Where Master Gardeners share their knowledge.
Time to light it up! The little plants are pushing their shoulders out of the soil. Within hours, they will be pushing skyward in a life saving race to find the sun. It is very important to put the light on them quickly so that they do not get too leggy in their sun worshiping pursuit. I like to purchase the fluorescent lights at the local hardware store. They are typical “shop lights” and come with a plug. Unless you are an electrician, be careful not to buy the ones Read More …
Its that time! It is the time of year – time to appease our need for the smell of soil and the love of nurturing green life. Many people spend a fortune in plants at the box stores and green houses. Good for them, there is nothing wrong with that. However, paying $2-3 per cabbage plant makes me wonder why they don’t just buy cabbage at the grocery store. Not only is it expensive, but missing the seed starting is missing one of the best parts! Watching and nurturing the Read More …
Why make seed tape? I hate to thin my seedlings. It’s just so sad to pull one of my dear little plants. I am also terrible at taking the time to seed carefully in the midst of the busy spring. This is particularly true when using tiny seeds like carrots. Buying seed tape from the store is very expensive. Making seed tape is certainly something that only a home gardener would do. This is not time saving enough for true carrot farming. Honestly though, I really just enjoy making seed Read More …
Growing beautiful and tasty garlic in Southcentral Alaska is easy and fun! I now grow so much that I have enjoyed giving it as gifts. The dried bunches are very cute tied with a bow. The Alaska Botanical Garden performs a growing garlic class each fall. I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Much of the information in this post, I gleaned from that class and through my own experience. I also recommended the book Growing Great Garlic: The Definitive Guide for Organic Gardeners and Small Farmers by Ron L. Engeland Read More …
Plant a Row for the Hungry I own a small business in East Anchorage. My business has absolutely nothing to do with gardening but we all love to eat and enjoy the great outdoors so gardening interests many of my employees. My business is a small group that loves to be a part of our local community with a quarterly volunteer project. Last year we started doing a group gardening project with the product donated to a local food bank. This idea came from Alaska Mill and Feed’s program, “Plant Read More …