Category: Hints for Alaska Gardeners

Mindfulness and Gardening: The Benefits of Stopping, Breathing, and Enjoying your Alaska Garden

Dr. Martha Martinez

Mindfulness and Gardening The Benefits of Stopping, Breathing  and Enjoying your Alaska Garden Gardening has consistently proven to be a healthy, mood-enhancing activity  that begets numerous psychological and physical benefits. For example, gardening showed significant increases in quality of life, self-esteem, life satisfaction, happiness, and sense of community, as well as reductions in stress levels, anxiety, and depression. Additionally, gardening is associated with increased overall levels of physical activity and fitness, increased calorie burn, lower body mass index (BMI), and reduced risk of obesity.   Mindfulness has shown promise in multiple Read More …

Not All Weeds Are the Same

T-roy

By:   Troy Weiss, Alaska Master Gardening Student, UAF On-Line, Fall 2017 Description I enjoy gardening because I get satisfaction in watching things grow after I plant it. However, quite often the weeds grow much faster and thicker than my desired plants. In my garden, some common weeds include: 1) horse tail, 2) chickweed, 3) fireweed, 4) shepherds purse, and 5) pineapple weed. This blog shares research and some management tips associated with common weeds found in my Anchorage garden (Southcentral Alaska). This blog covers the common name, botanical name, Read More …

Winter Doesn’t Have to Mean Boring

jjariail

One distinct challenge about living in Alaska is making the landscape appealing in the winter. Deciduous shrubs lose their leaves, there’s very little color, and everything is covered by a blanket of snow. Challenging, but by no means impossible. To create a vibrant and interesting winter landscape, consider the following: Color Winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a deciduous holly which is decorated by bright red berries from summer through winter. For beautiful berries, Cranberry Cotoneaster (Cotoneaster apiculatus) is another great choice. A deciduous low hedge or groundcover formed by spreading branches. Read More …

Making Peace with Green Tomatoes

Slugslayer

I used to be so angry when summer ended and I would have so many green (unripe) tomatoes. Now I accept, and embrace the bounty of green fruit. I will share with you some tips of ripening these green tomatoes, and then recipes for the ones that never turn. The Ripening There are a few different options to ripen a tomato. You could cut your whole plant down, with tomatoes still attached, and hang in your garage or crawl space. Another option is to pick all your green tomatoes and Read More …

Book Review: “The Firecracker Boys” by Dan O’Neill

mlivingston2
Project Chariot

Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and… Point Hope? You might initially think that the book “The Firecracker Boys” doesn’t have anything to do with gardening in Alaska. Yet it has everything to do with gardening in Alaska. How can you safely garden anywhere if the soil is contaminated with radioactive material? Can you imagine having to test your soil for radioactive material? If Edward Teller had his way, several atomic bombs would have been set off in various locations in Alaska, and people would have had to worry about large Read More …

Our First Year Gardening, Mistakes and Accomplishments

srrobinson

My wife and I purchased our first home in August of 2016 located in Fairbanks, Alaska. The property included 10 acres of land. Most of the land is treed but the backyard area included a cleared space that is large enough for a garden. This was our first opportunity to create our own organic garden. We had an open canvas to create the garden that we dreamed of having for years. The potential was very high, but it didn’t take long for us to realize that building our dream garden Read More …

Seed Starting, a review of “The New Seed Starters Handbook” by Nancy Bubel

btaylo13

This 1988 publication is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. The book is arranged in four sections, Starting Seeds Indoors, Moving Plants Outside, Special Techniques and Situations, and Saving Seeds and Making Further Plans. The last section is an Encyclopedia of Plants to Grow From Seed. The reasons Ms. Bubel gives for starting seeds indoors are earlier harvest, greater variety, stronger seedlings (if you do it right), healthier seedlings, cost saving, and to me the two most important: satisfaction and enjoyment. For Alaskan gardeners starting plants indoors Read More …

Spice Up Your Garden with Nasturtiums

Boreal Bioscapes

If you are looking for a striking annual that flourishes in Alaska and doubles as a culinary delight, you may consider giving nasturtiums a try. By following a few simple tips, these flowers are a fun and easy addition to containers and garden beds, and are a hit with adults and children alike. Nasturtiums (genus Tropaeolum), have lush foliage, vibrant flowers, a pleasant fragrance, and are attractive to garden pollinators. However, it is their flavor that really makes them stand out in the crowded world of Alaskan annuals. In fact, Read More …

Slaying in slug city: Struggles of an Alaskan gardener.

Slugslayer

You have finally found the time to breakaway from everything else and step into your little oasis. Today you’ve allotted 1/2 hour to weed, trim and admire. You bend down to examine a young kale. To your astonishment, it’s covered in holes. Anger starts to boil inside you. You scan the ground around the plant and there’s the culprit, with slime trail in its wake. SLUGS. Gross, disgusting, aggravating to the nth degree, slugs. I’ve spent countless hours walking around my garden with a cup full of bleach, plucking and Read More …