago was the original concrete one, marred by cracks and with tree roots starting to break through.

I didnt like the driveway, said Ulick, of Pasadena, Calif. I wanted something a little bit nicer.

CURB APPEAL

By LISA FLAMThe Associated Press

Design options abound for driveways

He looked through books and drove through the Craftsman-rich neighbor-hoods of Pasadena to get ideas before deciding on a concrete drive with an antique finish, accented with reclaimed red bricks from the 1920s.

I wanted this to look like the original driveway, an original, nice driveway, and using used bricks gives it a nice old-fashioned look, Ulick said.

It really makes it a grand entrance for the house, he added, noting the brick walk-

way up one side. I figured Id treat the Craftsman the way it deserves to be treated, and maintain its design style and heritage.

While a driveway may still be a utilitarian afterthought for many homeowners, others like Ulick are adding some serious curb appeal to their homes by moving beyond basic options such as grass or gravel, asphalt or concrete.

The driveway is commonly overlooked, conceded Mi-chael Keenan, an adjunct as-sistant professor of landscape

architecture at the University of Minnesota. Driveways are not cheap necessarily, but they are completely function-al and necessary if you have a car and a garage.

Doing up the driveway, Keenan said, is a chance to celebrate the function be-cause it is a piece of the prop-erty you do use every day.

The design options have grown in the last decade or so, he said, as pavers made from precast concrete, clay and natural stone such as granite are being turned out in a range of colors and sizes. Some have rounded edges for an older look; others are mottled to add color varia-tion to the driveway.

Installing a customized driveway is a way to put your own stamp on the hardscape and set your house apart from the rest. Depending on the neighborhood, the materi-als and the quality of the craftsmanship, Keenan said, a driveway also could increase

a homes resale value. It does become a point of

distinction, he said. It is something people notice. It is elegant.

The least expensive paved driveways are made of asphalt, which cost about $12 to $15 a square foot, and concrete, costing about $14 to $18 a square foot, Keenan said. Though concrete is more resilient and lasts longer, both materials will crack over time, he said.

Pavers, which start at about $20 to $25 a square foot, should last a lifetime, Keenan said. The key is the fact that the pavement acts as flexible fabric and it can move with the Earth, and isnt a rigid system and isnt prone to cracking, he said.

Pavers can be used to make traditional patterns such as basket-weave or herringbone, or be fashioned into a custom look.

See DRIVEWAYS, page 9A

8A The Daily Sentinel Saturday, September 21, 2013

HOME & GARDEN

WATER TIPXeric landscaping ideas

Xeric landscapes have come a long way. Now is the time to look for xeric landscape ideas to consider for planting next spring.

You could get beautiful color and coverage for your yard with very little upkeep or water usage.

The Drought Response Information Project (DRIP) is the

you have a bunch of canes coming up at or near the base of the plant.

In renovation, were trying to remove big, thick, older canes to encourage younger, more vigorous ones. These younger canes will have more vigor giving you a lusher, fuller plant that will bloom better for you.

I think it would be best for the plant if you did this cutting back over a two or three year period. Select one third to one half of those big heavy stems to remove next spring. Scatter-ing them throughout the plant

will help keep the plant looking a bit neater and more normal looking during this renovation process.

These older canes can be a bit thick and the wood of a rose is pretty hard and dense so youll have to cut them with a pruning saw instead of pruning shears or loppers.

When youre removing some of the canes, you could also trim back the remaining ones just a bit to bring the plant into better proportion and make it look a bit better.

I guess my final word of ad-vice (at least for the folks who are thinking about planting one

of these guys) is to try to put a big shrub rose like this in a spot where you can allow it to grow to whatever size it wants. It will save a lot of work and sweat and blood.

I dont envy you the job ahead. Be sure to wear long sleeves and heavy gloves as those Austrian coppers are thorny.

When is the best time to plant a tree in this area? Is it too late?

LacieIf the trees are growing in

pots, you can plant them just about any time youd like.

Theres very little stress on the plant since youre not mess-ing with the roots very much.

In the Grand Valley, well usually plant up until the first or the middle of December. When the ground freezes up is when well stop. Its not that its a bad time of the year to plant. Its just too much work to dig a hole when things are frozen.


drought and water conservation collaborative education effort by the valleys domestic water utilities and CSU Extension. Every Drop Matters especially during drought conditions.

WHITE: In Grand Valley, you can usually plant trees until the !rst or middle of December Continued from page 8A

sat out the whole time.BOB: Yeah, she really laid

an egg in this category. On the other hand, 15 crickets for Little Jerry, plus double points for that grasshopper!

FRANK: That is really some-thing to crow about .. well have to wait and see if Little Jerry does just that, as it could clear up that whole gender debate.

BOB: Next up, Playing

Chicken!FRANK: If you recall, the

whole point of this match is to see who backs down first in a beak-to-beak standoff.

BOB: Yes, extra points for any especially Robert De Niro-esque behavior from Taxi Driver. You talkin to me? You ... talkin to ME? Remember that scene?

FRANK: This is a family show, Bob.

BOB: Yes, well, moving on. We have Nugget facing off with

Eleanor Rigby. Well-matched opponents, Nugget seems to be a little shorter, but that could be a surprise advantage. We have the stare-off ... and our first jab!

FRANK: Ooh! That was a pretty mean peck to the eye by Nugget. Seems like shes finally getting it together.

BOB: Eleanor Rigby is really squawking about it, and shes calling a time-out.

FRANK: Meanwhile, the oth-ers are taking a snack break.

Gotta keep those chickens well-fueled. Cucumbers provided by our sponsor, Moms Garden. And boy, have they worked up an appetite.

FRANK: If we dont get some more cucumbers in there, this could turn into a nasty chicken version of the Hunger Games.

BOB: Ah, yes, if you recall back in the 1987 Chicken Olym-pics there was that unfortunate cannibalism incident, which chickens are known to do from

time to time.FRANK: That was the end

of Henny Penny, champion egg layer.

BOB: She was no spring chicken.

FRANK: And some sprinkles are starting to fall on Backyard Stadium. It looks like well have a rain delay on the rest of the games today since some of the contestants are retreating to the coop.

BOB: Good thing theyre

making that call, Frank, as we all know, theres nothing mad-der than a wet hen.

FRANK: Well, until next time, goodbye from the Chicken Olympics and may your eggs always be sunny-side up!

Erin McIntyre is an advanced master gardener, writer and Grand Valley native. Please email her at [email protected] with story ideas or feed-back.

CHICKEN: Extra points for any especially Robert De Niro-esque behavior from Taxi Driver Continued from page 8A

DRIVEWAYS: Red bricks accent light blue home Continued from page 8A

For a less traditional look, use a paver that comes in three or four sizes and lay them out at random, Keenan said. Or get a custom design without break-ing the bank by using concrete pavers accented with more expensive natural stone pavers.

Keenan is also the co-founder and design director of reGEN Land Design in Minneapolis. He works with homeowners to find the best driveway for their home. People are most con-cerned with the color, which might be chosen by looking at the homes roof, siding or trim color.

I dont think you can make a value judgment on which one is the best, Keenan said of driveway designs. Its got to fit the building that youre paving next to.

He might recommend, for example, a traditional red-brick driveway to go with a light blue Colonial home. For a contempo-rary, environmentally green home, he might choose light-colored, permeable pavers a more environmentally sound choice because they let water back through to the earth un-der the driveway, rather than forcing it to run off and collect debris on the way to bodies of water.

In Naples, Fla., landscape architect W. Christian Busk installs living driveways that feature real grass interspersed among pavers. That reduces heat and glare and provides some drainage.

We blur the lines between where driveway ends and where landscape begins, says Busk, president of Busk & Associates. It always looks beautiful.

Back in Pasadena, the concrete-and-brick option that Ulick chose is popular among the many Craftsman and other historical homes in the area, said Mark Peters, the chief estimator for Boston Brick &

Stone, which helped create Ulicks driveway.

Its a very rich feel and its understated, Peters said.

Since he got his driveway in 2009, Ulick said, he has received many compliments, and people sometimes stop to ask if his driveway is the original.

Thats a bigger compli-ment, he said, that it looks like its been done years and years and years ago.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESSA concrete driveway is shown with an antique finish accented with reclaimed red bricks from the 1920s in Pasadena, Calif.

SPECIAL TO THE SENTINELEarl and Floy Youngs yard, 2303 N. First St., was chosen as the August Yard of the Month. In the Youngs yard are 147 fruit trees, large vegetable and flower gardens, grapes and ornamental trees. Nominations for the September Yard of the Month are due Tuesday.

AUGUST YARD OF THE MONTH

Brought to you by:

Yard of the MonthRecognition

Nominee's street address:

Nominee's name:

Nominee's phone number:

Mail or hand deliver your nomination by the 24th of this month to:

6301

59

The Daily Sentinel Saturday, September 21, 2013 9A


My husband and I have been think-ing of landscaping our yard but we are a bit overwhelmed. Right now, we only have dirt, so were start-ing from scratch. Were not sure if well do it ourselves or have someone else do it. Can you give us an idea of where to start?

Joan and GaryActually, this is a great time to be

thinking about what you want to do with your landscaping. The whole process of landscaping your yard can be over-

whelming, but there are several things you can do now that will help get you started.

The first thing I always tell folks is to start with the design. De-

cide what you want your landscaping to look like. Make a list of your wants and needs as well as favorite trees and plants you would like to see in your yard and that fit your lifestyle.

You wouldnt dream of building your home without a blueprint, nor should you work on your landscaping without a detailed design.

You then need to decide if you are going to design it yourself or have it done professionally. If you choose to do it yourselves, take the time to research your choices thoroughly. There are a myriad of ideas in books available on-line, at the library or bookstores.

If you are interested in having it done professionally (where most people end up), there are some great designers in the valley. Give us a call and we can recommend someone.

Sometimes people balk at paying a professional to design the landscape, thinking of the money theyll spend on the plan and how many plants it would buy instead. Most all of us are on a bud-get, but I urge you not to skimp here.

Over and over Ive seen people end up spending more money to fix the prob-lems in their yard over the long haul instead of doing it right from the begin-ning. I think paying for a professional design is the best money youll spend on your yard.

Once you have your plan, decide if you, or professionals, will be carrying it out. If you intend to work on it, be patient. There is a lot to consider and starting from scratch can take two years or more taking on a little at a time.

Youll need to think about the sprin-kler system (being sure to have zones that best work with the plants you have selected), grading, soil preparation (al-ways best done BEFORE any planting), edging, grass (whether to seed or sod), types of plants, how to plant them and mulching materials. Of course, youll also need to remember any hardscaping youd like to include in your plan, such as patios, walkways, ponds and water features.

If the thought of that discourages you, look around to find someone with whom youll be comfortable working. First, one of the most important things is to be sure youre dealing with a reputable company. Ask about experience, years in the busi-ness, insurance and any guarantees they may have. Be sure they are members of the Associated Landscaping Contractors of Colorado, an organization intended to foster professionalism in the industry. Personally, I wouldnt do business with anyone who was not a member.

Check the companys references. Talk to their customers, look at their yards and ask them about how the company followed up on any questions, comments or complaints. Ask them how happy they are with their landscaping and with the treatment they received.

You may want to get prices from more than one landscape contractor. Having your plan in hand will make it easier for you to get bids from several companies. Remember too, that while most of us live on a budget and costs are something we all need to consider, you often end up get-ting what you paid for.

Finally, realize that you may have to wait a while to have your project begun as often the more sought after land-scapers get busy early in the season and stay busy.

You could end up waiting weeks, even months, before your project is started. Thats actually another good reason for you to start planning now. The sooner you know what you want to do, the more quickly you can get in line to get your work done.


Its the perfect time to start thinking about landscaping

DENNIS HILL

WATER TIPDo you know where the master water shut-off is in your home? Everyone in your house needs to know where the master water shut-off valve is located. This

could save water and prevent damage to your home if a catastrophic leak were to occur.

The Drought Response Information Project (DRIP) is the drought and water conservation collaborative education effort by the valleys domestic water utilities and CSU Extension. Every Drop Matters especially during drought conditions.

Little did I know that the world of urban chicken farming would bring such surprise and superstition. It seems that chicken behavior and, well, anything associ-ated with chickens has provided fodder for strange beliefs for as long as people have kept domestic fowl.

Why not? Chickens are inherently weird. But Im finding that some theories, quite frankly, are a few eggs short of a dozen.

Sure, I can believe that eating a chicken foot behind a door could make one beautiful. Riiight. Swallow-ing a raw chicken heart might bring you good luck, but Id rather have a 10-toed chicken bring me good luck instead. And if I rub a grain of corn on a wart until it bleeds, and then feed that corn to a chicken, the wart will supposedly disappear.

This is just the tip of a never-ending iceberg of chicken folklore out there. I never thought too much about it until I found the witch egg.

Thats right. One of my chickens laid a witch egg. Also referred to as a rooster egg or a fairy egg, among other names, this is an object teeming with mystery and super-stition. This tiny egg is, in fact, a yolkless egg that formed before it

was complete inside the hens body. Theyre not unheard of, especially when hens start laying.

I had no idea. All I know is, I went out to the chicken compound to thaw out the water bucket and there was

a teeny-tiny egg on the ground. It was about the size of a malt-ed milk ball and I couldnt believe it was even an egg, especially since it was

outside the nesting box where the chickens usually do their egg-laying business.

I nudged the witch egg with the toe of my muck boot, and it broke open, which attracted the attention of the chickens. Of course, they flocked to the broken egg and gobbled it down, fighting over the spoils of the witch egg, which had only recently come from one of their own bodies. Gross, I know.

Im not sure what superstitious consequences result of chickens eat-ing their own witch eggs. I do know that witch eggs were once serious

business, because people believed that they could be used for casting spells.

They also believed that witch eggs harbored basilisks, which were apparently put inside the eggs by Satan himself. And if those basilisks hatched ... watch out! These chicken-headed, serpent bodied creatures of the olden days were formidable op-ponents, not like those wimpy Harry Potter basilisks. People feared them because they apparently hatched from tiny witch eggs and then either killed humans with their breath or their gaze.

In other words, 15th century people didnt mess around with witch eggs. According to E.P. Evans The Crimi-nal Prosecution and Capital Punish-ment of Animals, the residents of Basel, Switzerland, actually executed a chicken convicted of laying witch eggs in 1471. The chicken, thought to be a rooster at the time, laid the eggs and was put on trial for being a freak of nature. The condemned chicken was burned at the stake.

So, what to do when your inno-cent livestock bears the fruits of the devil? I nearly cursed our home for all eternity by thinking about bringing the tiny egg inside. I later

discovered that ancient folklore dat-ing back to the times of European witch hunts dictates that the only way to spare us from the evil witch egg was to handle it properly. Ap-parently I was supposed to hurl the witch egg over the house, without letting it touch the roof, and smash it on the ground.

But, since I accidentally broke the egg open in the chicken compound, without performing the sacred ritual, the witch egg will probably haunt us. Who knows? There might be a basi-lisk lurking, waiting to stare us to death anywhere, anytime. Its prob-ably eating all the chocolate chips in the pantry and hiding behind the toilet.

Ill keep you posted. Apparently its a death omen to find a tiny chicken egg anyway, and I stepped over the broken witch eggs shell, so Im in danger of going crazy.

Until then, Ill be munching raw chicken hearts to bring me luck, just in case.

Erin McIntyre is an advanced master gardener, writer and Grand Valley native. Please email her at [email protected] with story ideas or feedback.

Waiting on the brunt of the witch eggWEST LIFE

Photos by THE ASSOCIATED PRESSDesigner Brian Patrick Flynn turned to the American West for inspiration when designing this writers cabin featured on Hayneedle.com. Flynn thinks cabin-inspired style is going to be a much sought after style for 2014 and will include deep hunter green tones as well as super masculine elements such as Western wear, plaids and antlers.

A FeltWall puts a fresh twist on felt by using it to create an interactive wall in a boys play room. Flynn suggests that felt is becoming increasingly popular for upholstery and crafting and will eventually be used in unexpected ways.

With a new year come new trends in home design and decorating.

Among them: paler walls con-trasted with colorful furniture, and plenty of personal expression, design experts say.

COOLEST COLORS Whisper-soft, ultra-pale shades

of pink described by designers as blush tones are back. But the 80s havent returned, at least not entirely, says designer Brian Patrick Flynn.

Whats different about blush this time around is what its paired with. In 1985, youd find it paired with mauve and black with tons of shiny brass accents. Flash forward to today and blush is likely to be paired with preppy, masculine tones, says Flynn, founder of Flynnside Out Productions.

His favorite blush paint is Barely Blush from Glidden, which he contrasts with navy blue: The deep, rich personality of the navy actually washes out the blush, almost causing it to look white, and the overall effect is fresh and gorgeous.

TOP TEXTURES For accessories, the trend seems

to be getting away from color and go-ing more into rich textures like horn, aged metallics and linens, Schun-eman says. The absence of color is becoming chic for smaller items.

One texture Flynn says will have a big moment in 2014: felt.

Have you looked at Pinterest lately? Its like every fifth photo you see involves felt! Ever since the hand-made movement kicked in back in 2010, felt has been used in unexpected ways and in a modern fashion, Flynn says. What makes it such a favorite for designers is how easy it is to work with. Its amazing for door upholstery due to its stiffness. It makes for awesome craft material, since its easy to cut and stitch, and its awesome for kids.

An easy project for even the DIY-challenged: I modernized the classic kindergarten felt wall in a boys room by covering a wall with batting, then literally upholstering it with white and blue felt, then cutting tons of felt into random objects and characters to give the kids something interactive and stylish.

FRESH INSPIRATIONS The idea of personalization is

becoming stronger and stronger, Sc-huneman says. People are wanting their homes to reflect a more unique perspective.

So rather than assuming that ev-eryone will be buying the same popu-lar items, stores are doing limited runs on items more often, like art in series or a special brand collabora-tion for just a season, he says.

ASK A DESIGNER:

2014 decor trendsBy MELISSA RAYWORTH

Associated Press

Bunk rooms are becoming more and more popular with homeowners who have awkward bonus rooms that are otherwise hard to furnish. Flynn suggests investing in custom built-in bunks to maximize sleeping space while also adding a stylish architectural focal point.

Burnham agrees. Homeowners are increasingly looking to large-scale wall hangings and other pieces of art to express themselves, rather than doing it with bold wall color.

Another way Americans are customizing their space, according to Flynn: Western-inspired dcor.

For years Ive seen taxidermy make its way into mainstream design, yet reinvented in new ways. Lately, Ive been looking to Ralph Lauren-like cabins of the Western United States for inspiration in my own home. I think a lot of cabin-inspired colors such as pea greens, hunter greens and camouflage-inspired prints will become super popular.

TACKLING AWKWARD SPACES Tons of homes have awkward bo-

nus rooms that homeowners arent sure how to furnish, Flynn says.

One suggestion: Why not turn that space into an extra sleeping area that can accommodate multiple guests, but in a super-stylish, architectural manner? Thats where the art of built-in bunks comes in, Flynn says.

The Daily Sentinel Saturday, January 11, 2014 9A

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The newly acquired barred rock chicks, pictured here from ... · The newly acquired barred rock chicks, ... Those balls of fluff grew into teen-age chickens, a painfully awkward stage