Trees

Late Spring is in full swing in the Tahoe Basin and Tahoe black bears are searching for food. Intentional or unintentional feeding of bears results in unwanted bear behaviors, increased human-bear conflicts, and public safety issues as well as fines and possible jail time for violators.

Farming and ranching is all around in Northern Nevada, and some of those who are doing it may even be your neighbors.

Donna and Bill Murphy-Sharp have been “micro-farming” on their one acre property in Eastlake, Washoe Valley for many years, and became certified producers of produce in the area in 2011.

My friend Millie is a plant explorer. She experiments getting groceries to grow. When she told me she was growing celery from the butt-end of what you buy from the grocery store, I was fascinated. How? In water? In soil? She went on to say she also grows sweet potatoes. I had tried that in high school, so that didn’t surprise me. But when she showed me a picture of her sweet potato plant I was impressed.

Members of the community and alumni PHS staff donated a special gift for students at Pioneer High School.

Conny and her son Jason Hernandez, delivered a Red Bud tree and granite rock with a plaque dedication to the Pioneer High School class of 2020.

I have been a grass warrior lately. Grass persists in exploring and establishing in areas I don’t want it: under shrubs, twined in flowers, out of the edges of the lawn, under the trees, in the field and so on. As a grass warrior, I have employed various attack strategies from hand-digging, weed-whacking and mowing with three different mowers — a riding mower, a small area electric mower, a rough area mower and finally, a tractor.

On Sunday morning a pair of balloonists meandered across the skies of Carson City. Coming from the southeast they were eventually lost behind the trees heading toward Silver Oak Golf Course.

The balloonists were able to get in a last good view over Carson City on Mother's Day and ahead of a change in the weather beginning Monday.

An expansion is underway at Carson City’s own The Greenhouse Project, which will provide more learning opportunities to those who are inclined toward agricultural science.

RENO — The forest of the Sierra Nevada mountains is an important resource for the surrounding communities in Nevada and California. Thinning the forest by removing trees by hand or using heavy machinery is one of the few tools available to manage forests.

I don’t know about you, but the one thing I hate about Spring and Summer are the return of the dastardly mosquito. I’ll be having a perfectly lovely time out in my garden or with my family around the grill, and later when I’m getting ready for bed I’ll find a thousand itchy bites all over my legs and arms.

It's officially Arbor Day and the day to hug a tree! Or, better, plant one!

That's what some of the members of the Chamber's Leadership Class did early Friday morning as phase one of their class project.

Spring has sprung and new green leaves are starting to push through, along with the first flower buds on fruit trees, and the always too-early daffodils that pop up before first frost ends. Soon the pastures will be green again and Spring and Summer flowers will come through and liven up our region.

If there’s one thing that could be considered a positive during the mandated quarantine, it’s that nature is becoming a lot happier. From the return of dolphins in Venice, to the return of wildlife in Yosemite, and a lack of air pollution all around, Earth Day this year is certain to be a memorable one.

Each spring, the Carson City Chamber Leadership Institute Class is fully immersed in their class project. This time last year, the Class of 2019 was as busy as bees preparing the land behind the Carson Tahoe Cancer Center to build the city’s first bee hotel hoping to attract bees to pollinate The Greenhouse Project plants.


I’ve been watching the apple buds, waiting to see swelling begin, waiting for color to start showing. Last week I was excited to finally see a bit of color. Then, snow and overnight lows in the low twenties hit, which is just like last year, when we had no apples. I hope the cold doesn’t kill the blossoms and my apple crop again this year.

It snowed six inches last night. This followed the four inches it snowed a day or so before. I’m grateful for the extra moisture for the trees, the lawn, all my plants and all the native trees. As I wrote a few weeks ago, I had been doing the water on and off, drag hoses, drain lines boogie for a number of weeks. This water-laden snow is a welcome, although temporary, reprieve.

Successful Nevada gardeners know that Nevada soils are worth the toil to ensure a great garden. Our native soils are low in organic matter due to low rainfall amounts. In addition, they are more alkaline than soils rich in organic matter. The alkalinity of a soil often interferes with micronutrient availability causing nutrient deficiencies in plants. The good news is that by adding organic matter, our soils can support healthy plants and yield good harvests.

My friend Sarah suggested I write about forcing blossoms indoors since we are all anxiously awaiting spring color to arrive on trees and shrubs. Forcing blossoms gives us a lovely spring preview. The idea is to cut finger-sized non-essential branches of spring-flowering trees and shrubs, stick them in a vase of water indoors and wait for blossoms to open.

On February 28, NV Energy filed its Natural Disaster Protection Plan with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada per Senate Bill 329, that outlines how the company plans to help protect the public from the impacts of natural disasters on its electric infrastructure that have been experienced in other Western states.

A giant dust devil was reported to have wreaked significant damage on a west Carson City neighborhood Saturday afternoon during the wind storm that swept through the city, according to local resident Katherine Hansen.

A look at the Moon and Venus through the trees.

I turned my sprinklers on this past week. So did my gardening neighbor Roni. Her comment was “Ugh!” Mine was “On. Off. Drain. Repeat.” Turning drip systems and sprinklers on and off is tedious, but necessary. We haven’t had enough rain or snow to thoroughly soak the ground.

Happy Saturday Carson City! It’s caucus day, are you ready to vote if you are so inclined? Here are some events to do after/instead throughout the Carson City region!

Heading into the weekend, there’s an abundance of activities around the capital city region over the next three days. The Brewery Arts Center hosts a female version of "The Odd Couple." Carson City's Greenhouse Project is hosting a lunch and dinner fundraiser toward a healthier State Capitol. Dale Poune will perform at Bella Vita Bistro, plus comedy at the Carson Nugget, the Nevada Caucus on Saturday, an open house at the historic Foreman-Roberts House, a Latin-themed concert at the community center and more. Read on for details.

Carson City Parks, Recreation and Open Space is having a Cottonwood Wrapping volunteer event! We will be installing mesh wire around the base of Cottonwood trees to protect them from being damaged by beavers.

I saw the darndest landscape last week. I was in Incline Village at a friend’s house that backs up to Tahoe Boulevard. My friend said, "Look at the neighbor’s back yard; you won’t believe it!”

Breezy northeast and east winds may result in another round of blowing dust Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Dust kicked up from nearby dry lake beds may produce localized areas of visibility reduced below 4 miles, including portions of Reno and Carson City.

I love to hear from readers. One reader and friend, Paul, suggested the following for article ideas: 1. How to deal with those tiny flies that seem to come from indoor plants. 2. This is the best time to take down danger trees, since the insects will not jump to healthy trees now. 3. This is the time to order from plant catalogues and plan for your gardening in the spring.

The first of a series of 12 educational gardening classes presented through the collaboration of Carson Tahoe Health and The Greenhouse Project begins this Friday, Jan. 24. Site managers Cory King and William Pierz have put together the monthly series of classes.

A weather system moving into the region will bring strong gusty winds, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a High Wind Warning from 10 p.m. Monday through 1 p.m. Tuesday for the greater Reno, Carson City, Carson Valley, and Dayton areas as well as the Mono County region.

A series of storm systems will move into the Carson City and Lake Tahoe region beginning late Monday bringing strong, gusty winds, chances of rain and snow to the valley floors and feet of snow in the Sierra by Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.