What We Know: Drought's Impact on Colorado Springs Gardening

Colorado Springs gardeners are closing out the 2026 growing season with plants that show visible stress and calendars that did not run on schedule. That is the picture drawn by KRDO's long-running local segment "Steve's Garden," which examines how this year's drought reshaped the growing season for gardeners across the region, according to the station's report.

The segment does not treat drought as a weather headline that stays outside the garden gate. It walks through what dry conditions meant in practice this year: stressed plants, altered timelines for when things could go in the ground or come off the vine, and gardeners making adjustments as the season wore on, per KRDO's account.

What does the KRDO segment say about this year's drought?

KRDO frames the report around the practical, on-the-ground consequences of drought for people who garden in the Colorado Springs area rather than around rainfall totals or reservoir levels. The station's account centers on two effects: plants showing signs of stress, and growing timelines that did not follow their usual pattern this year. Those are the two threads the segment follows from spring planting through the current point in the season.

How has the timeline for planting and harvest shifted?

A growing season built around dry conditions rarely moves at the pace gardeners expect. Early decisions about what and when to plant get made under uncertainty about how much water will be available through summer, and those decisions ripple forward — a late or cautious spring planting can push back the point at which crops mature, which in turn compresses the harvest window later in the year. KRDO's report describes exactly that kind of disruption to the region's growing calendar this year, without a return to the timelines area gardeners have relied on in wetter seasons.

Which garden stresses are showing up this season?

The segment points to stressed plants as one of the season's defining features. In dry years, that stress typically shows up as wilting between waterings, slower or stunted growth, and plants that mature smaller than usual even when they survive to harvest — the kinds of visible strain that prompt a segment like "Steve's Garden" to devote airtime to the topic in the first place. KRDO's report ties those signs directly to the drought conditions the region has experienced this year rather than to a single cause like pests or poor soil.

What steps are gardeners in the region taking to adapt?

Faced with stressed plants and a shifted calendar, gardeners generally respond by tightening how and when they water, prioritizing which beds get attention, and adjusting expectations for yield. The KRDO segment situates its advice inside that reality — a season where the usual rulebook for planting dates and watering schedules had to bend to drought conditions. The report's premise is that gardeners who understood the drought's effect on their timeline were better positioned to adjust than those who stuck to a normal-year plan.

What should gardeners watch for through the rest of the season?

As the 2026 growing season winds down, a few practical questions carry into fall planning:

• Whether local water restrictions ease or tighten heading into next spring's planting decisions.
• How stressed perennials and shrubs recover once cooler, wetter weather (if it arrives) reduces demand on root systems.
• Whether this year's compressed harvest window becomes a pattern gardeners plan around in future seasons rather than treating it as a one-off.
• What adjustments extension offices and local garden programs recommend for gardeners heading into next year, given this season's experience.

KRDO's "Steve's Garden" segment offers no forecast for next year's conditions. Its value, per the report, is in documenting what this year's drought actually did to a working garden calendar — information gardeners in the Colorado Springs area can weigh as they plan for whatever conditions arrive next.