Category: Hints for Alaska Gardeners

Baby Powder Bug Repellent

dmmatthews2

Years ago I was an estate gardener on the Texas Gulf Coast, in Houston Texas to be exact. I worked on a property that was near a slow-moving, mosquito-generating body of water called Buffalo Bayou. Houston is not called “the Bayou City” for nothing, there are bayous everywhere and when it rains, the bayous flood and trap people in their neighborhoods until everything drains away. As a result of all this water, Houston, like Alaska, is inundated with mosquitoes and gnats, and we drive around with bug spray in our Read More …

A Gardener Wears Many Hats: Entomology In The Garden

Bonnie

A Good Defense Someone recently said to me, “A gardener wears many hats”. I thought of this when I was doing some reading for a quiz for the Alaska Master Gardener Online Course. A good defense against pests is to learn as much as you can about all insects, harmful and beneficial alike. This calls for our entomology hats! Getting to Know Bugs Did you know female aphids give live birth to pregnant females? This is how you can end up with a real problem before you even know you Read More …

My Version of Companion Planting

smbowman2

People may say, “I did this…” or “I built this…”, but do they really mean they did it all alone, by themselves, with no help? “I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things.” –Mother Teresa I don’t do much all by myself, that is why I need to give credit where it’s due and share  one aspect of my life: My Version of Companion Planting. According to Oxford Dictionaries, a companion is defined as a person or animal with whom Read More …

Root Maggots–Brassicas’ worst enemy!

cjdavidshofer

I live in Ketchikan, Alaska where I garden intensively all over my yard with mostly fruits, and vegetables. This is my second season gardening on my property and it has been a bountiful year so far with garlic, onions, potato’s, lettuce, spinach, raspberries, strawberries, cherries, and gooseberries–to name a few. I love watching the garden evolve and grow over the spring and summer–how bare soil can grow into such lush, delicious greens that fill up your belly. As things grow, so do pests and diseases along with other small problems Read More …

When to Harvest in a Typical Southeast Alaskan Garden

emprado

Harvest Time! The last few months have been chalked full of preparation, planting, and weeding and now it is time to harvest the rewards. New gardeners can find it difficult to determine when exactly to harvest each vegetable at the peak of freshness. So I have done some of the research for you and have compiled a list of fifteen vegetables to help you get the most of each vegetable found in a typical Southeast Alaskan garden. Also to make it easier the list is in alphabetical order. 1. Asparagus Read More …

See Weeds? Try Seaweed!

rkboettcher

THE COMPLETE PACKAGE My neighbor has been saying for years that we should try seaweed in our garden. I brushed it off until a recent beach walk had me looking at the shoreside debris in a different light. The sea grass snaked along the coastline in rows that reminded me of hay drying in the fields right before the baler came to scoop it up. I did a little online research first and then just felt silly for living and gardening here for years and never using it! It’s free Read More …

Peas Be With You

nrambo

Well, it is now nearing August and my first Interior Alaska garden is thriving more than I ever imagined it would. I planted a little bit of everything to see how it would all do. My most thriving vegetables happen to be my lettuce and snap peas. I planted the last week of May, and my snow peas were the last thing I thought would do so well in my raised beds. Week after week, night after night, after watering them I would check to see if there were any Read More …

Adventure in Apartment Gardening: Containers for the Busy and Mildly Forgetful

sjump

What lead me to apartment gardening: I grew up having a garden, white picket fence and all. As I became an adult and ultimately ended up living in an apartment, I realized how much I missed having fresh fruits and vegetables at my fingertips. I also remembered how much better they tasted. Not just because they were fresh but because of the amount of pride I took in being able to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Where the apartment gardening began: So at 18, living in a small apartment Read More …

Growing Garlic in Alaska

sjkesting

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 …