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Volunteers reporting on community issues in Monument, Palmer Lake, and the surrounding Tri-Lakes area

OCN > 2411 > High Altitude Nature and Gardening (HANG) – Let’s protect our forests, soil, and gardens

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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