Buy those seeds and make a difference in your community

    It’s time to buy seeds. And this year your seed purchase can help provide fresh produce for local food pantry clients.
    Brighton Shares The Harvest has established a partnership program with Botanical Interests, a seed company in Broomfield. They have a great variety of flower, herb and vegetable seeds, including organic seeds and heirloom varieties.
    They will donate 20 percent of all online seed orders placed through the Brighton Shares The Harvest website back to Brighton Shares The Harvest. One hundred percent of that money will be used to purchase vegetable seeds and seedlings, which will be given to gardeners who will donate the produce they grow to food pantries in Brighton. To participate, go to www.brightonsharestheharvest.org, click on the link to Botanical Interests, and start shopping. You must go through this website link in order for Brighton Shares The Harvest to receive the 20 percent rebate.
    While you’re waiting for your seeds to arrive, there are lots of things to do in the garden in March, at least when it’s not snowing. It’s usually an interesting weather month, so bundle up – or put on the sunscreen – and think about pruning. March is a great time to prune small deciduous trees and many of your shrubs, but don’t touch the roses until late April.
    Pruning should always have a purpose. It’s not an automatic annual chore. For young, deciduous shade trees, it is important to remove lower branches so you will be able to walk under them as they mature. For smaller ornamental trees, this may be less important, depending on where the tree is located on your property. Branches should be removed when they are no more than 1/3 the diameter of the trunk (smaller is better), to reduce shock to the tree and time required for the wound to seal. Dead, broken or crossing branches should also be removed; broken branches may let in disease, as will branches that rub against each other.
    One thing that you can do in practically any weather is attract more birds to your garden.  The Brighton Bloomin’ Buddies Garden Club recently had a great presentation from the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory, and we learned about some of the different foods available to attract different birds. Bird seed packages should list the kind of birds that are attracted to the seed, or you can get advice at a store that specializes in bird feeding. There are tube seed holders and platforms, and some birds prefer to find the seeds already on the ground. Birds are also attracted to water with movement, which you can provide by placing a battery operated “water wiggler” in a pan of water, or hanging a bottle with a small hole that makes a small drip over a bird bath or water pan. To ensure that the birds you are attracting to your yard won’t be attacked by predators, put your feeders in an open area, with trees and shrubs that will provide cover 12 to 15 feet away.
    In addition to providing water and seed feeders, you will attract birds to your garden by planting a variety of trees and shrubs that provide berries, such as serviceberries, and flowers and ornamental grasses that provide seeds. Birds bring color, movement and song to your garden, and some of them eat pesky bugs. You can learn more about birds and their natural habitats at the Rocky Mountain Bird Observatory website www.rmbo.org.