Category: Hints for Alaska Gardeners

Keep a little messiness in your fall garden

Mountain Gardener

As autumn ends abruptly in Alaska, gardeners are still busy in their yards winterizing, preparing for the snow and hoping to create a tidy landscape before spring. I would like to make the case for keeping a little bit of messiness in your garden this fall (and hopefully every fall moving forward). Leaving fallen leaves, dried grasses and twigs and other natural debris can benefit a gardener in the short and long term in a variety of ways. Soil and plant health: Leaf litter, smaller twigs, lawn trimmings and other Read More …

Peony Pride in High Country Southcentral Alaska: One Gardener’s Trials, Tribulations, and Eventual Success

T-roy

By: Troy Weiss, Student at Alaska Master Gardening Class UAF On-Line, Fall 2017 Description When I was planning my garden a few years ago, a more experienced gardening friend suggested I start growing peonies because they are hardy perennials that require little maintenance once established.   I went online to research them, and instantly fell in love. I admired the amazing colors and sizes, and their ability to last as cut flowers. Peony plants can live for 75 to 100 years. They don’t produce flowers until they have matured 2-4 Read More …

Confessions of a Gardener

Grace

As a gardener, I have many things to confess. The ideal image of a person bending over neat rows with gloves, apron, hat and trowel, with that odd tiny rake sitting off to the side ready to be used (does anyone ever actually use that thing?) is not me. Not even close. Confession number 1: Clothes don’t make the gardener.   I am the person who gets out of their car after work to “quickly” go check on a plant that has been on my mind, and is pulled out Read More …

Seed Starting for Beginners Part 2

sjkesting

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 …

Seed starting for Beginners Part 1

sjkesting

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 …

Making seed tape and trying new carrot recipes. A good task for the long nights of winter

sjkesting

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 …

From Bickles to Zickles

ecalexander

Every Alaskan gardener eventually runs up against the end of the season and a plethora of produce. Then comes the problem of what to do with it to actually get people to consume it! I’ve heard of people dropping extra zucchini on unsuspecting door steps, and even putting them in random cars in the parking lot. You’re tired of “zuke dogs” right, you couldn’t grill another zuke, or deep fry it to save your life at this point. You’ve had kale every which way that can be imagined. You’ve had Read More …

City Girl Gone–How I Became an Alaska Gardener

kaschot

RAISED BY CITY PEOPLE Raised by Amsterdam Dutch parents in Seattle, I grew up in a landscape surrounded by flowers. My family bought food fresh and in small quantities from the local market, bakeries and butchers. Quality bread, produce, meats and cheeses were a must. My father prepared gourmet meals for a family of six, complete with garnishments. Dinner was a semi-formal family affair. Semi-formal meaning we were expected to use proper table etiquette. We ate as a family around a solid oak table and the conversation was always fun Read More …

Sometimes we just need a little inspiration…

dmmatthews2

Years ago, I was a late comer to a marvelous children’s book called The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, who also wrote A Little Princess, which was made into a movie in the 30’s starring Shirley Temple. Unfortunately, most film adaptations of The Secret Garden are nowhere near as magical as the book. The book starts out in late winter with the arrival of the young Mary Lennox to a relative’s (an uncle) manor on the English moors. Her entire family has just died while in India. However, Mary Read More …