Category: Indoor Gardening

Inching Into Indoor Gardening

Martha Tomeo

“Inch by inch, row by row, gonna make this garden grow”… John Denver’s lyrics are often an earworm on my internal playlist, something I hum as I tend my “piece of fertile ground”.  I have always considered myself to be a gardener. My childhood home included a large patch of vegetables adjacent to our house and blackberry thickets bordering the yard. I was raised by thrifty parents who taught me the economic benefit of growing our own produce in rural New Hampshire. In Alaska, my own family homestead has always Read More …

Starting Berries in Winter

Grace York

An Experiment It’s February in Alaska while the rest of country is gearing up for spring. You’re walking the aisles of your local big box store and admiring the berry starts that just came in! Outside it’s still cold and dark, bright snow gleaming back at you during the short daylight hours. These starts are still dormant, save for a few brave ones with green leaves beginning to break through buds on the canes of the raspberries. Below I’ve chronicled the results of my experiment inducing spring indoors and successfully Read More …

Alaska Botanical Garden Info

Isabella Morales

Hello everyone, Its #GardenIsShe2020, and I just wanted to share some information about The Alaska Botanical Garden, located in Anchorage, Alaska! The Alaska Botanical Garden is a living museum- meaning it showcases gardens and natural Alaskan landscapes in a educational and sustainable way. They grow botanical gardens, showcase ice sculptures and workshops, natural artist opportunities, garden journalism workshops, gardening conferences, membership and donation opportunities, children’s gardening summer camps, distance and in-person learning, botanical trails, horticulture, volunteer opportunities, beginners gardening programs, online shops, weekly guides, and moose and bears awareness, along Read More …

Alaska Educators Guide to Hydroponically Growing, Harvesting, and Learning about Food and Plants in the Classroom

Heidi Rader
NFT Hydroponics setup growing lettuce

This guide is for Alaska educators to incorporate hydroponics into your classroom. There are five sections included in this guide, and they are presented in order,  with the beginning sections giving you what you need to know/do first to get started,  following with a section on lesson plans to help you teach important aspects of growing  plants. There are many resources out there to help with this process, and this guide  concludes with some of those resources. Using hydroponics in the classroom is a wonderful way to connect students to Read More …

Easy To Grow Houseplants

ggphillips

Houseplants Have Benefits Houseplants are a wonderful addition to any home. They add beauty, improve indoor air quality and uplift our spirit in the dead of winter. Some houseplants are difficult to grow, others not so much. Lets focus on a few inexpensive examples that are both common and easy to grow. One of my favorite houseplants is the snake plant (Sansevieria trifasciata). This plant is very forgiving. You can forget to water it, and it will still survive for days being completely dry. In fact, it’s better not to Read More …

A Reservoir of Information for Urban Farmers: A General Analysis of Upstart University

srenard

Intro: Upstart University Powered by Plenty Of all the searching for a reservoir of information that is relevant to large-scale vertical hydroponic and aquaponic farms, there is only one source that floats on top. Upstart University is an online college that is semi-specific of ZipGrow and Deep Water Culture systems that are primarily set up to empower those in growing food systems in all areas. The ZipFarm is a vertical water working system that Dr. Nate Storey with Bright AgroTech designed to use less space and less energy compared to Read More …

Growing an Indoor Edible Garden

Sarah Richards

When we moved into our house in October, I started itching to grow something. This is the first time I’ve owned my own little part of the earth, and that is about as tangible as life gets for a gardener. The weather was turning colder, and everyone around us was settling in for winter. Cutting wood is a more appropriate fall time activity in Alaska, or so my husband tells me, but I decided I was going to grow food in our tiny cabin. So, I did what I do Read More …

It Just Takes Some Mist: Aeroponic Hydroponic Cloning

Honeystick

I normally use a clone dome, rooting hormone, and my trusty sheers in the cloning process with great results. Recently, I was introduced to a method of cloning that has: lowered my day to day maintenance, decreased my total clone time, and lowered the waste when cloning my own plants — this method is called Aeroponics. Aeroponics, when used in cloning, does not require one to add nutrients to water in order to achieve results. When comparing the total time of 14-21 days using my standard method of cloning with Read More …

Poinsettia Progression: The Origin, Growth, and Care of Euphorbia pulcherrima

cngriffin

The holiday season is upon us once again, and what holiday decorations would be complete without the addition of colorful poinsettias? The poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) in its many varieties can bring stunning colors to your holiday season display, but did you ever wonder what the origin of this symbolic holiday plant is, how the colors develop, or how to grow and care for poinsettias yourself? I.   Tropical Origins Poinsettias are indigenous to Mexico and belong to the Spurge (Euphorbiaceae) family. Its native habitat is at moderate elevations in deciduous Read More …