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

April for gardeners
Music from nature
Geyser concertos
Not for the birds
Silver bullets? Don’t drink snow!
Local herbs

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