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Q. I'm ordering vegetable garden seeds now but wondered where seeds from carrot, cabbage and beet come from. I've never seen these plants develop seed heads.
A. There are several vegetable garden plants that are biennials. Biennial plants produce leaves and store carbohydrates the first year from seed. They overwinter and then, drawing on stored carbohydrates, produce flowers and seed during their second year. Biennials die after producing seed. Since many biennials cannot overwinter in Colorado due to cold and dryness, we do not see them produce seed. Additionally, we usually harvest them for their edible portion during their first year. Beet, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, kale, kohlrabi, leek, onion, rutabaga, Swiss chard and turnip are examples of biennials grown in the vegetable garden. Seed production areas for many of these crops are in states where winters are not as cold and dry.
Q. What is a chipotle?
A. The term (chih POTE lay) usually refers to a dried and smoked jalapeno pepper, or another thick-meated variety of chile pepper that has been smoked to preserve it. They are left on the plant as long as possible, maturing to a deep red color. When the peppers have dried on the plant, they are picked and moved to a closed, smoking chamber. Here they are spread out on metal grills and then wood-smoked to become chipotles.
Q. Why don't trees grow above "timberline"?
A. While there are other factors, it's mostly related to coldest temperatures in winter. Most cold-hardy trees can inhibit ice crystal formation in their cells (which would cause cell death) at temperatures far below freezing. The approximate limit to this ability is minus 40 degrees F. Timberline is that variable elevation above which coldest winter temperatures may fall below the minus 40 degrees F mark.
This is why timberline elevations increase as you go south. For example, timberline in Alaska would be at roughly 4,000 feet, about 8,000 feet in Montana, about 10,000 feet in Wyoming, 10,500 fee in Colorado and 11,000 feet in New Mexico and Arizona. Low-growing shrubs near or above timberline are usually covered by snow, an effective insulator, during most of the winter.
For more information, contact your local
Colorado State University Extension office. |
