Where Master Gardeners share their knowledge.
My quest for extending the growing season began after my move to Alaska in 2001. Raised in the Midwest I grew up eating tomatoes on the vine, toasted tomato sandwiches, and canning bushels of tomatoes. After all, tomatoes are SO easy to grow and very plentiful — right? Well, I see the smile on your knowing faces because after I moved to Alaska it took me nearly a decade to taste my first fresh tomatoes from the vine, and mind you it was not a plentiful bounty. A few years Read More …
I have grown up in a family of rhubarb fanatics! The sweet taste in pies, jams, and cakes is just the way to wake your body up after a long, dark winter. Recently, the rhubarb that I have growing has been flowering very frequently. I can go out a pull seed heads off of nearly every plant and it has always puzzled me (as well as frustrated me to no end). I have also had many friends post pictures on social media of their rhubarb going to seed asking “What Read More …
In April, when the average temperature hovers around 20 above, and the snow glistens in the 12 hour sunlight, arctic gardeners like to start their seeds. Throughout the year, we wash out yogurt containers, sour cream and cottage cheese containers save egg cartons, paper towel tubes, and even those clear plastic takeout containers. We start seeds because the nearest greenhouse is 600 air miles away and we can’t afford to wait for the weather. While the kids are ice fishing, my husband and I set up two folding tables next Read More …
The average American tosses about 25% of food and beverages purchased according to a report by the National Resources Defense Council. While this can be cut down by better food planning, recipe selection, and food storage, throwing food in the garbage is sometimes unavoidable. Instead of putting all of my cauliflower stocks, egg shells, and coffee grounds in the plastic garbage bag I decided to try composting instead. Its the 4th R, reduce, reuse, recycle, and ROT. I limited my choices to homemade aerobic compost or worm compost. Here is Read More …
A few years ago when I was getting close to retirement I was excited to begin my new life by spending time in the garden. For my birthday my sweet husband bought me a 6 x 8 greenhouse. I thought “awesome”. I’ve been gardening in Alaska (in the interior) for many years so this will be a piece of cake. When I started the greenhouse this spring, I soon found out how much I really didn’t know. So, to hopefully save you some anxiety I’ve put together a few things Read More …
I have to admit, I didn’t like tomatoes before my husband built a greenhouse for me 6 years ago. He grew up on the sweet tomatoes his father grew in California and compared all others to those. I planted them initially for him, then I tasted my first homegrown cherry tomato and I was hooked. My unheated greenhouse is an 8×8 structure with clear Tuftex corrugated polycarbonate roof panels. My husband wanted panels that wouldn’t yellow and would allow the most light possible to pass. There is a 70 CFM Read More …
Some summers are meant for gardens that only a long Alaskan winter can inspire. They are well planned beauties that encompass every bit of space your yard (and sometimes the neighbor’s) can sustain. If you are like me and have just moved and are spending every waking moment working like a mad woman to get the inside of your home in order before the fish come in and the berries are on, smaller scale gardening is a must. The home we are in does not have any raised boxes, or Read More …
By Natalie Jo Cossette, an Alaska Master Gardener The month of May rolled around and I was chomping at the bit to get into the garden. I tried to satisfy my urges with starting seeds in the garage under lights but it wasn’t enough. The beautiful weather called to me and I knew better than to put my plants outside before the last weekend in May. But the raised bed I’d constructed last year was ready and I hadn’t been able to have a garden for four seasons, so I Read More …
By Andrea Hood, an Alaska Master Gardener This has been a growing season of revised expectations, and you know what? It has turned out just fine! Finding a great spot to garden can sometimes be a challenge. For those of us with the gardening bug, winter time is for dreaming of glorious spaces filled with fruiting vines, flower laden bushes, and vegetable patches overflowing with zucchini and tomatoes. In the spring, we receive or catalogs and make lists. All of those plans were shot earlier this year with news of Read More …