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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) Columns

High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Rooting out crime: How our community’s flowers protect more than just plants

Highlights

  • The column states a town's flower program and well-kept gardens act as a deterrent to crime by signaling care and vigilance to potential offenders.
  • It cites the "Busy Streets" theory and research from the University of Michigan showing greening vacant lots and vibrant streetscapes can cut violent crime by up to 30%.
  • In this community, flower programs foster outdoor activity and "natural surveillance," increasing neighbor presence on porches and sidewalks to deter crime.
  • The piece warns of a January threat: an unusually warm spell may trigger a false spring that weakens plant resistance to cold, risking damage to blossoms and branches.
  • It offers a false spring defense checklist: winter watering on days above 40°F, insulating soil with a 3-inch mulch layer, and applying the 3-8 rule to prune shrubs to under 3 feet and keep tree canopies at or above 8 feet.

By Janet Sellers

We have a quiet defense system at work in our town. While we often think of flowers as mere decoration, local data and national research suggest that our community’s need for its flower program and well-maintained local gardens goes beyond aesthetics—they actively deter crime.

The “Busy Streets” theory: flowers vs. felonies

It may sound like a stretch, but criminologists have long studied the link between beautification and safety. A theory known as “Busy Streets” suggests that when a community invests in flowers, well-maintained yards, and healthy trees, it sends a powerful psychological message to potential offenders: “This area is cared for, and people are watching.”

Research at the University of Michigan and other institutions has shown that “greening” vacant lots and maintaining vibrant streetscapes can reduce violent crime by up to 30%. In our community, flower programs can encourage residents to spend more time outdoors. This creates “natural surveillance”—more neighbors on porches and sidewalks around town means more “eyes on the street,” making it much harder for criminal activity to go unnoticed.

The January threat: protecting the “security system”

To keep our neighborhoods safe and beautiful, we have to protect the greenery that does the heavy lifting. The unusually warm weather this past December and January may have created a “false spring,” tricking trees and shrubs into thinking winter was over. When plants “wake up” too early, they lose their natural resistance to the cold. If we don’t take precautions now, the next deep freeze could kill the very blossoms and branches that our plant protectors need to survive and thrive.

False spring defense checklist:

  • Winter watering: On days above 40°F, give trees a deep soak. Hydrated roots act as a buffer against temperature swings.
  • Insulate the “thermostat”: Check your mulch. A 3-inch layer of wood chips keeps the soil temperature stable, preventing roots from warming up too fast and “waking” the tree prematurely.
  • The 3-8 rule for safety: While protecting plants, keep the 3-8 rule in mind—prune shrubs to no higher than 3 feet and tree canopies to no lower than 8 feet. This maintains clear sightlines for neighbors and police, eliminating hiding spots.

A growing community

By tending to our gardens during this erratic winter, we aren’t just saving our flowers and trees—we are maintaining the “territorial reinforcement” that keeps our community a safe place to live. A flourishing garden is a sign of a vigilant neighbor.

So, when you see our town flowers or a neighbor watering their trees, know they aren’t just gardening; they’re on patrol.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardening” enthusiast, letting Mother Nature lead for gardening wisdom in our Tri-Lakes high desert ecosystem. Share your garden tips and stories: JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Mini outdoor greenhouses, cinnamon to protect soil and seedlings

Highlights

  • January can be a good time to start long-season plants, whether indoors or outdoors, especially if roots need time to establish underground before spring growth.
  • A practical method is the zip bag technique, using gallon freezer bags, potting soil, water, and seeds, with the key being barely-moist, fluffy soil that holds together loosely to support seed germination and microbial activity.
  • Cinnamon is highlighted as a natural soil and plant treatment, acting as a safe fungicide, deterring pests, and helping prevent damping-off by applying lightly to the soil surface and ensuring good airflow and proper watering.
  • The guidance emphasizes using cinnamon as a preventive measure in winter, not as a cure-all, and to avoid applying it directly to roots or overly damp conditions that can hinder growth.
  • In summary, starting seeds with minimal moisture in zip bags and using cinnamon to support soil health are presented as practical, natural approaches for a lazy gardener seeking simple, year-round gardening success.

By Janet Sellers

January can be a month to start some of our plants, especially those that need a long growing season. Where we live, plants that need a long growing season to establish roots and develop themselves underground can be started indoors or outdoors, even in winter. I used to try to start seedlings indoors, but there were issues with my efforts. I found some new ways to try this year.

Mini greenhouse/cold frame from zip bags

The zip bag technique has been used nationwide for quite some time. We can try this out even in January. Basically, you need gallon-size freezer zip bags, potting soil (not garden soil), water, and seeds. To start, put about a third of the bag full of the potting soil. The key to success is the minimal moisture of the potting soil. Spray with plain water and then pick up a handful, check if it holds together but can easily fall apart, and that’s probably just the right amount of moisture. Too much water (if you can form it into a solid ball) could later dry out and become impervious to watering. It must be moist and stay fluffy to support microbes and seed sprouting.

Cinnamon an effective soil and plant treatment

Benefits of cinnamon:

  • Natural fungicide: Cinnamon’s antifungal properties help control various molds and mildews.
  • Safe for edibles: It’s a natural, safe option for vegetable and herb gardens.
  • Deters pests: It can also help repel fungus gnats and ants.
  • Use cinnamon as a preventive measure in winter to keep your soil healthy and prevent powdery mildew from taking hold in the spring, especially in the humid environment of a greenhouse.

Some gardeners lightly sprinkle dry powdered cinnamon over the top of the moist soil, dusting the surface lightly. This can prevent damping off, a common, often fatal disease in young seedlings. Apply topically to seed starting mixes to stop fungal diseases affecting seedlings. For existing mold, remove visible mold, then sprinkle cinnamon on the spot and increase air circulation. Some gardeners suggest cinnamon can inhibit root growth, so focus on the soil surface rather than burying it deep or applying directly to roots. Cinnamon works best with proper plant watering and good airflow. It’s not a magic bullet if conditions remain overly damp and humid.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” using simple, natural ways to support gardening efforts all year. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Festive stuff: winter beauty outdoors, indoors, and holiday acorn bread

By Janet Sellers

From our winter outdoor scenes of berries, pine cones, and acorns to indoor blooming plant friends, nature shares her healing creations with us all season. Our abundant pine and fir trees generously share their much-needed green, and with snow and pinecones on the branches, give us our dreamy views all winter, and crabapple trees offer tiny red apples. But indoor flowers are mood-magical in winter, too.

Pet and kid-friendly indoor flowers

Some safe flowers that bloom in December include the usual favorites. Our local stores sell Christmas cactus, butterfly orchids (phalaenopsis), and more during the holiday season. Some other favorites are African violet, goldfish plant, ixora coccinea (Flame of the Woods) lipstick plant, shamrock, Indian mallow, and poinsettias.

Dangerous beauties

For cats, even a small amount of pollen, a single leaf, or vase water can be fatal. It’s really important to check out the safe plants when we have kids and pets around. The beautiful but deadly group: amaryllis, anthurium, cyclamen, calla lily, Kalanchoe, narcissus, and primrose. Almost all other bulb plants and all true lilies are favorites, too, but their pollen and the plants are deadly if our pets brush up against or ingest any of it.

Above: Poinsettias (left), butterfly orchids, and Christmas cacti (right) are among the favorites for safe flowering plants used for holiday decor around kids and pets. These colorful beauties also last many weeks, often many months, and as tropical perennials, they provide eye-catching interest year after year with proper care. Photos by Janet Sellers.

Acorn bread worldwide

Wiiwish, also known as shawii, acorn mush, was one of the main food staples of the indigenous peoples of California. Acorn bread is a global historical food that has been made for centuries, used before the introduction of grains, and as a famine food in Europe or as a staple in Native American diets. Acorns were a fallback food during times of scarcity, such as wars or bad harvests. Ancient writers like Pliny the Elder documented its use in making bread. The Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) had a long tradition of using acorns, as did the ancient Greeks, Japanese, and Koreans. In parts of Italy and other regions, acorn bread was a traditional food that is now rare but remembered in local folklore.

Holiday acorn bread

Variations of traditional acorn bread recipes incorporate seasonal ingredients (like spices) or are baked during the fall and winter holidays when acorns are in season. Acorn bread is a nutritious, nutty bread, traditionally a staple food for many cultures since ancient times. As a kid, I read about acorn foods in our fourth-grade Native American studies. I tried to make that bread with ground acorns. They tasted terrible. I didn’t know the acorn secret (and I didn’t end up eating any of that, either). Recently, I found many intriguing recipes online with foods from acorns. Note to self: Collect acorns earlier in the year for making acorn bread, a healthy, tasty, and hearty (albeit odd) bread during the holiday season.

The correct preparation involves grinding acorns into flour after removing the bitter tannins through a water soak/leaching process of the shelled acorns, then they’re dried and ground. Some cooks mix this with other flours for bread or porridge. This practice dates back to antiquity, with examples of its use by ancient Greeks, Japanese, and indigenous peoples in various parts of the world.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for easy gardening in the Tri-Lakes high-altitude nature and gardening climate. Send tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens – November tips, paper-bagging geraniums, compost poles

By Janet Sellers

I’m looking to have less grass to mow next year. By covering grassy weeds now with newspaper layers or cardboard, then pine needles, then rocks to hold it all down, those layers should become soil by spring, and be ready to plant low-growing cover plants and pollinator-friendly flowers.

For composting all year, gardeners create a “compost pole” using a bundle of sticks, stalks of sunflowers or corn in the center and a mesh tube made of stainless steel or wire, or chunky woodchips placed in the pile to create natural air pockets. Some use a 4-inch tube, drill holes all over, and center it in a trash can. Layer paper scraps, kitchen scraps, pine needles, and leaves, etc., all season into the can around the compost pole, always replacing the lid. No turning is needed; air enters from the tube area.

Before the ground freezes

Now, we’ll take our geraniums, tap off the potting soil, place the plants upside down in a paper bag, clip shut, and overwinter in a cool place like downstairs or the garage. Or, let’s prepare a Hügelkultur bed or compost pole for next year’s garden. Here’s how:

  1. Dig a hole and set the soil aside. Pile a third of the hole with aged or new branches, logs and thick sticks on top of one another. Water in this layer well. (Scrub oak and pine branches will age over the winter).
  2. Layer weed-free grass clippings, manure, or compost with layers of shredded paper, brown leaves, grass clippings, cardboard, etc. Tuck in these layers; air pockets will lead to dry conditions and slower decomposition. Water in well.
  3. For the top, add cured compost (alpaca is great) or healthy garden soil. It’s important that it is at least as deep as the wood base if filling a raised bed. Then top off with the saved soil from the digging.
  4. Over time, your Hügelkultur bed will naturally hold a lot of moisture, but in the first year of use it’s important to keep it moist (not saturated) in the growing season to help the organic matter decompose.
  5. Seed directly into the top layer and cover with pine straw.
  6. Hügelkultur beds will only get better over time, as the wood provides a slow release of nutrients.

Think ahead for effective microorganisms next year

Effective microorganisms, EM, are a superpower for the garden growing season. They can be grown from inoculants easily from a mother culture. It’s a liquid combination of yeasts, actinomycetes, and two kinds of bacteria, photosynthetic and lactic, which promote plant health and growth and improve nutrient absorption and soil fertility. I’ve found it online, but some local places may have it.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for easy gardening in the Tri-Lakes high altitude nature and gardening climate. Send tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Cornmeal in the garden; sweet potato leaf greens

By Janet Sellers

With all the rain this summer, we had an abundance of toadstools—toxic fungi—popping up throughout our gardens, green spaces, and grasses. I wondered what to do about it besides bagging them up with gloved hands and pitching them in the trash. They often popped up in just hours.

One remedy I found is scattering cornmeal. Cornmeal supports beneficial fungi that outcompete the toadstools but don’t harm the garden and the desired plants. It also helps the garden fight root rot and powdery mildew, and is a mild, slow-release food source for beneficial microbes and beneficial fungi. (A tablespoon of baking soda in a gallon of water helps cure powdery mildew in soil and on the leaves, too.)

Cornmeal, as reported on the Martha Stewart website, also attracts beneficial insects such as ladybugs, lacewings, and ground beetles that feed on aphids, mites, and other pests, according to garden expert Megan Edge. Cornmeal helps minimize or delete harmful fungi and develop healthy compost and soil.

Four benefits that cornmeal offers that were noted were as a natural fungicide, a mild fertilizer, a gentle deterrent against common garden pests, and elimination of compost odors. Caveat: Creating healthy soil, good drainage, and cultural practice is the ideal. Many informal reports say to use only a light sprinkle of cornmeal for best results.

Sweet potato greens

Making a simple garlic stir-fry is a quick and popular way to prepare sweet potato leaves, but they can also be used in soups and stews. The leaves have a neutral flavor similar to spinach.

Sweet potatoes can be grown indoors over the winter in pots. The leaves are tasty, often cooked like spinach or eaten raw in salads. We can grow sweet potatoes outside, eat the leaves all season, then harvest the tubers at the end of the season. Sweet potatoes are a tropical plant, so warm indoor growing will give us good leaves and possibly some tubers, but outdoor growing offers the most tubers per plant and the best size.

One sweet potato can offer 50 to 100 slips, and up to 100 pounds of sweet potatoes from that one tuber and all its slips when grown outdoors. They make a very pretty indoor or outdoor vine, and the flowers resemble morning glories. They’re in the same family.

Above: Sweet potato slips, or starts, can be grown from organic tubers and rooted in a jar of water or a container of potting soil in a warm, sunny window. Planted in outdoor soil, they will grow to a vine filled with edible green leaves and eventually new tubers. Photo by Janet Sellers.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” researching permaculture for high altitude forest and landscape living, and how these shape our lives. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens (HANG) – Fall and the forest: creating soil beds and a blue spruce kitchen treat

By Janet Sellers

Forest living needs kitchen-made soil

Our local soil has created itself over millions of years for optimal forest growth. We can thank Mother Nature for creating our wonderful natural areas, and it’s our job to take good care of them. When we want to make a garden bed for outside plants, such as familiar foodstuffs, we need to prepare the soil for growing those specific plants. We don’t take the entire landscape to do this, we can actually make kitchen soil outdoors in a barrel, a cardboard box, or a specific place as the garden bed.

To make kitchen garden soil from compost, keep it all contained to control the compost. Making it in a garden bed in layers and topping off with a very thick (8-10 inches) layer of multi-size wood mulch is another method, and these methods should produce soil ready for planting by spring. For the tub method, use a food-grade tub or larger vessel. Drill pea-size oxygen holes on the sides and golf ball-size earthworm holes on the bottom. Layers: 1/1/1 layers like lasagna, so use a proportion of 1 carbon: brown/leaves/needles, 1 dirt/soil from the ground, 1 nitrogen (colors/veggies/fruits/kitchen, and cap it off with carbon. The speed of soil-making depends on the weather, and watering when needed keeps the compost at work making soil.

Spruce gum

Blue spruce resin has been used historically to make chewing gum. Some caution is advised: Be very careful if you have dental work to watch out for, as fresh resin can be sticky and may require some patience to chew. It’s made by harvesting the resin from the tree, often from areas where the tree has been damaged or naturally produces sap, and then chewing it after it hardens. While some find the initial texture brittle, it softens with chewing and can be a pleasant, long-lasting gum.

Look for organic, toxin-free (no pesticides, etc.) areas of spruce trees, gently harvest the resin by hand or with a small knife, carefully removing it from the tree. Likely to be hard and brittle at first, it will eventually become pliable. Spruce resin has a long history of medicinal use, including antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties, relieving sore throats and other ailments. Many find the taste pleasant. It’s always a good idea to research and understand any potential risks or allergies associated with chewing tree resin.

Above: The Tri-Lakes Cares food garden was thriving by the end of summer, with tomatoes and squashes coming on, and plenty of lettuce, kale, onion, and other seeds ready to harvest for fall seeding. The squashes were planted in the greenhouse to ensure a frost-free harvest in September or October. Photo by Janet Sellers.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for earthwise gardens. Send your tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardens – Wild Horse Fire Brigade: successful fire mitigation since the beginning of…plants

By Janet Sellers

Wild horse wildfire mitigation

We may think that wildfires are an unavoidable phenomenon, but extensively published scientific studies show that the loss of large herbivores results in abnormally excessive grass and brush wildfire fuels. The same published scientific research shows that on every continent, when herbivore populations collapsed, catastrophic wildfires evolved.

Wilderness areas benefit from wild horses through the symbiotic grazing that naturally maintains wildfire fuels (grass and brush) at nominal levels, thereby reducing the frequency, size, and intensity of wildfires, as well as deadly toxic wildfire smoke (a greenhouse gas) that harms human health and accelerates climate change. A Yale-led study published in the journal Science in 2021 found a strong connection between the extinction of large grazing animals, including ancient horses, and a dramatic increase in fire activity in grasslands globally.

Wild horses actually originated in North America and lived here for 50 million years. It is commonly thought that they left the area about 10,000 years ago, but the journal Science published a 2023 study including more than 80 co-authors, which matches up with the oral histories of multiple Indigenous groups that recount their peoples had horses before Europeans physically arrived; environmental DNA suggests their presence in arctic zones as late as 5,000 to 6,000 years before the present.

The Wild Horse Fire Brigade ( www.wildhorsefirebrigade.org ) is the name of a nonprofit and also that of a nature-based solution for the plight of American wild horses. On their website, they explain that, in essence, the plan is very simple: rewild and relocate wild horses away from areas of conflict and confinement and place them into wilderness areas where they benefit flora and fauna as they reduce and maintain grass and brush wildfire fuels. America contains hundreds of millions of acres of wilderness (public and privately owned) where wild horses can live wild and free, beyond conflicts with livestock and other public land uses.

Wild Horse Fire Brigade has shown that it helps save native American wild horse species. They relate that they do this by “rewilding them from government holding facilities, and/or relocating them away from areas of contention with livestock production and humanely placing them as family units into carefully selected designated wilderness areas that are economically and ecologically appropriate.” There are approximately 353 million acres of privately owned forest lands at risk of catastrophic wildfire. There are also 110 million acres of publicly owned designated wilderness areas in America, primarily in the western United States.

Most of these wilderness areas have abundant forage and water resources but are manifestly unsuited for livestock grazing due to existing laws, existing populations of apex predators, and excessive logistics and transport costs due to the difficult terrain and remoteness of such locations. In such wilderness areas, wild horses that are restored back into their evolutionary roles as keystone herbivores naturally protect forests, wildlife, watersheds, and wilderness ecosystems.

Fall gardening tips

August is the time to get ready for fall crops and flowers. Some only take 45–60 days from seed to the September and October harvest (greens, radishes, beans, and more). It’s also time to divide irises and other perennials to ensure healthy root growth for next year’s blooms.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for Earthwise gardens. Send your tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Gardening with nature’s beautiful bouncers

By Janet Sellers

Here we are, mid-season for landscaping and garden beds. We need to know how to protect them. In our natural local ecosystem, plants and nature co-evolved to thrive. That is their job. But we humans make changes to places. Homes in tracts or ranches can severely imbalance natural spaces. Can we keep what we like and deter what we don’t, including pests of the insect and animal kind?

Key to success is keeping nature’s helpers in the landscape—they work around the clock:

  • Mint: The strong, fresh scent of mint is a well-known deer deterrent; garlic: The smell of garlic effectively keeps deer away. Lavender’s strong, floral scent is disliked by deer. The spicy smell of hot pepper flakes or cinnamon are scents deer, rabbits, squirrels (and cats) tend to avoid. Coffee grounds mask the scent of plants and deter invaders, too.
  • Deer avoid double fencing. Having a second 4-5-foot garden perimeter fence helps, since deer don’t want to get caught or stuck there.
  • Fenced yards with dogs can be a good resource. For millennia, canine companions have had the job of protection for communities, landscapes, farms, and homes. For example, in Scotland, the Sheltie dog had traditional jobs to “bark, herd, and deter,” protecting food gardens from sheep and other animals.

Plant bouncers, decoys, and enforcers

Knowing about plant helpers supports our landscapes amid the natural systems we live in. We need native plants for our places to thrive: milkweed, goldenrod, and so on. Finding the best native plants to add in our gardens is a win-win. They are ready to go to work, thrive, and bloom locally.

Natural insect bouncers function and are safe. (Man-made pesticides, which are actually insecticides, kill all insects, the good and “bad”). Nature already has our answers to issues we wouldn’t have if we actually knew how to do gardening with nature. Nicole Johnsey Burke of Gardenary.com, shares her tips for us such as:

Beautiful bouncers deter by scent: mint (use in pots or it goes all over), basil, lavender, rosemary, sage. Second are garlic and chives (which have gorgeous global flowers, by the way). Garlic can line up alongside the greens, marigolds, particularly the yellow, short French marigolds in the aster family, as good border control.

Decoys, sacrifice plants, feed pests that get through our bouncers: nasturtiums, zinnias, and sunflowers to name a few. Dill, fennel, and carrot family plants attract caterpillars and stop their entry to our favored plants.

We can attract what Burke calls the enforcers, good bugs that powerfully control pests: ladybugs, certain kinds of small parasitic wasps (not bad guys) and others that feast on the pests we don’t want eating our gardens. They are attracted to the flowers of the carrot family (cilantro, parsley, dill) and others, then feast on the bad bugs, larvae, and caterpillars. Adding in pollinator-friendly flowers with pollen such as cosmos, coreopsis, and zinnias attract our garden helpers, too.

Moles are carnivorous and eat insects and grubs, daily consuming up to 100% of their body weight in these. Their presence indicates an overabundance of pests—they are only after the pests. But their digging can damage the garden. Trap-and-release removal (far, far away from the ‘hood) works, but owning a cat that enjoys walking through garden beds is a very effective, historical deterrent to rodents—footsteps leaving predator pheromones and deterring garden pests. Castor oil in a dry spread made with a mix of a pound of clay cat litter and a cup of castor oil works well; repeat after rains. Low-tech methods: kids’ pinwheels placed here and there on the lawn or a homemade plastic bottle thumper with “finned” plastic bottles near a mole entrance.

Janet Sellers shares proven “lazy gardening” tips and ideas to help us thrive in our high altitude desert mountain climate. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Enjoying nature in summer, high altitude landscaping, and weed control

By Janet Sellers

“We often forget that we are nature. Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.”—Andy Goldsworthy

With recent much-needed rains, many landscapes—especially at our high altitudes—are flourishing, along with an abundance of weedy grasses. Controlling these grasses is crucial for fire safety and reducing pests like ticks and fleas. Fortunately, safe, natural, and inexpensive methods are available that protect families, pets, and local wildlife. Mowing and weed control are essential steps.

One effective approach is biodynamic gardening, which is gaining popularity for its simplicity and productivity. Rooted in traditional practices, biodynamic farming views the garden as a self-sustaining organism, integrating soil, plants, animals, and humans. European vineyards using biodynamics—just 1% of farmland—win 60% of wine prizes, showing the method’s impact.

Biodynamic methods avoid synthetic chemicals, relying instead on composting, mulching, and natural preparations made from herbs and minerals. These practices build long-term soil fertility, reduce effort over time, and support a thriving ecosystem. They also align with natural growth and decay cycles, creating a closed-loop system that boosts plant health naturally.

In contrast, synthetic herbicides like glyphosate, though widely used, pose serious risks. Glyphosate harms soil microbes, reduces beneficial fungi and bacteria, and contributes to herbicide-resistant weeds. The World Health Organization’s IARC classifies it as “probably carcinogenic to humans” raising concerns especially for children and pets exposed via skin contact, inhalation, or ingestion.

Instead, gardeners can turn to natural weed control methods like vinegar and mulch. White vinegar, particularly with 10-20% acetic acid, acts as a desiccant, breaking down plant cell membranes and effectively killing many broadleaf weeds—especially in hot, dry weather. Adding dish soap helps the solution adhere to leaves for better results. While household vinegar (5% acetic acid) is less potent, it can still work with repeated applications. However, like chemical herbicides, vinegar is non-selective and must be applied carefully to avoid damaging desirable plants.

Washington State University’s Linda Chalker-Scott confirms vinegar’s effectiveness as a natural herbicide, supporting its use as an eco-friendly alternative. These methods help reduce environmental impact and safeguard health.

Mulch, however, remains one of the most effective and long-lasting weed control methods. It blocks sunlight, conserves moisture, and suppresses weed germination. Another lesser-known method is steam weeding, which uses intense heat to kill weed cells. This is especially effective in larger areas like parks, playgrounds, and organic farms, and even small-scale steamers like carpet cleaners can be useful for home gardeners.

For a relaxing, low-effort summer garden, integrated natural methods—such as mowing, mulching, vinegar application, and biodynamic principles—offer a safe, sustainable way to control weeds and reconnect with nature.

Janet Sellers is an avid lazy gardener who follows nature’s lead. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – May: new trees from tree branches, plant partners, bee kind

By Janet Sellers

Air-layering favorite trees for propagation

In the air-layering technique, you peel back the bark and add some rooting hormone and then cover the bark peel area. You’ll primarily need unmilled sphagnum moss (some people use a container of compost with soil for a large branch up to an inch in diameter), a sharp knife, clear plastic wrap, twist ties, and optionally, rooting hormone and a container for the moss or soil. The moss/soil holds moisture, the plastic wrap or bucket helps retain the soil and humidity, and the ties secure everything in place.

The tree will root out at the site after a number of months, depending on the size of the branch. The bucket of soil needs watering, the plastic wrapped area stays moist; both methods should be checked for retaining moisture to keep the rooting branch alive. Small (half-inch or less) branches take several months to be ready to replant, while larger (1 inch to 1½ inches) can be left for half a year or more. It is much faster to get a tree for the garden with this method than from seed or even a small, purchased plant. Air layering works best from early spring when the tree has the whole summer to grow roots.

For fruit trees, especially new purchases, many gardeners recommend “head cutting” for stronger growth and easier harvests. Heading cuts in fruit trees are important for several reasons. They promote branching, increase the number of fruiting buds, and help maintain the tree’s size and shape. By removing the terminal bud (the bud at the tip of a branch), heading cuts encourage growth from the buds below, resulting in more fruiting wood and potentially more fruit.

Plant partners

Plant partners that help each other grow:

  1. Onions – kale, turnips, mustard greens
  2. Radishes – summer peppers, basil, snap beans
  3. Peas – pole beans
  4. Potatoes – broccoli, cabbage, collards
  5. Spinach – annual herbs
  6. Carrots – kale, turnips, mustard greens
  7. Lettuce – beets
  8. Asian greens – Swiss chard
  9. Kohlrabi – zukes, cukes.

Bee kind

If you see a bee of any description on the floor or not flying other than on a flowering plant, it is starving! You can help: mix two parts sugar to one part water and offer the syrup to the bee on a teaspoon. You’ll see her (they are mostly ladies) little black tongue as she drinks. It will take about 10 minutes for her to convert the syrup to energy, but she will fly away if you’ve helped her in time. The feeling you get on seeing her recovery and flight is well worth your time. No honey please—Disease can be spread easily from colony to colony through this practice and you will do more damage than good. White sugar and water only please.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” looking to Mother Nature for simple, effective garden success. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Earth Day and the joys of gardening

By Janet Sellers

Every year on April 22, Earth Day reminds us of our responsibility to care for the planet. First observed on April 22, 1970, it was proposed as a way to have an educational day devoted to protecting our Earth. An estimated 20 million participated in rallies, teach-ins, and demonstrations across the country.

The event was instrumental in gaining support for environmental legislation in the 1970s, including the Clean Air Act (1970) and the Endangered Species Act (1973) and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in response to the growing concerns over pollution and the welfare of the environment. We can do our part with our landscaping and home gardens.

No deer landscaping

Marigolds are a go-to flower that comes in sizes from 6 inches to a couple of feet high and deters bugs, rabbits, and even deer. Surprisingly easy to grow and acknowledged deer-deterrent plants include chives, lemon balm, parsley, thyme, dill, sage, mint, yarrow, allium, garlic, echinacea, chamomile, and more. And these easy plants are herbs we can use for meals or just for tea.

Black Forest Mulch program

We tried out the multi-size mulch from the Black Forest Slash and Mulch Program this past year. It will be available again in May and it’s free. We were amazed at its performance. We had a new garden bed with plenty of seeds planted and, as an experiment, we let Mother Nature do all the work for watering and weed control, etc.

Without any additional watering or work, just the mulch, that flower garden flourished. (I had to water some newly planted flowering bushes late in the season; we’ll see if they come up this year.) The seeds and all of the plants in the garden bed with the mulch thrived all summer without touching it. We planted seeds in June but August was when they decided to show up and flower. This year I’m planting seeds in April and May under the mulch, because seeds will use their own intelligence for growing. Indoor seedlings can be started in April, but we have to wait until the end of May to put them out safely, unless we have protection like cloches or cold frames.

Due to our late snows and cold temperatures, most plants are not particularly interested in doing much until they can rely on warmth, water, and of course good, garden-prepared soil. Earth Day is a perfect time to start a new garden project, volunteer at a local green space, or simply appreciate the beauty of nature. The Tri-Lakes Cares (TLC) food garden needs volunteers to help plant, care, and harvest vegetables this year. Contact me or TLC at tri-lakescares.org to learn more.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy” gardener, letting Mother Nature lead the way for permaculture gardening. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Wild outdoors: pine needle bread, gardening in March

By Janet Sellers

March is the first month we can, maybe, plant some things outdoors, but only with special care and covering. I have used pine needle mulch with success to protect plants. Indoors, we can start seeds (tomatoes and other favorites) and even harvest crops from pots. Easy indoor food crops include radishes, lettuces, bok choy, and other short root plants. The fastest crops come from the cut-and-come-again kitchen scraps planted and kept in moist soil: onions, carrots, bok choy, celery, cabbage, and so on.

Starting slips of yams, potatoes, and sweet potatoes now will get a head start for earlier harvests, and they practically grow themselves into plants just by inserting them in a pot or bag of soil as long as they are protected with thick mulch outside or grown indoors until the last frost. I have a cart to wheel mine indoors if the weather gets below 40 degrees, and last fall I just popped a bunch of purple potatoes in my garden bed to see what happens for spring.

This is wild: Pine needles are not just for mulch

Pine needles have been used to create yeast to make bread—pine needle bread! Most pines can be used to make tea from the needles which have a lot of vitamin C and other antioxidants. Blue spruce pine needle yeast bread can be made using spruce tips, flour, yeast, water, and other ingredients such as beer. The needles can add flavor to the bread. (Caution: Ponderosa, Monterey, and lodgepole pine are reported to be toxic and Norfolk island pine, balsam fir, and yew pine are not really true pines and not for cooking either).

A study last year from the University of Helsinki reported that incorporation of green needle and twig extracts enhanced functional, nutritional, and technological properties of bread; the bioactive compounds showed good stability, with some showing increased content during storage. During forest logging, trees are harvested for timber or pulpwood, often leaving their branches on-site to decompose. Green needles are an underutilized reservoir of valuable polyphenols.

Helpful safe hints for spring pests

To deter hornets and wasps from places you don’t want them, deter them with a paper bag or more around the home. A crumpled brown lunch bag looks like a wasp nest and can deter a queen from nesting 200 feet away from it. I have tried this, and it works if I get the bags out in March. The fake nest traps are also available online. If you can reasonably avoid them for a season, the problem will resolve itself with the first freeze, as hornets will abandon their nests and find a new place to start fresh next year.

European hornets eat harmful insects like caterpillars, flies, and grasshoppers. They can also help control the population of other stinging insects, like yellow jackets. And European hornets are important pollinators. Yellow jackets eat caterpillars and harmful flies that can damage gardens and crops, protect tomatoes and kale from garden pests, and are a source of protein for migrating birds. They help keep insect populations balanced in natural ecosystems. These are useful to us when they live where we need them, we just need to tell them where.

The easiest (and greenest) way to deal with hornets? Soap and water spray (on individual insects). Just add a teaspoon of liquid soap (not detergent) to a quart spray bottle of water and shoot. The soap gets through their “armor” and drowns them in minutes.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way to easy gardening. Send your garden tips to JanetSellers@OCN.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Fermented February, cocoa mulch, and a chocolate “workout”

By Janet Sellers

Cocoa mulch can be toxic to pets, especially dogs. It contains theobromine, a chemical found in chocolate that is poisonous to dogs and other animals. A commonly used mulch, organic cocoa mulch, contains nitrogen, phosphate, and potash and has a pH of 5.8, adding beneficial nutrients to the soil. Using cocoa hulls in the garden is an excellent way to increase soil vitality and is an attractive top cover for flower beds and vegetable patches. Because this mulch is a byproduct of the chocolate-making process, it gives off a chocolate aroma that usually lasts two to three weeks from the time of application.

Hot cocoa, on the other hand, helps create stem cells for humans. A study conducted at the University of California, San Francisco found that individuals who drank a chocolate beverage containing high levels of cocoa flavanols twice daily for a month had significantly higher stem cell counts in their blood compared to a control group, suggesting that consuming chocolate with high cocoa content can potentially increase stem cell levels in the body; this is often attributed to the antioxidant properties of flavanols present in cocoa. Eating dark chocolate may also help your body make new stem cells. Dark chocolate contains compounds called flavanols and proanthocyanidins that can stimulate stem cell production and movement.

The explanation? Cacao! The main ingredient in chocolate, cacao, contains bioactive compounds that may improve stem cell function, and here is some of the good stuff it offers. Flavanols: These compounds interact with cellular pathways, potentially stimulating stem cell production. Proanthocyanidins: These compounds cause stem cells to act more vigorously, similar to giving them a workout. Dark chocolate: Dark chocolate that contains at least 70% cacao is rich in polyphenols and magnesium. Stem cells: These cells are found in various places in the body, including bone marrow, under the skin, and lining of the intestines. They repair, replace, and regenerate worn out and dead cells.

Fermented February

Fermented February is a movement with many homesteaders and home gardeners. Fermented February is a social media campaign that encourages people to ferment foods and drinks in February to optimize good health. People share their recipes and fermentation tips on social media platforms like YouTube.

Homemade soda from pine needles? Yep. It’s citrusy, fresh, and filled with antioxidants for good health. I saw that people like to use the young “spruce tips” of blue spruce to infuse the flavor into the soda base, similar to how you would use other pine needles like white pine or fir needles. I have eaten the blue spruce tips in salads and they are yummy. Some homesteaders report they just collect spruce tips off the tree, wash and ferment in water with sugar for “wild fermentation” using what is on the pine needles already. They place the washed, dried and clipped (remove the papery fascicle) green needles in a flip-top bottle, fill with water, add some sugar (4 tablespoons to about a quart of the needle batch), shake, and leave to ferment, and in about two weeks it’s bubbly and ready to drink. Be sure to find a recipe of your choice. I found some online with a search, and I’ll try it out for Fermented February.

Carrot greens are tasty and free

We can eat carrot greens! Carrot greens are nutritious and contain lots of vitamin C, calcium, potassium, and phytonutrients. They also contain dietary fiber, which can help with digestion and blood sugar regulation. Carrot greens taste a little like parsley and carrots and are a little bitter. Cooking them softens the bitterness. Greens from younger carrots are milder than those from older carrots. Carrots are biennial—they take two years to grow from seed. Most carrots we buy are roots, and the tops can be planted for seed in its first year in our gardens.

We can get carrot greens by regrowing carrot tops from the grocery store. Favorites include: Pesto: Use carrot greens in a pesto with olive oil, walnuts, and parmesan cheese. You can use pesto as a pasta sauce or spread it on toast. Salads: Toss carrot greens with other salad greens. Soups: Stir carrot greens into soups. Smoothies or green juice: Blend carrot greens into smoothies or green juice. Veggie burgers: Add carrot greens to veggie burgers. Herbs: Use carrot greens in place of parsley or basil. Chimichurri: Make a chimichurri with carrot greens, oregano, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, garlic, white wine vinegar, and olive oil. Breakfast strata: Use carrot top pesto in a breakfast strata, which is like a savory bread pudding.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way to easy gardening. Send your garden tips to JanetSellers@OCN.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – January is a seed starter month

By Janet Sellers

With the last frost date of late May and first frost date of mid-October, we can have plenty of time to grow most veggies as desired. Starting seeds needing long maturation periods at the end of January indoors will have them ready for the outdoors in April or May. Caveat: Our plants will still need protection from our random weather patterns of snow, frost, desiccating windy weather (and resident deer, rabbits, squirrels and underground varmints) and we need to plan for that. There are some things we can easily do even without a greenhouse.

Laziest, best winter tip

An autumn preparation of a 6-inch layer of multi-sized wood mulch is the most natural way to protect the garden bed and soil and seeds. (I’ve even put it down in winter on warmer days.) The sprouts emerge in their due time, ready for the season.

Cloches

Many report using translucent milk or water gallon jugs (bottoms cut off) over tender plants in spring. Some have reported they use a jug cloche as a mini cold frame with the jug cut in half as a lid and the base with soil and sprouts. Seed trays are sold many places and are ready to use on a shelf or sunny windowsill.

Cold frames

A cold frame is a transparent enclosure, usually close to the ground, that traps sunlight and makes a slightly warmer microclimate for plants. The top is usually inclined sunward, to maximize sunshine, and can be at different levels for air circulation. They are used season long or for seedlings and transplanting. Some cold frames can be made almost free with recycled glass doors or windows; plastic ones sell for $50 to $100 at hardware stores. They keep the soil warm and protect plants from wind and frost. Cold frames should work to protect our growing plants from deer and rabbits. In summer, change out the tops for window screens or the like for protection, especially from hail and wind.

Castor oil

I share this easy tip every year because it’s so effective and safe. Underground varmints can be deterred with castor oil. I have cats that keep that population down along with gleefully chasing away squirrels and rabbits, but my kitties don’t deter deer.

Castor oil spread over the lawn or a few feet away from veggie garden beds deters pests all season: A cup of castor oil mixed with a pound or two of plain clay cat litter and scattered over the garden or lawn deters them because the castor oil affects the plant roots and they cannot digest the treated plants. I’m not sure how the castor oil would affect our edibles for us humans, so I put the mixture out a couple of feet from the garden beds of edibles. It’s fine closer to flowers and ornamentals.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature teach landscape success. Send your high-altitude garden and nature tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Winter, our backyards, and forests

By Janet Sellers

With snow on the ground and ice in the shadows, it’s hard to think about our gardens growing. We hunker down with a good book and some hot tea, staying cozy and comfortable indoors. Outdoors, our fallen leaves and pine needles are doing the same thing for plants as a mulch, keeping the ground and soil and landscapes safe and cozy. This mulch will insulate the ground and keep it from thawing and freezing too many times over the winter.

Even if we’re new to the area and we don’t know how to garden in the ponderosa forest climate, we can look to Mother Nature, who has known how since pine trees began. Pine trees have been on Earth for around 150 million years, originating in the mid-Mesozoic Era. It would be great to hear what they have to tell us, and yet we can find out what they know by watching and learning from them.

During winter, plants prepare for spring by storing nutrients and carbon in underground organs like their roots, stems, and rhizomes; this allows them to survive the winter and regrow in spring. They’re not dead, and the roots survive the winter because sugars in the roots act as natural antifreeze.

A lot is going on underground where the winter temps don’t go. All the wonderful sugars made from the green leaves have gone to the roots of our plants, and they’re doing a special job over the winter while the rest of our forest life seems to be sleeping. An amazing fact about leaves is that they continue to create our forests even after they’ve dropped to the ground. Our ponderosa pines help protect our own backyard forest ecosystems in many ways over winter. Evergreens can send needed nutrients to other plants in their environs through the complex forest underground life systems.

Ponderosa pine needles can be used to make pine straw.

Pine needles and pine straw are the same thing, and ponderosa pine needles can be used to make garden-ready compost that improves soil fertility and tilth. The needles can be 5 to 10 inches long. In some areas, people gather and sell pine straw as a harvest crop. Pine needle litter can hold a significant amount of water, making it effective at retaining moisture in the soil, particularly when compared to other types of litter. However, the exact capacity depends on factors like the species of pine and the density of the needle layer; studies have shown that pine needles can absorb a considerable amount of water relative to their weight.

Ponderosa pine is an important tree species for wildlife. Its seeds are consumed by many species of birds including wild turkeys, nuthatches, crossbills, grosbeaks, and grouse. They are also eaten by squirrels, chipmunks, and mice. In the past, Native Americans have used the inner bark and seeds of the ponderosa pine as a food source. It was also utilized by native peoples for medicine, dye, fiber, and firewood.

Let’s help our ponderosa forests stay healthy by leaving their needles on the ground. For optimal tree health, it’s recommended to maintain a layer of ponderosa pine needles on the ground that is less than 3 inches deep; this allows for proper air circulation while still providing the benefits of natural mulch.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature teach landscape success. Send your high-altitude garden and nature tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Let’s protect our forests, soil, and gardens

By Janet Sellers

Trail markers, aka trail blazes

We will soon see some newer trail markers on trees in Fox Run Regional Park. Volunteers with the Friends of Fox Run Park made great efforts recently to put up new, silver-colored markers safely tacked to pine tree bark, (older versions were blue), but the markers have been disappearing for unknown reasons. These are traditional trail markers, especially useful and necessary in snowy, icy weather when we cannot see the actual trail.

Our high desert forest clime is dependent on its skin of soil and plants to survive. When we honor this part of the forest we cannot see, the part we can see has a better chance to thrive amid us humans, the invasive species. The trail markers thereby help protect the delicate forest ecosystem because we can stay on the trail and not damage the ecosystem underneath our big, human, heavily shod feet or the bicycles people ride. Please respect the forest floor, the “soul of the forest” and only step on trail areas. The trees will thank you by living longer and we can enjoy each other for a long, long time.

Above: Example of a trail marker.

Berry propagation

When the berry canes go dormant, it’s the perfect time to snip up some of the canes and root them. That’s one way to get a lot of berry plants. The primary canes are the new growth. They don’t make berries in their first year. There are many ways to root berry canes from the primary canes. Some gardeners say to snip the canes to 8 inches and store them until spring, others say to snip the canes and immediately set them to root in a rooting medium and care for them until spring planting.

Blindfold the Xmas cactus for blooms

Now is the time to cover the holiday cacti to force blooms in six weeks. They need 12 hours of darkness a day at about 55 degrees, so a cool spot is vital. With this 12-hour darkness trick, you can get Christmas cactus to bloom several times a year. Bring them out to enjoy when buds form. If the buds fall off, that could be due to a draft, too much sunlight, water or warmth. They thrive with these tips that seem like neglect.

November is also a good time to protect your garden plants and soils with some pine mulch. Six to 8 inches deep help keep them protected over the winter, letting in moisture, protecting the ecologically vital microbiome and even the insects birds need.

Above: Thanks to volunteers gifting tomato plants in spring, hundreds of tomatoes have been harvested at the Tri-Lakes Cares food garden. Young volunteers have been helping to plant, care for and harvest the crops. The green tomatoes harvested before a freeze and can be eaten cooked -or frozen as is – and used in any tomato recipe or replace tomatillos for salsa. Frozen green tomatoes can be used over the course of a year. If you have garden seeds or plants to share, please donate them to Tri-Lakes Cares for the food garden. Madeline and Audrey help Janet Sellers in the food garden to harvest green tomatoes. Photo by Janet Sellers.

Janet Sellers is an avid lazy gardener, letting Mother Nature show the way to enjoy gardening, harvests, and flowers. Please send your handy hints to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – The garden as investment: gardening is like banking

By Janet Sellers

Our high-desert forest clime relies on its natural system of growth and decay to thrive. When we vandalize that system, we are the robbers of the soil and the forest, and also our gardens if we choose to have those. We have to create our garden soil for the plant life we wish to have that also tolerates our crazy weather changes and cold winters.

Gardening is like banking. If you invest in the soil, you will be able to have produce and flowers, but continual reinvestment is vital. If you’re constantly taking from the soil and not putting things back such as taking the pine needles off the soil but not putting those back for the soil for the trees, your deficit, your debt to the tree, will cause the tree and the forest to die. That is why many slash and mulch sites that support fire mitigation do not accept the pine needles. Pine needles are a proven mulch that keeps the soil healthy underneath, and even if we have prepared that soil for crops we’d like to grow, the pine needles do their job.

We planted a lot of beans last year in the Tri-Lakes Cares garden because beans fix nitrogen into the soil. Then we took the beans out and it’s ideal to leave the roots in and just cut the tops off after they finished flowering. Those wonderful bean roots will feed the worms and this year’s microbes will create rich soil that will support our plants. This is garden investing at its finest.

In October, we have sunny days and cool to cold nights. Cold weather brassicas will still do well and even overwinter, especially with frost cloth on hoops or in the greenhouse. At the Tri-Lakes Cares food garden, we are still getting tomatoes due to the protective fence and the brick building keeping things warm and deer-proof. I let several of the different plants go to seed (even one plant offers thousands of seeds) to save for next year. These seeds are acclimated to our area from this year, so the hope is they’ll make strong and viable plants next year.

Zombie vegetables

The garlic and onions release components when cut/injured to ensure animals don’t eat them. That’s why onions release the components that make you cry and taste super spicy if you cut them first at the root end. Cut them at the stem end and they stay sweeter and tastier. We can leave the bottom 1 inch of the root part and it will regrow in water or soil and make tasty green shoots. Try putting different things to root in some water about an inch or two deep in a glass or bowl. Lettuce, celery, onions, scallions, leeks, fennel, and garlic grow easily indoors in pots.

Janet Sellers is a dauntless lazy gardener letting Mother Nature lead the way for low water gardening, using our natural forests’ wisdom as the guide to success. Send your garden tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Cut and come again crops to plant in September

By Janet Sellers

Kale will rise again.

For years I did not eat kale because I didn’t know anything about it, but after I tried it both as young plant leaves and full mature leaves, I decided it was one of my favorite vegetables ever, not to mention it has amazing health benefits. Packed with superfood amounts of vitamins, minerals and plant compounds, we can eat it (and our dogs might like it, too!) in salad, steamed, stir-fried, in green smoothies, and even baked as kale chips. Fair warning, kale chips are so yummy and easy to make (just oil lightly and toast in the oven for 5-10 minutes) you may need a couple of bunches to make a batch—they go down easy and disappear quickly. Potato chips seem heavy and dull by comparison.

At the Tri-Lakes Cares food garden, protected from deer by the tall fence, we left our kale plants to overwinter sort of by accident due to an early snow last fall, but they came back in great shape in April, and we got three crops from them by the end of June. We just cut the leaves from the lower parts of the plant and the plants kept growing till 5 or 6 feet high for all of them, offering a very long harvest. We did the same with the lettuce. Then we let the plants flower and go to seed. Lots of seeds fell and they’re regrowing now. We’ll have plants for this fall season and for next year. We plan to leave the newer plants to overwinter making strong roots. The plants will then come back and grow again for us in late spring next year. It’s also possible that we could have them last for a few seasons. Some people can keep their kale plants for three years or more as long as they’re cut back and the roots are protected over the winter. It seems to work very well.

Many leafy greens and plants can be simple “cut and come again” food crops in the garden or in pots. “Zombie” plants can regrow in soil, such as lettuces and similar foods sold with root ends intact including scallions, celery, kale, bok choy, chard, herbs, and more. Even onion roots will sprout tasty leaves. Many herbs thrive with careful pruning, and we can propagate or eat the cuttings. Broccoli will sprout side shoots after the first top harvest. Broccoli, kale, and the brassicas originated from mustard greens, carefully tended over the centuries and bred to enhance the plant for nutrition, locale, and so on. We used to grow these in our kitchen window in a baking pan for transplanting, but in winter we can just harvest from the windowsill when they get big enough.

Letting our locally growing plants go to seed in fall can offer some good seeds that are hardy for our area for the next year.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” using deep mulch to spare watering and keep out weeds in the Back to Eden garden scheme. Your garden tips are very welcome; please send them to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Back to Eden gardening and what to plant in August

By Janet Sellers

Our wood chips that come from local fire mitigation have a number of benefits. The official monikers for chunky wood mulch uses are “Back to Eden” and “permaculture” and use the many sizes of chips, which is key. Many people buy wood chips that are of a uniform size with mediocre benefits, but success with wood chips depends on chunky variable sized chips. The various sizes offer a slow but steady introduction of nutrients and organic materials and lets in moisture and keeps it in, creating a rich soil environment. It supports our growing beds precisely because of the mixed sizes. Some worry about freshly chipped wood mulch as a nitrogen robber. But the mulch stays on top of the soil, and at a safe, 6 inches thick, it kills unwanted grasses and blocks weeds without any digging since it blocks sunlight and yet retains moisture. We can then lift open a planting space in the chips, plant some seeds, put back the chips and seedlings can grow up and out of the soil through the mixed chips.

Mixed chips allow for air pockets gently letting water in and maintain fluffy soil, not a packed soil that happens with irrigation from the top sans mulch protection. There is almost no evaporation, and this mulch keeps consistent optimal temperatures for the soil regardless of hot days or cold nights. It saves on watering, too. Good soil is alive with microbes that depend on such specifics, and protecting it is vital to our plants. The mixed wood chips do that and protect the soil from erosion as well. Are there bugs? No! The chipping process fixes that. Diseases are also not likely and mostly a non-issue. And the best part? We can get a wood chip mulch supply for free through September at Black Forest slash, evenings or weekends. Just check out www. bfslash.org. It’s located at Shoup and Herring Roads, Colorado Springs.

As August begins, our fall seedling efforts start. We can do our brassicas and even beans and lettuces started from seed for a fall harvest. Our hot, dry June and July season was not a normal summer for our climate but may become more common as the years go by. For the last few years, we’ve had hotter temperatures than I remember ever having at our altitude. It fried our grasses this year, but for those of us with wood chips as our “Back to Eden” garden beds, the soil moisture kept up with the heat and we’ve had success with lots of warmth-loving crops. Marigolds and other annual flowers can be started now and enjoyed through the fall. I saved huge bags of marigold seeds from last year’s flowers so I could have a whole landscape of them if planted—what a concept.

Above: The Tri-Lakes Cares Garden with greens and healthy food. Ohlmer family volunteers have been tending the garden and bringing things to Tri-Lakes Cares’ little market. Photo by Janet Sellers.

Janet Sellers is an avid Back to Eden/permaculture “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for healthy soil and healthy gardens. Send your handy garden tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – High-altitude hot summer days

By Janet Sellers

Table of Contents

“If you’ve never experienced the joy of accomplishing more than you can imagine, plant a garden.”—Robert Brault

How the forest keeps its soil moist

Mulch as ground protector: wood chips, pine needles, rocks, or pebbles?

Using innate, natural forest mulching wisdom, we can keep our plants thriving in hot weather. I’m not comfortable in this altitude with heat over 75-80 degrees, and neither are the food crop plants. Even heat-loving tomato plants wilt in the heat.

In the Tri-Lakes Cares Garden, we have nice, thick 4-to-6-inch-deep wood mulch from the Black Forest slash and mulch program (www.BFSlash.org). Even without watering, the garden soil underneath that protective mulch is moist and ready to support the plants. I wish it had a nicer name than “mulch.” Mulch is simply a protective layer of material spread on top of the soil. Organic mulch is from living material. In Italian, it’s “pacciame.” In French it’s “le paillis.” In Spanish it’s “mantillo.”

In the food garden, we water the plants once or twice a day in the hottest weather so nothing dries out and dies. That happened in the community garden when we just had early morning watering on the water timer. The lack of shade and intense heat wilted and killed many plants; even with pine mulch, we had to have some water late in the day. I admire my fruit trees for holding up under that high-altitude heat, but they need mulch, too.

Mulch and native flowers

Thankfully, most places only regulate lawn watering (lawns aren’t native and hard to have here anyhow) but not food crops. My grassy areas are not happy without rain, and I look to change to groundcovers. I had to get rid of a bed of weedy grasses, so I mowed them short twice and they gave up and dried out. Now I can rake the area and put in alpaca “beans” compost with the wood mulch or pine straw and grow what I’d like to see instead of grasses that need mowing. I look to transplant my bearded iris and some annuals there. Even planting flower seeds thickly, the plants can grow just fine amid the mulch. Asters make pretty plants and seem to adjust to low water conditions, as do yarrow, which come in many colors and reseed each year.

Recipes for a cool afternoon beverage

A mint sprig in iced water is refreshing. My new favorite is iced hibiscus tea (aka Jamaica tea in the Wild West). It’s kind of tart, so just adding a fruit slice changes the flavor profile with an exotic perk. I’ve added dried mango, pineapple (even canned) and orange slices for a change in flavor. Here’s to a cool one from the garden—cheers!

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardening” enthusiast, letting Mother Nature lead for gardening wisdom in our Tri-Lakes high desert ecosystem. Share your garden tips and stories: JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – The aesthetics of cottagecore, bloomcore, and cluttercore

By Janet Sellers

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”—Kahlil Gabran

Cottagecore is an internet sensation that romanticizes the dream of a simplified, natural, rural way of life. Eschewing electronics for positive habits, a favorite version is the bloomcore, with beautiful botanicals. It is about escape from screens and stressors and renewing our souls via respecting nature through the daydreamy aesthetic of Regency-era country life (as in Jane Austen’s book, Emma). But the cottagecore aesthetic has been around for at least 2,300 years, dating back to the ancient Greek countryside, popularized on our social media in the past few years. Perhaps cottagecore should be called the Emma aesthetic.

While cottagecore and bloomcore may be more formal in nature, there is also cluttercore. The art of cluttercore achieves an “organized mess that feels like a big hug.” With luck and help, I “cluttercore” mow the grass around flower berms. Putting the settee in the pink shade of the crabapple tree, we listen to spring peeper frogs belt out their songs. To our cat’s amusement—or possibly dismay—we can hear but never find them. Iris and poppies appear in May and June, but the yellow, white, and purple asters don’t get going until July and August. Yardwork is also busy with plucking last year’s lanky stems of the purple blooming Russian sage (salvia yangii).

Ponderosa pine benefits

Our native Colorado springtime bursts in wildflower glory every year, including the positive benefits of our ponderosa pine blooming season. Contrary to popular belief, the pine pollen is a valuable resource. Ponderosa pine pollen has been used historically as an adaptogenic tonic that can help balance hormones, boost immunity, and increase endurance. It can also make the body more resilient to daily stressors, strengthen vital organs, facilitate anti-aging and support a healthy balanced immune system. Many think that their spring allergies are from that yellow dust that gets all over everything in June, but there are multiple pollens exploding into our air then, so we can’t blame just the pines. My dry salt inhaler works wonders for clearing my hay fever symptoms.

Pine needles necessary for pine tree health

Pine needles, as they decompose into soil, supply necessary nutrients for our pine trees to thrive. Ill-informed sources propose myths, but pine needles are acid neutral as soon as they lose the green color and make great garden mulch that knits itself together and stays put in snow, rain, and wind. Pine needles become nutrient-rich soil after a year. Even a 2-3-inch depth helps the ponderosa trees and the garden, according to the fire mitigation expert I spoke with from our local fire district who uses them in his gardens.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardening” enthusiast, letting Mother Nature lead the gardening wisdom that supports the Tri-Lakes high desert ecosystem. Share your garden tips and stories. JanetSellers@ocn.me

Above: Garden volunteer sisters Audrey, left, and Madelyn earn volunteering service stars for their American Heritage Girls vests. Through their volunteer time at the Tri-Lakes Cares (TLC) garden last year (and other service projects as well), they earned the President’s Silver Volunteer Service award. Audrey gets one star for every five hours of service. Madelyn gets one star for every 10 hours of service. They received a pin, certificate, and letter from the White House. They were recognized for all their achievements in an American Heritage Girls awards ceremony in May. TLC garden volunteers are needed for summer. Photo by Janet Sellers.
 

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Garden—and lawn—success starts with dandelions!

By Janet Sellers

Before you grab anything that’s toxic, let’s take a look at some handy hints that are easy and don’t harm people or pets.

Chemicals to kill weeds and varmints go down into our groundwater and poison our water.

Every year I share the importance of the dandelions as the first food for both hummingbirds and pollinators. Root to flower, the dandelion supports our gardens in ways we may never have imagined. Dandelions send their roots down anywhere from 2-20 feet to bring up nutrients to the surface. The roots also loosen and aerate the soil and help control erosion. Dandelions enrich our soil and our gardens. Dandelions will not return when the soil is rich and balanced. They are edible roots to flowers. And they actually fertilize the grass. Dandelions are in the same family as lettuce, artichokes, chamomile, and daisies.

So how did dandelions get such a bad rap? Dandelions are indicators of poor soil. Contrary to popular belief, once the soil is restored dandelions stop growing in those areas. I have been able to find a plethora of information on the benefits of dandelions but curiously, the bulk of texts against growing them is from chemical companies that want to sell chemicals. Widespread movie and TV shows of “pretend perfect” but fake lawns added to the ideas of lawns and lawn care: perfect lawn, perfect family. But there’s no perfect family or lawn. That’s fake, too. Dandelions can be mowed after their blooming, which has helped our pollinators and hummingbirds as the first flower of food power in spring. Mowing them is an easy way to control spread if needed.

A kid and pet safe vermin deterrent

The fastest, safest, most effective pocket gopher and varmint deterrent (besides a house cat) I have found is castor oil. Add to a gallon (a 1-pound bag) of clean clay cat litter 6 ounces of Castor oil and shake in the bag thoroughly to coat all the clay particles. Then cast it over the lawn or garden and watch as the voles disappear over the next few days. They stay away. It gives the ground vegetation and odor and taste that disagree with the vermin. It goes safely into the soil and makes the plants taste bad to the varmints so they won’t eat them. Reapply after rain or snow.

Janet Sellers is an avid lazy gardener, letting Mother Nature lead the way in our mountain high desert climate. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Garden helps, bloopers, and dangers

By Janet Sellers

April for gardeners

April still gets lots of cold weather that can kill garden plants that don’t have their organic systems at work. The organic garden has a natural pace for give-and-take with microorganisms that plants depend on for life. The microcosm of organic organisms survives cold weather dormancy but doesn’t get going until the soil climate is right for activity at specific temperatures. Many use frost cloth for temperature and harsh weather protection into the summer season.

Music from nature

Last month, I shared that bird songs and classical music have a profound effect on plants. Human speech also plays a part. But overstimulation—especially from loud or strident music—is harmful to the plant, also true for other living things like people and animals. Bird song sound frequencies can also have a calming effect on plants, reducing stress and improving their ability to cope with environmental factors such as temperature changes or pests.

Geyser concertos

An article in the Washington Post reported on a computer program coded by Domenico Vicinanza, a particle physicist and composer at Britain’s Anglia Ruskin University, that converted geyser underground tremors into a musical score, and flutist Alyssa Schwartz performed a musical score generated by seismic readings recorded at Yellowstone’s Mary Lake, Wyo.

I found out about music-like frequencies created in nature that humans cannot hear but birds, animals and plants can. To explore that this spring, I got a midi device that puts plant frequencies into frequencies we can hear.

Not for the birds

Human hair can tangle on a bird’s feet or legs, cutting off circulation. Avoid soft fluffy pet fur taken from the undercoat of a pet, or very fine fur like pet rabbit fur. These may soak up water – it’s dangerous to nests – so compost these and enrich the soil with no harm to any creature. Any pet hair should be used only from pets that have not received flea or tick treatments.

Silver bullets? Don’t drink snow!

Colorado allows licensed cloud seeding of silver iodide for ski resorts and farming. If you try to burn a snowball and it turns black, that’s silver iodide, (a chemical regulated by the Clean Water Act as a hazardous substance) which is used across the globe and linked to various weather issues. Studies show concerns regarding bioaccumulation, citing pros and cons of this weather control strategy.

Local herbs

Our bodies are exposed to heavy metals every day via food, water, pharmaceuticals, manufactured products, pollution, and more. The National Institute for Health shares that we can use these to help detox from heavy metals. We can grow cilantro, cumin, dandelion, and milk thistle. Red clover and turmeric are good but not locally grown.

Janet Sellers is a holistic gardening nature lover and welcomes your garden tips at JanetSellers@ocn.me

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – This month in the garden: soil, bird songs, and hummingbirds

By Janet Sellers

Tie a red ribbon for hummingbirds

Hummingbird scouts return this month and are attracted to red, orange, pink, and yellow colors. Before we have our full-bloom colorful gardens outdoors (which can take until June or later some years) we can attract hummingbirds to our gardens with simple red ribbons tied near food sources. Feeder placement is critical to avoid our area’s bears and critters, and I’ve personally taken to using colorful flowers with nectar (petunias, lantana, etc.) for safety instead of feeders around the garden. I brought my lantana in for the winter and will put those hanging pots out on a day-by-day basis very soon.

Physics: Birds singing helps our plants grow

Sonic bloom music and bird songs stimulate plants, and they grow better. I’ve turned on a local classical radio station (complete with human announcers) to keep out critters, but I didn’t know about the plant benefits until recently. In a research article about physics resonance by D. Kroeze MSc. of CANNA-uk.com, Kroeze wrote, “…The University of California, San Diego in the United States discovered a signal mechanism that controls a plant’s stomata. The two cells that form the stoma consist of specialized cells (guard cells) that are tuned to the resonant frequency of calcium. When exposed to this frequency the stomata close. However, if the frequency is not exactly right the cells will open again within an hour. This happens even if the concentration of calcium is so high that the stomata would normally close. Experiments showed that exposure to high tones was more or less directly responsible for increased gas exchange, and not just after an hour.”

Dirt, soil, and topsoil

Topsoil is the rich, dark soil layer that has nutrients, holds water, and is home to the microorganisms that help our plants grow. The organic matter in soil is specific to what grows there or what we want to grow there. We use different compositions mixed into our soil for vegetables than we would for grasses or other plants, but all soils need a rich microbiome to support the landscape. The easiest way to accomplish this inexpensively or free is with a compost made up of vegetables, grass, leaves, and flowers or other plant-specific composting methods. Using alpaca manure tea is another cost-effective enrichment for watering the landscape and a jump start for garden plants and seedlings as its composition doesn’t burn the plants.

Lovage, the mountain celery

March is the month to start the rich, celery-flavored perennial lovage from seed indoors, then plant outdoors after the last frost. It matures to a whopping 60 inches in 90 days; cutting it back mid-season will bring forth new, tasty leaves. Easily grown from seed, it grows well in pots but is most vigorous in the ground.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural growing wisdom. Reach her at janetsellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Colorado trades in grass for cash

By Janet Sellers

Snow adds nitrogen to our soil.

Nitrogen is abundant in the air, but it must be fixed in some way to be available to our soil. Both rain and snow can accomplish this. Called the poor man’s fertilizer, it really is Mother Nature at work. We don’t need additives when we understand how nature works. Snow brings a fair amount of nitrogen and sulfur, both important nutrients for soil. In our area, snow provides much-needed moisture that is slowly released into our soil. Unlike summer rains that can cause runoff of water and soil, snow soaks into and supports the land.

Are lawns a sign of prestige or disregard?

The American obsession with lawns stems from the idea that a person has the wealth or means to maintain it to perfection. Scientific American reports that lawns are indicative of success as socio-economic indicators. Even though the landscape of the New World settlers had already been greatly altered by Native Americans for the survival purposes of optimal hunting and fishing, the colonists’ grazing in place of farm animals actually decimated the native grasses to the point of livestock starvation.

In turn, the colonists had grass and clover seeds imported. Along with these, weed seeds including dandelions and plantain also showed up and spread across America. The green carpet lawn was a curiosity in England and France until the Palace of Versailles’ landscape became an elite influence. Lawns soon caught on in Europe, and the New World wealthy raced to copy this landscape fashion. We can’t eat lawn turf, but curiously, both dandelion and plantain are remarkable foodstuffs capable of supporting people lifelong.

Cash for grass

We live in a high desert climate where our pine forests have learned to thrive, grow and conserve water resources. Due to water and resource needs, Colorado is now headed from turf lawns to restorative gardens with a state funded turf replacement program aimed at nonessential turf to reduce outdoor watering. The program seeks to convert grass to more water-efficient landscaping.

The Colorado Water Conservation Board has been providing funds to eligible entities (local governments, water districts, nonprofits and others) in grants to replace turf with low water landscaping as a key tool for water conservation. Colorado approved a $2 million bill to support turf replacement in 2022 and looks to increase that amount to $5 million this year.

Non-native grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass (native to Europe, Asia, and Africa) guzzle nearly half of all the water in Colorado cities. 2023 saw Colorado approve $92 million in funding for water conservation that included a variety of irrigation and planning projects. Streams and wetlands that are affected by road building and construction also have legislative protections in the works at the state level.

Turf replacement can include mulch and ornamental grasses, berm landscaping, and various groundcovers. Groundcovers are any low-lying plant that you can walk on. Native groundcovers, shrubs, and trees provide water-wise alternatives that benefit pollinators and our ecosystem. When carefully planned, water-wise landscaping offers beauty and low-maintenance and does not require the fertilizer, pesticides, and labor needed with turf lawns.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural growing wisdom. Reach her at JanetSellers@OCN.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – The wonderful gifts of the pine tree

By Janet Sellers

We live in a high desert pine forest clime. Our soil and environment have been optimized for millions of years for the native plants that include our pine trees. Besides lumber, the pine forests offer much to us that we may not know, but the Native Americans who lived here for thousands of years have a deep understanding of the forest benefits to our health and land stewardship.

From root to crown, our local ponderosa pine tree holds much benefit for nature in its up to 800 years of forest ecology life—and for us. Our area has been an important conservation place, too. In an article this year about the origins of the nearby Monument Nursery (on Mount Herman Road), Eric Swab of the TrailsandOpenSpaces.org (TOSC) shared some historic facts about our beloved local forests, a huge factor for why we all live here in the Tri-Lakes region.

“By the mid-19th century, the U.S. government owned much of the forested land in the West. Over the years these forests had been devastated by wildfires, and by logging for the railroads, mining and the building industries. The government was beginning to realize that something needed to be done to protect this resource, this ‘green gold,’ that was so important to the growth of the country.” The forests had to be replenished, and the Monument Nursery became the place where millions of seedlings got their start to protect the forests and the land of the mountain West.

Pine forests have natural oils released by the trees for many reasons, particularly to protect the health of the trees. A pine tree releases its scent messages to other trees about pathogens and pests. The pine scent comes from chemical compounds called terpenes. If the bark of the tree is damaged, the tree can release protective resin that deters pests and fungal growth. The pine scent also deters insects such as mosquitos.

One of the surprising facts for newcomers to our area about our pines is regarding pine needles. They make excellent mulch for landscaping (as evidenced by the forests themselves) and provide some health benefits to people and animals by breathing the pine scented air. Some species of pine, such as the white pine, are used in beneficial teas, but needles of the ponderosa are not used for this.

Pine needles decompose very slowly so they don’t need replacing as often as other mulches. However, eventually needles will break down and enrich garden soil. By the time the needles fall from the tree, they have lost a lot of their acid composition, and as the soil microbes digest them, they become close to neutral. They moderate soil temperature in summer and prevent winter soils from freezing and heaving roots from the ground.

In fire-prone areas, care must be taken in using any natural mulch. Pine needles hold in ground moisture, knit themselves together to stay put even on sloped areas, and allow snow and rain to sift through them to nurture the soil. The natural soil in our area is specific to support the native plants of pine forests, yet pine needle mulch topping does not bother food or flower garden plants, since these must be planted into appropriately amended soil. Then pine mulch does its job to keep in soil moisture while keeping out weeds.

There are many books and U.S. Forest Service pamphlets as well as online details if one has an interest in learning more about the benefits of pine trees and pine needle mulch.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural growing wisdom. Reach her at JanetSellers@OCN.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Getting holiday cactuses to bloom

By Janet Sellers

Holiday cactuses can live up to 50 years. They originally came from the Brazilian rainforests. I found some surprises about this non-toxic plant that’s safe for dogs and cats. Christmas cactus, Thanksgiving cactus, and Easter cactus are common names for this succulent plant.

The University of Georgia reports on its botanical extension website that the original Christmas cactus was developed by French botanist Charles Lemaire and named after French horticulture collector Frédéric Schlumberger. Schlumbergera is now the correct botanical name, but they are frequently called Zygocactus.

These plants stay in bloom for three to six weeks, each blossom lasting about a week. They have adapted to be pollinated by hummingbirds in the Brazilian rainforest. The 20-30 flower “tepals” fuse to form a floral tube for the hummingbirds to pollinate. The Christmas cactus flowers have pink pollen and later, a fleshy fruit.

Above: These “cactuses” are succulents identified by differences in greenery. Thanksgiving cactuses have pointy edges and Easter cactuses have rounded edges. Christmas cactuses can have both—it is a combination of the others, blooming in December in the Northern Hemisphere’s long nights and short days. This is a photo of a “Thanksgiving” cactus bought near Christmastime last year. Their blooms are triggered by long, cool nights, and they can bloom any time of year with proper conditions. Photo by Janet Sellers.

I enjoy my Christmas cactus plants but was disappointed when they didn’t form buds this year. Alas, I think my plants will probably bloom for Valentine’s Day given the advice I found. About a couple of months before the desired bloom time, a very consistent 50 to 60-degree indoor temperature, 12 to 14 hours of darkness every 24 hours, is needed. As short-day plants they need cool temperatures (but not cold) to trigger flowering.

The plants are so sensitive that even a street light or a night light will affect them. We can simply cover them every night and then take the covering off the next morning, and do this for six weeks (and get them to bloom again in the year with this trick months after their first blooming). Increased darkness compensates for temperatures above 65 degrees. After buds appear it could take 6-8 weeks to actually bloom (especially for the second time) with no fertilization during flowering.

Christmas cactuses will drop flower buds with sudden changes in temperature, overwatering and low humidity, but go limp if they’re over-watered. Water every two weeks when soil is dry an inch down. They like being rootbound, needing repotting every couple of years. Prune them to a nice shape and keep the green stem segments to root and make new plants.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural growing wisdom. Reach her at JanetSellers@OCN.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – November: Gardening goes indoors

By Janet Sellers

We had a long and wonderful Indian summer this year and only got some cold weather basically toward the end of October. Volunteers and I put the frost cloth on the garden beds at Tri-Lakes Cares and they did fine all month, doubling in size with the warm days and protected nights. Hopefully they’ll last another few weeks.

I put most of my potted flowers at home on a rolling cart. That way they go in at night but out during the day. I think I will try some new techniques for overwintering my geraniums and petunias and other flowering plants. In a warmer climate they are perennials, but in our high desert mountain clime they are treated as annuals. Some people I know have their potted fair-weather lemon trees indoors until next summer.

A lot of our potted plants can be brought indoors for safety and only things like a potted apple tree would need to be outside because it needs a certain amount of cold hours for blooms the next year. The pot has to be wrap protected from severe cold to protect the roots inside as the garden ground soil would do, but the apple, cherry and other trees need the cold. I’ll use a thick wrap of straw and then frost cloth, but many just dig a hole and plop the mulched potted tree into it, so the ground is the root protection.

How do you wrap trees to protect them from freezing?

Canopy.org recommends us to “cover susceptible trees and plants with burlap, sheets, tarps, etc., that extend to the ground to trap in the earth’s accumulated warmth. Use a frame or stakes to minimize contact between the cover and the foliage. Bring potted plants and trees to more protected locations.”

Also, wood chip mulch will protect from cold and keep in moisture. We aren’t supposed to bring apple, cherry, and other trees indoors. I didn’t get to the turf removal and mulching for my new pear trees until after our first snow in October. Hopefully all is well. My one little pear tree had a baby pear on it almost full size.

Some days in November will be in the 40s and higher, so we need to keep an eye on temperatures and water some of our garden in the warm parts of the days. Underneath wood mulch or pine needle mulch, the tree roots will appreciate a drink while being protected.

In winter we can still grow windowsill foods. I have “zombie” romaine, celery, and scallions on my kitchen windowsill. The stubs from these market veggies will regrow in less than a month, sending out roots and shoots. They may not get as big in water as in soil, but they’ve each grown 6-10 inches tall.

Janet Sellers is an avid garden enthusiast. Share your handy planting tips—contact her at janetsellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Gardening with cinnamon; fall tool care

By Janet Sellers

“It’s amazing how many worries are lost while gardening.”—”The Empress of Dirt”

Cinnamon is good for people and gardens

I’ve used cinnamon for flower pots and veggie beds to keep out critters with success, but I recently learned about the wide range of how it helps gardening. Cinnamon has gotten more expensive recently, so I have also used pepper flakes and cayenne powder instead—which started with trying to keep our kitten off the Christmas tree branches. It worked great for that.

Cinnamon protects soil and plants from fungi, rot, and more. It deters houseflies, aphids, moths, ants, and spiders even from our closets. I put cinnamon oil or powder on pine cones in a dish or on a shelf—even on a ribbon to dangle by the door. Cornell University cooperative extension reports pesticidal uses include insecticide and acaricide. Repellent of cockroaches, mosquitoes, dogs, and cats. Nematicide for plant parasitic nematodes. Fungicide for disease control in edible mushrooms and more.

The website www.realmissolliesoakland.com/ reports, “… Cinnamon has lots of eugenol, a popular insect-repellent ingredient. The spicy heat and strong aroma of cinnamon can also disrupt insect pheromones, separating them from their fellow bugs and disrupting communication.” It is very good for human food since it has iron, calcium, fiber, various vitamins, and manganese. It also contains carbs, fats, lipids, and proteins.

Tool care in fall in our high desert climate

The Empress of Dirt website (a fun favorite of mine) offers advice for good fall routines: Paint the ends of tools bright colors, rinse off tools in diluted household bleach (4 teaspoons bleach for quart of water) for one minute and then dry well.

Kevin at the Epic Gardening website has rusty tool hints: Clean pruners in a white vinegar bath. Just put the tool in a jar that fits the tool head, add vinegar up past the rust area, and next day the rust is in the vinegar. Then tackle the rest with a kitchen scrub pad and get all the rust and crud off. Then lube and protect with 3-in-1 oil. I clean my hands with Dawn dish soap, but many use Lava soap which has scrubbing pumice in it.

Wooden handles: Sand and protect with boiled linseed oil. Protect moving parts with 3-in-1 oil or WD-40 (check with the manufacturer’s instructions). I use a sponge sander for the handles. I spray WD-40 on cutting tools and use folded 400 grit sandpaper in a back-and-forth motion to sharpen tools. (I dip things like shovels in a bucket of sand to clean them off, and the sand also seems to help the edges). Many people take their tools to a pro for this.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy” gardener, letting Nature lead the way for fun kid-and pet-safe gardening. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG): Strategies for trees, especially in deer country

By Janet Sellers

What happens to trees in the fall

When the leaves change colors and fall in autumn, something amazing happens. Trees create sugars in their leaves, and in fall the sugars go down to the roots, and the tree saves that sugar energy to surge forth new growth in spring. Phloem cells of the tree transport the sugar for immediate growth, or the sugar is converted into starch stored in the trunk or roots. Bare root plants have that abundant stored energy and make a great comeback in spring—better than potted plants that get rootbound.

Deter deer with a fence hedge or “fedge”

Deer have a bad habit of getting into things and making bonsai out of our fruit and other trees, so a barrier is needed. A good deer fence is better with a hedge, known as a “fedge” to keep out sheep originally by tightly weaving the live hedge plants, a kind of super espalier method. It is a beautiful and effective barrier. It may be that a dwarf variety could be easier to protect in the early stages, and they fit into more garden spots. In any case, protection strategies against deer are vital.

Deer can crawl under a fence, so a tight base is a must. Planting a hedge with the fruit trees may be a protection strategy as the fruit tree grows big enough to bear fruit, often four to five years after planting. Deer don’t see very well in terms of depth and avoid problems navigating the depth of a hedge with the height of a fence and likely will just go elsewhere. Many people in our area put up a barrier fence around each tree or around a few trees to deter deer.

We were deer proof for many years at the Monument Community Garden by planting giant sunflowers all around the garden fence because the deer couldn’t see into the garden or find a clear place to jump. That strategy’s demise came when we lost our sunflower plants to late snow and ice three times last year. The poor sunflowers didn’t have a chance.

Crops to plant now outdoors or in pots

Mustard spinach (ready in just four weeks), carrots, beets, lettuce, and most cool-weather greens can start now and later with covered care (frost cloth, burlap, etc.) for possible random cold times. We can get crops even in October and November.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for natural landscapes that respect our Colorado high desert forest clime. Send handy tips to: JanetSellers@ocn.me..

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Will Vogl: father, firefighter, and farmer

By Janet Sellers

“The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.”— Franklin D. Roosevelt (U.S. president 1933-45) in a letter to state governors in 1937.

I recently visited Will Vogl’s Black Forest farm where he shared his “living soil” restoration projects: hugelkultur (moist mound culture farming) and pastureland reclamation using age-old farming methods. The rich, moisture-filled soil thrives with or without rain or irrigation.

Vogl explained, “It depends on the source, but a 1% increase in soil organic matter (SOM) in the top 12 inches of soil will increase the soil’s natural water storage capacity by 20 to 30,000 gallons per acre. Here on our land, we have increased our SOM by around 2% in places of our pasture we have treated with compost, essentially allowing our land to hold an additional 50,000 gallons of water per acre over what it could before.

Vogl shared some of his information resources with me such as the USDA Forest Service as well as the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service information at this link: www.nrcs.usda.gov/.

We know from history that our own country had famine and other disasters when we didn’t steward our land as nature intended. As far back as 1937, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wrote a letter urging state governors to implement soil conservation laws in reference to the horrific drought that caused the dust bowl and famine. There are ways to tend the land using natural nutrients and moisture abilities for what the soil—our Earth’s skin—needs to be resilient.

In his writings on the imperative for regenerative agriculture, Dr. Christopher J. Rhodes at Resilience.org explains how we got these erroneous notions. Throughout history, civilizations have thrived or declined based on the quality of their soils—a crucial factor for us to feed ourselves and our animals.

Above: Bill Vogl gave a walk-and-talk on his land to citizens interested in his family’s land conservation efforts in July. Upcoming fall farm walks and volunteer days are in the works, too. Here, Vogl shows the age-old hugelkultur system creating a thriving food and pollinator/flower garden above ground, made by stacking cast-off fire mitigation tree trunks, branches, compost, and soil and covering with pine mulch that he says “holds in moisture like a giant sponge.” Hugelkultur can also be used for flat landscapes or garden areas by using a pit for the materials and covering that with soil and mulch, maintaining needed moisture and nutrients for plants to thrive.
Above: Vogl’s sheep pasture is in the distance, where he practices soil conservation with pasture rotational methods. Grazing animals play an important role in maintaining the ecosystem by stimulating plant growth. This triggers biological activity and nutrient exchanges and mimics the migration of the tens of thousands of elk, deer, and bison that had always kept the prairie ecosystem in balance. Photos by Janet Sellers.

Manmade ecological disaster

The English gentleman farmer Jethro Tull (1674-1741) conceived and promoted his erroneous belief that land must be heavily plowed to control weeds. Extended use of such aggressive and poor farming strategies overtaxed unprotected U.S. farmlands and weakened the soil. This, and a decade of drought, created massive dust storms in places like the prairie region in the 1930s. “Suitcase farmers” of the 1910s and 1920s land boom had torn up the region’s native sod for quick profits, then abandoned it. Thousands of years of native grass evolution were destroyed, and the ground was naked and exposed.

President Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps of 1933-42 enrolled more than 3 million men and planted 3 billion trees to protect 21 million acres from soil erosion, aiding in the establishment of eight hundred state parks.

Even the ancient Greeks believed plants got all their nutrients from the soil. Many centuries later, erroneous beliefs based on mere logic and not on land experience have caused civilizations to destroy themselves via their soil practices.

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Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener,” letting Mother Nature lead the way for pleasant natural landscapes. Reach her at JanetSellers@ocn.me

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Pretty, edible plants that deter mosquitoes and deer

By Janet Sellers

With so much rain in June, we likely will have more mosquitoes than usual. Several plants grow well in our area that help make outdoors fun again. Pots of these aromatic herbs around where you’ll be outdoors will also repel garden pests.

Basil is great for cooking. Its eugenol oil compounds confuse and irritate mosquitoes—they’ll leave for another food source. Gently touch the leaves to release the scent.

Catnip, a great pollinator plant, contains nepetalactone, a compound that is up to 10 times better than DEET at repelling mosquitoes, according to the National Library of Medicine. Traditional medicine says to vigorously rub the leaves between your hands and apply them to the skin to last at least 30 minutes. It’s safe around cats and dogs.

Lemon balm, aka bee balm, is a plant in the mint family that deters pests. Made into a hot or cold tea, people use it for its calming effects and other conditions.

The flowers and leaves of marigolds deter bugs. It contains pyrethrum, a natural insecticide. Plant them near doors, windows, and seating areas.

Mint—its menthol keeps pests away. Grows just about anywhere, even in partial shade.

Flower teepees

We’re going to try flower teepee towers this summer. Made with poles (aspen shoots or bamboo, etc.), it can be a teepee big enough for kids to sit in, or just for climbing plants. I’m going to make them for zesty salad nasturtiums (annuals) and climbing roses (perennials). Both are pretty and deer resistant. The deer leave my nasturtiums and a friend’s prickly climber roses alone. Nasturtiums may drop their seeds for next year, the roses will need annual pruning to keep them in check and in shape.

Pine needle myth

A common myth is that pine needles make the soil acidic. They do not. For proof, just test your soil. Weeds and plants don’t grow in pine needle mulched areas because the weed seeds don’t get into the soil to germinate. Plants and seeds unnatural to the forest clime landscape that don’t grow well may need soil amendments because Mother Nature optimizes forest soil for forest life. That keeps the natural pine forests safe from weeds and helps nurture the pine forest microbiome.

Student volunteers work on the Monument Community Garden. For many years we’ve used pine straw at various local community and home gardens (yes, a safe 2-inch depth) to mulch over food crops after seeding to keep out weeds and lock in the moisture. Pine needles are renewable, knit themselves together, stay put after rain or snow even on slopes, and break down more slowly than other organic mulches. Photo by Janet Sellers.

Annual Colorado Hummingbird Festival

The Annual Colorado Hummingbird Festival will be on Aug. 4-5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., a celebration of our four Colorado hummingbirds just before the fall migration. Everybody can enjoy hummingbird talks and stories with hummingbird garden-themed arts and crafts, baby alpacas, giant bubbles, a farmer’s market, and more. It is held at the historic Happy Landings Ranch, 17435 Rollercoaster Road at Hodgen Road.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy gardener” letting Mother Nature lead the way for simple yet successful gardening. Please send garden tips to: JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Very good plants, harmful invaders

By Janet Sellers

Is June too late to plant summer flowers and crops in our area? With moisture from heavy May rains and hot dry summers, we can still plant some greens easily in pots or in the ground, planning waterings to protect against moisture loss.

We started kale, lettuces, and sunflowers at the Tri-Lakes Cares food garden in late May, and they sprouted in four days! If bought for transplanting, fruiting plants (peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, etc.) that should’ve been in the ground by now will provide summer and fall harvests. Choose fast-growing seeds of beans, beets, and squash for late summer crops—even everbearing strawberries could offer fruit this year.

Flowers that grow well in our area include cosmos, bachelor buttons, marigolds, sunflowers, and zinnias, and they will all sprout and grow easily from June planting. Some of the issues in the last few years for our local victory gardens include late snows/frosts and invaders: gophers, voles, moles, and deer. We live in a clime perfect for wildlife, and they are here. Gardens are nice for us, but easy pickings for the varmints, too. What to do?

Castor oil mixed with plain clay cat litter and broadcasted protects lawns. Also successful in keeping critters away is scattering this for a 2-foot border outside the flower or food beds. We know that pet cats and feral “community” cats are effective to keep critters out of the garden. Many farmers and homesteaders add diatomaceous earth to farm animal and cat food to protect them from possible parasites.

Protect your pets and kids

The rain helped a lot of plants get started, including weeds. We have some noxious weeds to look out for and remove, usually just pulling them with gloved hands is enough. We see the harmful, invasive spotted knapweed (a bushy plant of tiny, scraggly, pink or white thistlelike flowers); spurge (greenish-yellow flowerlike bracts of seeds), and the butter-n-eggs (which look a little bit like tiny snapdragons) are about a foot tall in June on roadsides, landscape edges, etc. The spurge latex sap seriously irritates the skin of people and animals and can cause human blindness upon eye contact.

Janet Sellers is an avid “lazy” gardener, letting Mother Nature’s wisdom lead the way to gardening in the high desert Rocky Mountain clime. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me

Above Avoid local spurge plants that are emerging now, often found at or near roadsides, in our landscapes, and in common areas. The plant’s white, latex sap causes serious irritation symptoms, including severe skin and eye itching. The National Capital Poison Control Center (www.poison.org) reports that leafy spurge contains the alkaloid euphorbia, which is toxic to humans and animals and is a known co-carcinogen. These plants are most effectively removed by hand, but wear gloves (and wash them afterward!), long sleeves, pants, and boots. These should be pulled out all the way to the creeping roots and disposed of properly. We are all required by law to remove noxious weeds from any place on or even near our property. Photo by Janet Sellers.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – No mow May; planting in our mountain forest climes

By Janet Sellers

Habitat loss: bulldozers or lawns?

Lawns represent the single largest irrigated crop grown in the U.S. and are actually harmful to our ecosystem. Use of pesticides, herbicides, and toxins aside, monoculture lawns lack floral and nesting resources to support important myriad bees (the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5,700 species of bees).

Pollinators rely on us to help in May. The USDA Forest Service reported a study showing “that cutting the grass every two weeks resulted in significantly higher bee abundance. Less frequent mowing gives lawn flowers like dandelions and clover—this is where social pressure comes to bear—a little more time to grow and blossom, resulting in nourishment for bees.” Other studies showed that three-week intervals dramatically increased native pollinators and ecosystem health.

If we want something different in addition to our beloved pine forests of our environs, we need to plan for it with Mother Nature’s support.

Starting seeds indoors for a head start

I started seedlings in compostable clamshell containers that my muffins come in. It works great: add seedling mix, seeds, water, close the lid and in two weeks I had 5-inch sprouts. I made a mistake: I used compost. I had two seedlings out of 12 seeds planted. Two areas turned moldy; two were fine. I don’t know what caused the mold, but a seedling mix would have worked better.

Here’s the better way for our area:

  1. Start seeds with a seed-starting mix that has what you need for that purpose: coconut coir, peat moss, perlite, etc. for even moisture and some basic nutrients to get the seeds started. Loose, fluffy textures let the seeds emerge without clumps. The delicate sprouts need to stretch both up and down into the mix.
  2. Pot up (transplant) at 2-3 inches high to a bigger container of potting soil (it’s heavier, looser for airflow, and has more nutrients to support the baby plant). People use fancy pots, plant trays, or just rip holes in the soil bag for this stage of transplanting. Beware of tangled roots and gently separate the plants so they have their own space to grow. If they are too tangled, choose the stronger one to transplant. I usually try to save both—sometimes I can save most of them.
  3. Then wait for the outdoor weather to be warm enough to support the plants, usually by Memorial Day weekend. Many plants will be fine in larger pots, especially the fabric grow bags. Place outdoors after all danger of frost (Ask the weather forecasters!) right in the grow bags or in your prepared garden bed.

Janet Sellers, an avid “lazy gardener,” lets Mother Nature lead the way with Colorado high desert forest gardening. Contact her: JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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Palmer Lake Historical Society, Feb. 16 – History of the KKK in Denver presented

By Marlene Brown

At the March 16 meeting of the Palmer Lake Historical Society (PLHS), special guest speaker Shaun Boyd, curator of History Colorado, presented a program on the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in the greater Denver area in the 1920s. Even though it was a dark time in Colorado history, the Colorado History Society has procured archives of the KKK membership and be able record in history as far the activities of the KKK of the time.

In the early 1900s there were about 100,000 people living in the Denver area, with about one-third being members of the KKK. As many as 30,000 people would show up for an event. The events were political and condoned violence. In 1915, The Birth of a Nation was the first nationally released film. The film was controversial and has remained so ever since as “the most reprehensibly racist film in Hollywood history.” The film has since been denounced for its racist depiction of African Americans, according to www.wikipedia.org.

Above: Shaun Boyd, curator of History Colorado, presents her program on the history of the KKK in Denver to the Palmer Lake Historical Society. March 16. Photo by Marlene Brown.

Many of Denver’s well-known residents, including Mayor Benjamin Franklin Stapleton who served five terms, 1923-31 and 1935-47, was a member of the KKK. He also was the Democratic Colorado state auditor from 1933 to 1935.

Though the Klan came to Colorado in 1921, they were disbanded by 1929. The records and membership ledgers can be viewed at historycolorado.org/kkkledgers. There were no known members on the ledgers from the Tri-Lakes area.

**********

Next month’s program is scheduled to be Treasure Trove of Local History—Pikes Peak Library District Collections by Brett Lobello, director of Regional History and Genealogy. Lobello will share information about researching through the library district’s special collections stored in the Carnegie Building next to the Penrose Library in Colorado Springs. The public is welcome to learn how to research for special projects.

The next meeting is scheduled for 7 to 8:30 p.m. April 20 (doors open at 6:30) at the Palmer Lake Town Hall, 42 Valley Crescent St. For more information, see palmerdividehistory.org. The PLHS offered a special “thank you” to Sigi Walker for her longtime work and support to the group and her special talents for the upkeep of the website and newsletter.

Marlene Brown can be reached by email at malenebrown@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Plants can fill us with food and fill our electrical energy needs, too

By Janet Sellers

Garden friends, it’s April and that means outdoors we’ll have snow and sunshine and rain and every mix of weather here in our area of Colorado. That’s not good news for outdoor planting unless you have a greenhouse to protect everything. But we can start tomatoes and other plants that take four to six months to grow.

We technically have a very short growing season, only 26 days. But we can start things indoors, get them going and then give them a protective covering for the month of June until they get going in the garden. We haven’t had a lot of hail in our area lately, but a protective outdoor trick is to cover the garden bed with chicken wire. The hail bounces off the chicken wire and doesn’t harm the plants.

Starting plants indoors from seeds is a good way to get things moving. Honestly, we shouldn’t plant anything outdoors until Memorial Day. We have snow even in late May, and that can ruin a good start of outdoor seeds.

Successful gardeners in our area have told me they start these seeds in April: tomatoes and cucumbers, beans, herbs, and other plants that they want to give a head start for the season.

Another method that can be started in April for plants is to use the straw bale method. That requires three or four weeks of preparation by putting in very well composted soil between the flakes and watering between the flakes as well. This will start the special composition for the straw to be ready for seeds. The straw not only provides a nice, inoculated substrate for the seeds but also insulates seeds from weather conditions while they are growing. I like straw bales because I don’t have to bend down very far and it’s basically an instant, inexpensive raised bed.

Some curious plant facts

  • ScienceDaily.com reports that, “by simply connecting a ‘plug’ to the plant stem, the electricity generated can be harvested and used to power electronic devices. IIT’s researchers show that the voltage generated by a single leaf may reach to more than 150 volts, enough to simultaneously power 100 LED light bulbs each time the leaf is touched.”—Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT).
  • Tomatoes ripen from the center out and the bottom up which means that you can harvest your tomatoes before they actually look ripe because of the way they ripen. You can put them on the window sill on the counter and they will continue to get redder but the flavor won’t change.

Janet Sellers is an avid organic “lazy” gardener. With minimal effort, she lets mother nature lead the way and take care of the growing. Send your garden tips to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Colorado in March is full of nature’s surprises

By Janet Sellers

Every spring, I write about the dandy dandelion and its health benefits to eat as well as the benefits to our local soils and our planet. After a long winter of letting our landscapes as nature intended for our ecology to “nest in place” the dandelion is one of the first greens and flowers we see in March. The plant is a real lifesaver. It supports our pollinators as one of the first available plants.

Edible root to flower, the dandelion has traditionally been sought after as a culinary and important landscape plant. Not for exotic beauty, although it has been an important culinary and medicinal plant since ancient times in Europe. Dandelions were brought to North America (known as Turtle Island to indigenous peoples) by the European immigrants in the 1600s. They wanted to make sure they had an available food and medicine source when they reached the New World.

Our hummingbird scouts arrive in March

March marks the arrival of the hummingbird scouts to Colorado. Their migration begins from their warm winter homes in Central and South America. Nesting grounds in Colorado range from our local area for the broadtail hummingbird to Canada and Alaska for the rufous hummingbird. We see four kinds of hummingbirds in Colorado along our Central Flyway here in our Front Range area: broadtail, rufous, calliope, and black-chinned. Each of these passes through our area onto their nesting areas in higher altitudes.

Daylight saving time will start March 12.

That means we’ll have to adjust our clocks and ourselves to the changes it brings. Originally devised to help ranchers, farmers, and crops, it is currently a support for golfers in golf courses. Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time purports that it is a money maker for golf courses and shopping malls but a disruptor for school children and most people, as they must go to school and work in the dark. While the clock does not affect our growing plants related to sunlight, the issue is more complex than that for the food industry and human life. According to some studies, there are higher incidences of a variety of health and heart issues due to circadian rhythm disruption.

Janet Sellers is a writer, artist, and speaker and enjoys sharing about the forests, mountains, and landscapes of Colorado. She offers Shin Rin Yoku meditative walks throughout the year. Contact her at JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Bringing nature indoors: seedlings, plants, and soil

By Janet Sellers

February indoor gardening

Our coldest month is typically February here, but we still can start up some of our gardening and nature plans now. It is a perfect time to plan the spring garden. Planning is key to success. With a plan at hand, taking action is simple and offers an organized method to work from, even if we change our plans.

It is deceptively simple. Starting with soil and seeds, a quick and simple indoor starter plan can include a daily calendar for soil checks and watering reminders. Making a mini-greenhouse from a plastic salad greens container or milk jugs is as easy as container washing, rinsing, filling with soil and seeds, and covering. The key seems to be a bit of air flow and even moisture. This year I am going to try the layers of pinecones, soil, seed, and water sprinkling.

My mini-greens salad containers with indirect light will stand in for a real greenhouse. I have a lot of saved seeds, so I’ll choose veggie or flower seeds. Deer- and pest-resistant plants that protect the garden include marigolds, mint, and “stinky” plants like lavender, iris, purple sage and salvias. Alas, the iris, lilies, daffodils, and most bulb flowering plants are toxic to pets and I avoid them. My garden is full of purple sage, asters, and wildflowers.

Potted indoor plants

I love to have pet-safe flowering indoor no-soil plants like cymbidium orchids around the house. Indoor plants with soil can be tricky with root issues and can get root rot or mold quickly. That’s likely a drainage problem, overwatering, or mold. It’s best to make oxygen available by aerating the soil and finger-checking the soil top and mid-section often. The cure is in the soil and microbe health, not fertilizer or adding water. Moisture balance is key for microbial health.

Indoor potted plant health

Smell the soil—it should smell pleasant. Any unpleasant smell indicates bad soil and that means soil replacement: Remove the plant with soil from the pot; check soil. If the soil smells bad or the root is balled up in the pot, shake off the soil onto paper (and toss in the garden), rinse the roots, and repot with new potting soil. I put pinecones at the bottom of the pot, add soil part way, place the plant, then fill up with moist potting soil and water immediately, letting it all drain well.

Janet Sellers is an avid lazy gardener, letting Mother Nature lead the way for indoor and outdoor gardening and landscaping. We’d love to know your spring garden tips; sent them to JanetSellers@ocn.me.

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High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Lords of the rings: our magnificent, ponderous pines

By Janet Sellers

“There is fairly robust evidence that plant cells can perceive and respond to pressure waves, like the kind that are generated by sound in the environment and touch—like, say someone walking up to a tree and hugging it.”—

Ask Sam, the NHPR report by Sam Evans-Brown.

Pine trees are smart engineers.

Pine trees make their life with “smart materials.” Their leaves are needles, letting in sunshine but making snow fall through to the ground. The pine needles on the ground let rain and snowmelt sift through them to the earth and keep the moisture in, weed competition out. The pine tree can disperse essential protective oils from its bark and needles. This envelops and protects the forest, the wildlife, and us from various pathogens. The pine needles have nutrients the tree needs and recycle themselves to feed the forest. Underground is the Wood Wide Web of the forest.

The ponderosa can grow 200 feet tall or more, with girths up to 3 to 4 feet across. It is named for its ponderous (heavy) wood and is a major lumber tree in the Southwest. They reach maturity at 150 years and live 200-400 years; some were found as old as 600 to 800 years old. The oldest recorded ponderosas are 900 years old in the Utah WahWah Mountains.

A truly giving tree

Pine tree soil is specially made by and for pine trees. If we plan for it, the pine tree is our garden friend. We need to make rich soil for our intended plants via compost of those crop materials. We can enrich our soil needs for our gardens, and the pine tree’s needles will still protect our plants as mulch and water protection.

Pine cones close in wet weather to protect the seeds but open and disperse seeds in dry weather, keeping out pathogens. We can use the wood from our forest landscape (fire mitigation efforts of “dog hair” fallen trees and branches) to heat our homes in winter.

On ponderosa, even heavy snow will fall through the needles and not harm the tree in most cases. The bark of the tree can protect the ponderosa in a wildfire. Forest fires are most often touched off by lightning. According to Steve Hirst of the U.S. Forest Service,” lightning isn’t enough to finish off a ponderosa. When lightning hits one, “It flash-boils the sap, and it just blows the bark off. It doesn’t burn the tree.” Photo by Janet Sellers.

The pine pollen is edible and filled with protein, other nutrients, and even testosterone. Some studies show pine pollen may stimulate the immune system, boost brain health, support detoxification, promote weight loss, alleviate pain, and prevent some forms of cancer. Many men who take pine pollen believe that it can offer benefits such as improved athletic performance, greater muscle mass, and enhanced personal function of increased energy and libido. So, when spring rolls around and that yellow pollen is all over, we can celebrate first, then dust it off.

Janet Sellers is an ethnoecology researcher, writer, photographer, designer, artist, and chronicler of life and landscapes. She is director of Janet Sellers Fine Arts and lives near Monument, Colo. She can be contacted at janetsellers@ocn.me.

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