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Nature’s Way Resources owner John Ferguson, “The Lazy Gardener” Brenda Beust Smith, and Pablo Hernandez welcome your feedback and are so grateful to the many horticulturists who contribute their expertise

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“Do you know why the Indian Rain Dances always worked? Because the Indians would keep dancing until it rained.”

          —  Sherman Joseph Alexie Jr., a Spokane-Coeur d’Alene-Native American writer

Between our horrible sporadic rains and even more horrible heat (!), August often becomes a good month for admiring what we have and thinking about the future while inside in the AC! Now that I’ve reached my 8th decade of life, discovering it’s really affecting my gardening. For example, my gardens do have weeds. Some bloom. They get to stay! The others I glower at but may or may not remove, depending on my energy level at that particular nanosecond.

Sharing this with fellow gardeners so you won’t take offense if someone in, say, their 8th+ decade, is hesitant to agree when you ask if they need help. Still, be extra thrilled if they say SURE! Chances are many of their plants have multiplied beyond control.

But thinning takes energy, stooping or worse, kneeling, to dig them out or snip off branches. Offer to do that yourself and you might gain lots of fabulous cuttings to try! If so, a wonderful thank you would be to offer to dig/pull out anything they refer to as a “damn weed.”

Another trick I started a very long time ago — SO grateful I did — deals with fear of falling in the garden, or anywhere in the yard. It’s so easy to step on a loose spot and go down in the blink of an eye.

Decades ago, I interviewed an elderly — or so I thought him at the time! — gentleman at his garden. He had what I thought was a strange gait as we walked through various beds of bloomers. I asked was he ok? Sure, he said. “Just counting.” Turned out, in iffy places (as all gardens are), he was doing what HIS grandmother did: counting.

Through and in between plantings . . .1,2, 3, step. 1, 2, 3, step. He did this, he said, to give his body — and mind — time to prepare for possible, unexpected hard-to-see changes in the ground that might be coming. Maybe a hidden hole filled with easily squashed leaves or a soil-covered branch or loose wire.

Shortly after that, I was tripped by a patch of leaf-covered wet soil. Nearly crashed to ground. Used in Chronicle article, this tip got surprisingly positive responses from readers. Made such an impression, I began doing it myself.

ARE “GARDEN’S DEMANDS” more than you can handle? Even tho you may not qualify for needing “Horticulture therapy,” many tips in this category actually lift workloads for all of us. is such a broad approach these days and tips abound online.  Even if you’re not “a senior,” it’s never too soon to adopt safety techniques!  I’d love to publish more tips to help us “mature” gardeners with challenges, such as . . .

• Think ‘lightweight’ on tools (great Birthday/Christmas gift idea?). Actually feel before you buy. Lighter-weight and longer-handled tools save energy and help avoid bending. Kneeling pads and benches are easier on older legs!
• Use a wheelbarrow? One with two wheels is easier to push than one-wheel ones.
• Think groundcovers for lawn areas that have to be mowed.
• Consider your own height, size, arm reach, ability to kneel, etc.,when purchasing/planting new plants. One size does NOT always fit all!
• If you want to garden but can’t get past some normal challenges, check out “horticulture therapy” resources for new & senior citizens! (www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=horticulture+therapy+tips+for+seniors).
• Do you have any special precautions you take when gardening? Tips on what you did successfully to minimize gardening chores? Do share to lazygardenerbrenda@gmail.com. Won’t use without your permission!

And, most important for us this time of year, watch the weather! Take advantage of clouds before storms hit, make those yard shadows your gardening friend!

I hope you . . . 

1. got rain this past weekend ( for longer than 3 minutes! ). AND …

2. you watered your most precious plants BEFORE it rained on them.

BEFORE? Why water before it rains? During intense heat/droughts, soil automatically develops hard, dry top-crusts. If you want rain to go straight to treasured plants’ roots (and not to adjacent weed roots), water just at the base, where stalks/trunk meets soil, BEFORE rain starts to fall. Gardeners of old (and Indians I’m sure) may not have understood why this helped their crops, but they knew it worked.

PS: I always run any soil-mention first by John Ferguson for confirmation! His response to an earlier post on this: “Looks good, only do add that cheap, low quality mulches also form crusts or grow ‘dog puke fungus’ — both of which repel water.” 

* * *

Subject: Colored and Dyed Mulches

We started talking about BAD mulches last week. Since it has been a few years since we looked at all the different mulches available in depth, we will revisit all the information on mulches, starting from worst to best.

Researchers have found that healthy, fertile soils with low insect and disease pressure have one thing in common: a 30:1 ratio of carbon to nitrogen. This is an important and common ratio found throughout fertile, productive natural systems. Today, we are going to look at colored or dyed mulches.

COLORED MULCH – Colored or dyed mulch can be found in many colors, from red to green and blue. The most common are red and black. The first problem with the dyed mulches is the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio. To get dyes to stick to the wood, producers use raw wood from pallets, crates, and other trash wood. This type of wood has a carbon to nitrogen (C:N ratio) of over 500:1! Hence, when it is placed on the soil, microbes will start to break it down. To do this, they need lots of nitrogen and other nutrients. To get this extra nitrogen, they pull it from the soil away from plant roots (microbes always eat first). When plants do not have enough nitrogen, they may become chlorotic, and they are far more susceptible to insect and disease issues. 

The second problem is the black mulches. Black does not occur in nature except under anaerobic conditions (this means without oxygen), where the soil is sickly and full of bad microbes (pathogens). The most common black colorant is carbon black, which is a byproduct of the chemical industry and a known carcinogen. Many believe that the dyed black mulches may be behind the surge in cancers found in dogs and cats in recent years.

Color: Is often an indicator of potential problems with mulch or compost and other organic materials. A black color does not occur naturally in mulches or compost under good conditions, only a deep chocolate brown. Even humus is a deep chocolate brown. However, many people believe black is good, and some unscrupulous vendors like to take advantage of this idea by dyeing raw wood black.

Black organic materials only occur in nature when materials decompose under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen). These conditions favor disease and other pathogens, and use a different set of microbes to decompose the material. As a result, pure “black” compost or mulch does not have good fertility, indicates anaerobic decomposition, and other problems. The sulfur is gone as it has outgassed as hydrogen sulfide; nitrogen is gone (NH₃) or in wrong form, and when organic materials decompose under anaerobic conditions, alcohols are usually present (only 1 ppm can kill a root hair). Note: Conversely good compost and aged native mulch are a deep chocolate brown when dry.

Industrial waste is often used to blacken products for marketing purposes (e.g.., even though it is illegal in some states, some companies grind up old railroad ties to help darken mulch material).

Smelter waste is sometimes used as feedstock to blacken products. Copper sulfate (CuSO₄) or other sulfur compounds may be present. As they break down elemental sulfur (S) may be produced, which is a natural fungicide that kills the beneficial fungus. 

Boiler ash (bottom ash) is another industrial waste product used to color or blacken products. Boiler ash tends to be high in salt and extremely alkaline. The alkalinity is so strong that it will chemically burn raw wood black in a couple days. The products produced, in addition to being very alkaline with high salt, have very high C:N ratios of over 500:1. Remember, a 30:1 ratio is required for healthy soil. Some ashes may contain large amounts of heavy metals that contaminate the mulch, exceeding federal regulatory levels for safety. These mulch products will often turn a bleached grayish color in a few weeks after exposure to sunlight. These types of products are very common in many areas in Texas. 

After the drought and wildfires of 2011, several universities started researching factors that led to damage from wildfires. The tests were done in hot, dry areas that are regularly subject to wildfires, and some used different species that grow in our area (e.g., Western Red Cedar versus Eastern Red Cedar), but one can reasonably expect similar behavior. Mulches were tested for how easily they ignited, flame height, rate of fire spread, and maximum temperature.

They found that colored mulches were highly flammable. Wood mulches made from pallets and other dry wood, like construction wood waste (i.e., colored mulches), ignited and burned on every test, and were one of the most dangerous. Wood chips treated with fire-retardant chemicals delayed the spread for 5-10 minutes, then the behavior was similar to untreated wood mulches. 

Note: Spontaneous combustion of mulches used in landscaping normally does not occur due to the thin layer of mulch used. However, a large pile of dyed mulch (high C:N mulch) on one’s property can go into spontaneous combustion if not managed properly.

A lot of you remember Randy Lemon, the host of Garden-line radio show for many years. I think Randy hated dyed mulches even more than me. Notice how chlorotic the plants are; they were dying due to a lack of nutrients from the high C:N ratio of the dyed mulch. 

Another problem with the dyed mulches is that they often leach and stain one’s concrete. The slide image below was courtesy of Randy Lemon.

Gardeners need to be careful, as there are often more bad products than good, as most vendors just want your money and do not care if you get hurt or have bad results.

So why do soil companies sell dyed (colored mulch)? They like to prey on the ignorance of homeowners to make money. This picture is from an advertisement for making colored mulch says it all.

As you can see from the photo above, dyed mulches are often made from trash wood. If any soil yard sells dyed mulches, they do not care about you, the customer, your health, or safety.

The same applies to landscapers and yard service companies who use these types of mulch; they are very ignorant or do not care if it causes harm, and just want your money.

As the old gardening proverb states: “I have no quarrel with a man who has a lower price, who better knows what his product is really worth”.

Or in other words, one gets what they pay for.

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