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Previous months in Anchorage, Alaska
With Virginia
Badger
2000
January-February
Hello! My name is Virginia, and I'm the site Advisor for my home
area of Anchorage, Alaska. You don't know where Alaska is? Well,
briefly, it is the 49th & largest state of the U.S.A., and way,
way north of the rest of them! If you were to look at a map of the
west coast of the U.S., and follow the coastline all the way up
past Seattle, Washington, past British Columbia, Canada, you'd be
looking at Alaska as the coastline swings on out to the west, eventually
trailing off into the islands of the Aleutian Chain... all part
of Alaska, all the way up to the Beaufort Sea. Alaska is huge, though
it may not look like it because of the way maps are drawn. It sort
of looks like an elephant head, doesn't it? And Anchorage is where
the corner of the "mouth" would be.
This is the quiet time for Anchorage gardens. Since we're so far
north, our daylight varies from about 5 1/2 hours in the winter
to over 19 hours in the long days of summer. Right now we've moved
past the solstice and are gaining about 2 minutes of light a day.
This will change to a much faster gain as we near spring and the
equinox. The winter darkness and cold are quite a challenge for
gardeners here. This winter has been difficult so far: it got cold
(well below freezing, and now below zero) fast and early, and without
the saving insulation of a good depth of snow. That's right! I said
we didn't have much snow! This year we have had only about 15 inches,
and it's mostly melted or blown away. It is probably going to be
a hard winter for the shrubs and perennials I have planted around
our house (no igloos, honest). Those that made it through last winter
will survive again, I hope. The mugo pines, a few of the juniper,
potentilla, and those hardy cotoneasters came back even after the
45 below zero (F.) we had last winter. The hardy flowers were the
miniature daylilies, trollius, and columbine. I tried a few new
items around the house this fall: a few lily-of-the-valley, some
miniature daffodils, and a low ground cover with a strawberry-like
leaf (the tag is buried right now).
Next spring I'll be happily perusing the catalogs and shopping
the local greenhouses, preparing for the days I can plant again
in my little greenhouse and the 3 6-foot by 10-foot raised beds
I have out in front of the house (best sun). But until then I'll
be just tending to houseplants, and trying to keep the moose out
of the yard... and gazing with longing at Gavin's Vegetable Patch
as he enjoys the summer season Down Under. Be sure to check back
again later to see what's going on here in Alaska. I'm not an expert,
but I'll enjoy sharing my enthusiasm.
March
Here in Alaska, the days have lengthened and the temperatures risen,
though we still have snow on the ground and can get more through
March and April! In spite of Nature's last minute surprises,
real winter seems to be over once we get sufficient daylight to
boost our houseplants into some early spring growth, about mid-March.
That means we can trim back the lanky winter growth on houseplants
and also start some indoor, early (and most welcome) bloomers like
tuberous begonias. The local greenhouses, most of which didn't stay
open during winter, will be re-opening soon and they'll have begonias
as tubers or started in pots, plus already-blooming cyclamen, daffodils,
mini-roses and tuberoses. Enough to delight any color-starved gardener!
I'll be taking advantage of some sunny March days to dig the snow
away from my greenhouse door and begin getting the items stored
inside moved somewhere else. It's only 30 to 40 degrees outdoors
on a sunny day, but inside the greenhouse I know it's toasty warm...
as long as it's in the sunshine!! I need to clean pots and 'remanufacture'
my potting soil (when it thaws) with added composted steer manure
and 5 months worth of worm castings from my own composting worms,
wintered in our heated garage. A few folks who have lots of room
will also be starting seedlings for tomatoes and perennials or slow-growing
bloomers; I'll be buying those in early or mid-May when the days
warm to the 50's and 60's F.
Have a great March, whether it's spring for you, or fall!
April
"The scoop" on Alaskan gardening is still full of snow, at least
for now. After having several weeks of lovely, warm (low-40's F.)
spring weather, we had a late snow over a couple of days that added
up to about 8 inches. Today dawned clear, but 5 degrees below zero!!
It's a temporary setback for working at any garden-oriented chore
outside, but inside the house I've started a few new bleeding hearts
which have sprouted shoots to about 6 inches, and the geraniums
that I wintered-over in the sunroom are exploding with new growth
since I clipped them back a bit.
I've also spent some time choosing some fresh seed to start myself.
Since our growing season is so short (June to mid-August, frost-free),
it's hard to find varieties which have a short enough time to harvest.
I selected an extra-fast corn to try against the wall on the south
side of the house. I've tried corn there before, and it does okay
if it's fast and we have a nice summer. Not your typical site for
corn, to be sure, but we Alaskans have to be creative sometimes,
and the wall helps keep the area warm. Other items I chose were
the typical seed for radishes, green onions, carrots, lettuce, spinach
and oriental pea pods. It's too early to start the corn and lettuce,
and the other items will go directly into the ground. Other items,
like tomatoes, summer squash, cucumbers & bell peppers will
come from a local greenhouse... but that will be next month!
Happy gardening, indoors or out!
May
It's Happy Spring here in Alaska!
Ahh... finally! It's the first of May. The days are warming and
we're getting fewer freezing nights, and those not so cold as before.
It does inspire one to get out of the house and into the garden...
or at least into the commercial greenhouses to shop! That's my
plan for the month. I'll be headed out this next week to check out
the offerings of the 3 or 4 greenhouses around this small town.
I'd like to add a few more hardy Cotoneaster shrubs to the bed along
the front of the house, plus I'll be buying a couple dozen "six-packs"
of annuals to go into the same bed and into the 7 or 8 hanging
baskets that hang above it. I really like yellow and orange
after our long drab winter months, so I tend to buy annuals like
the faceless yellow pansies, yellow/orange/bronze mini-marigolds,
with some bright snapdragons added for height in some patio pots
and some lobelia added in the hanging baskets. All do well in our
cool, sunny days, but it'll be about the first of June before the
nights are frost free, so they'll be happy growing in my little
(heated) greenhouse until then.
Inside the house, the geraniums I trimmed back in February are
now starting to bloom! The lettuce I got seeded into a long planter
are 2 inches tall and look pretty good, not leggy as I thought they
might. Four little peat pots of Sweet 100 (cherry tomatoes) seedlings
are up an inch or so, and the 5 inch tall Gardener's Delight (cherry
tomato) I bought a week or so ago is now 15" tall! I also have a
long batch of peat pots seeded with yellow/orange/red bell peppers
and some old flower seeds I thought I'd try... but no luck there.
I'll just buy a few to go into the greenhouse with the zucchini
and cukes, and (of course) the tomatoes.
Outside, the warm days have finally melted all the snow off my
raised beds, and I see a few green leaves beginning to peek out
of the piles of brown leaves that were last year's strawberry plants.
It's time to get the landscape cloth pulled back so I can work in
some worm castings and the old leaf material, then re-cover it again
to help warm the soil. I'll also assist this with a cover of visqueen
(clear plastic sheeting) over the whole box for a few weeks.
I'm hoping to see our sunny weather continue for the next 2 and
a half months, at least, which is when our summer usually gets wetter.
And I hope you are all enjoying the change of seasons as well.
June
Green... ah, how I love to see the trees leaf out! It means summer's
coming... and I've been working hard to get my garden ready for
it. My little greenhouse is stuffed full of tomato & cucumber plants
in big pots, flats of seedlings I started (not early enough, I find),
hanging baskets I've potted up (9), plus bunches of tall & short
pots planted up to go on the various porches and deck and stairs,
and lots of veggie and flower starts I bought. But... I can't put
them outside yet, because we're still having nightly frosts. June
the 1st is usually our 'frost free' date, but apparently not this
year.
After mourning the demise of all my strawberry plants ( a 6x10
ft. box full), I decided to try a variety ( Fort Laramie) recommended
for Canada and Alaska. These little starts were sold bare root,
which made me doubt I'd have much in the way of fruit this year,
but I'm happy to say the tops are putting out new leaves after only
4 days. I cheat on the frosty nights by covering the raised box
with a wood and wire frame covered by translucent plastic sheeting,
i.e., visqueen. By opening the ends during the day, I can regulate
the temperature inside so I can quickly warm up the soil, but not
cook the little 'newborns'. At night, the cover and the warm soil
hold the temp to around 40 degrees F.
I still have one raised box to do, but I've gotten 2 boxes all
dug, weeded and fertilized with composted steer manure w/bark added,
and using the worm castings I saved over the winter. One is the
strawberry box, the other one was sown 2 years ago with a 'meadow
mix' of flowers. That box will be used for the pea pods, broccoli,
and seeded rows of radishes, green onions, carrots and spinach.
To keep the weeds and any stray flowers from taking over the boxes,
I use landscape cloth. For anyone unfamiliar with it, landscape
cloth is between a fibrous cloth and heavy paper. It's black, water
goes through easily, but weeds can't grow up through it. To plant
through it, just cut an X or a larger hole, tuck in the plant, water
it and that's all! I plan to use it under gravel when I finally
get around to finishing the paths between raised beds. In the meantime
I have clean lettuce, clean spinach, etc., and little or no weeding!
I use it in the strawberry bed, too.
The third raised box will have my zucchini (Alaska can grow fantastic,
huge zucchini!), lettuce, herbs, a few cabbage, and some chard.
I may try some Sweet 100 tomatoes outside this year, either in pots
or in a box if there's room. I've also got a dozen or so very quick
corn to work in somewhere... then there are still some flowers to
plant! Marigolds (orange and yellow) and a few pansies (yellow)
will complete the bright, warm tones of trollius & daylilies in
the beds around the front of the house, and the pots of bronze snapdragons,
yellow pansies, orange marigolds and white lobelia on the porches
& deck. It should be a riot of color, especially with our pale yellow
front door!
That's the news from my Alaskan garden for now; next month we'll
see how this is all working out.
July
Hello and Happy Independence Day, if you're in the U.S.A.!
It's been a great month in Alaska for gardening! Our daylight is
at it's longest, or was on the 20th of June, which means we're getting
the maximum of 19 hours-plus possible sunshine. Now that the summer
solstice is passed, we're losing a minute of light a day, gradually
increasing to a loss of over 5 minutes a day as we approach winter
darkness... quite a yo-yo.
Our first month of summer weather has been wonderful, mostly sunny
days about 65-75 degrees and just a little rain. My garden has been
doing well, now that it's actually in the ground (raised beds) and
the nights are staying about 45-50 degrees. Now is the time for
maintaining it with water and fertilizer as needed, and trying to
keep the chickweed & dandelions at bay.
I've been able to harvest a few radishes, rhubarb & cucumbers
and have started using the lettuce a few leaves at a time. The row
of spinach I planted from seed is nearly ready and so are some of
the broccoli. This year I planted "Packman" variety broccoli, but
it's too quick and small. I think I had better luck with "Comet".
The corn is nearly knee high now and this may be a good year for
it! I also have zucchini setting squash, but I've read that they
prefer less daylight to set more of the blossoms, except for some
of the hybrids. The little squashes seem to want to drop off while
they're tiny. The new little bare-root strawberry plants I put out
are growing well and beginning to set fruit, too.
In the greenhouse, the tomatoes are blossoming and setting fruit,
but not as well as I would expect. I need to check the ph of the
soil... perhaps the worm casting fertilizer has influenced it. The
bell peppers are just now getting back to growing again, as they
seem to like the heat. They're setting fruit like crazy!! The cucumber
plants are, too. I'll have all the salad makings pretty soon!!
My project for this week has been to design, purchase and install
a drip watering system for the hanging planters (9) and the potted
planters (7) on the porch, along the front of the house. These are
under the eave, so don't get any rain at all. It's pretty complex,
but it's going together well, and should (with an electronic timer)
take care of the problem of having my plants dying off when I go
away for a few days or longer. In fact, I'm putting a smaller system
in for the planters on the back porch (7). I'll still have
to depend on my neighbor to look in on the houseplants, though (thanks,
Francis!). With all the sunshine, my planters all look great!
Well, next month should see the snap peas, zucchini, onions, and
carrots coming along. Until then...
Joyfully,
Virginia
August
Hello Fellow Gardeners!
Greetings from the top of the world!
Now that August is here, my garden is in full swing! This next
month will see production of tomatoes (hopefully), maybe some corn,
the carrots, green onions, bell & chili peppers, snap peas, and
strawberries, and the second plantings of radishes, spinach, and
chard.
Meantime, the yellow & green zuchinni are finally growing fruit
that isn't rotting at the blossom end. With the rainy summer we've
been having, that's been a problem. I've been removing the blossoms
as soon as they're loose, in hopes that the ends will be able to
dry off and the fruit grow evenly to 6 inches or so. It seems to
be helping! I've been able to enjoy them wokked with other vegies
for dinner.
My brocolli plants have grown into giants!! Perhaps its the worm
casting fertilizer I added this spring... At any rate, I've never
had the plants get this big, with leaves going about 2 feet long.
And production has stayed up, too. Due to some serendipitous accident,
I seem to have gotten a 4-pak of later flowering broccoli in with
the speedy variety. They are just now beginning to get to the heading
stage, huge flower heads, and I'll be cutting them soon. The faster
variety is still producing some surprisingly large side flowers
as well. Fortunately, I really like brocolli, and I may have some
to share with neighbors this year, too.
We've been known to have an early frost in late August, but if
that seems immanent, I can cover my raised beds with plastic sheeting
and I'll move the 2 tomato pots I have outside back into the greenhouse
with the others. With care (and some luck with sunshine), the tomatoes
will begin to ripen. I help them along by turning the heater back
on in the greenhouse as the nights cool down and the daylight shortens.
I even bring the most heavily laden into the house, into the sunroom,
for ripe tomatoes on into November.
Wishing you sunshine and cool breezes,
Virginia
September
Hello, fellow gardeners,
Whether you're in the Northern Hemisphere or the Southern one,
it's time for a change of seasons. Here in the far north, this is
especially evident... we've already had our first (and unexpected)
hard frost. Alas... I did not have the greenhouse heater on or the
raised beds covered in my garden. OPPS!! The green house tomatoes
and bell peppers are okay, but a lot of my veggies are now 'kaput'
(that's a technical gardening term for 'frozen and dead'). Strangely
enough, some of the things I would've thought would be hardier weren't,
like the zuchinni. They're looking really crisp, but some of the
lettuce is okay. All this means that I have to transition from picking
and eating to pulling up/digging in and cleaning up. I'm almost
glad in a way... we had, just 2 weeks ago, had a very unusual hard
wind storm that had pretty well beaten up everything outside. A
few items were perking up again, but most needed considerable trimming
and still looked pretty sickly.
And we've had a couple of views of 'termination dust' on the mountains,
too. Ah, well... it turned out to be 'not a good year for corn'...
maybe next year will be better!
Have a good month, and whether is spring or autumn, watch out for
those frosts!!
October
Hello, everyone,
Here in the north, we're preparing for the transition from autumn
to winter. Our daylight has shortened dramatically... it's 8:45
a.m., and the sun has just cleared the trees across the street.
It's a beautiful day, but about 25 degrees (F), and not expected
to be much more than 45 degrees.
In the garden, I've made a lot of progress in the cleanup effort.
The carrots and green onions made a nice late addition to the harvest.
Most of the old, unusable veggies have been pulled out and added
to the compost heap. I still need to pull out the broccoli plants...
the bees chased me out of it a couple of days ago! It's one of the
few things blooming, I suppose. I'll have to attack that chore on
a rainy day or in the chill of a frosty morning. I've also harvested
the last of the tomatoes from the greenhouse, and have opted to
not bring any of those plants into the house to extend their season.
The greenhouse still need a good cleanup, but I have a heater out
there!
Things are slowing up here, as summer/autumn work into winter.
We're going to extend our personal summer by taking off on a trip
to Hawaii in mid October. It's only 5 1/2 hours straight south,
and a wonderful place to go! I'll be a bit late with next month's
note, but the topic will probably be how much snow we've gotten...
or not... anyway.
Bye for now; happy gardening!
Virginia
November
Greetings from the North Country,
It's gone from autumn to winter during the 2 weeks we'd snuck
off to Hawaii for a vacation the end of last month, so we were greeted
with a little snow and some below-freezing temperatures upon our
return. That said, you would be right assuming my gardening is now
finished for the year... lacking the appearance of any miraculous
Earth Changes, it will begin again next April in the house, May
in the garden. I do have some cleaning up left to do, if the weather
permits: the corn stalks are still crumpled on the ground in a raised
bed, as are the broccoli and I need to get the hose or a watering
can out one last time!! It's amazing how the ground dries out after
one would consider the growing finished, but the plants will need
that 'one more watering' to make it through to spring.
Our daylight is drastically reduced, as well. Eight hours, 7 minutes
now, and losing 5 1/2 minutes a day. It's still difficult for me
to adjust to shorter and shorter days, even after 35 years here...
and the long daylight of summer is so easy! You've got the tilt
of the earth bringing the sunshine Down Under (enjoy it!!), I think
I'll hibernate until spring...
December
Hello from the Frozen North!
Well, that's usually the case, but this is another strange winter
going on up here... still no snow on the ground, and this morning
freezing rain. That's not the kind of winter weather we expect up
here!
Having no snow is awfully hard on my garden: there's no insulation
to protect the shrubs and perennial flowers that would prefer sleeping
under a blanket of fluffy white snow. At least it's not as wet as
it was last year when all my strawberries, soggy with fall rains,
froze and died. In fact, it's been so dry I've had to keep my watering
can handy to keep the soil a little moist in the areas covered by
overhanging house walls, during periods of above-freezing weather.
I keep saying, "Surely it will snow SOON..." but the Jet Stream
keeps dragging the storms south instead.
I had a nice surprise in early November, when I got back from a
trip to Hawaii. Rather than try to bring my bearing cherry tomatoes
inside this year, I just picked all the green tomatoes that looked
worth bothering with. Well, I did bring in 2 pots for a while. But
by mid-October they'd all quit setting fruit, so in the interests
of neatness while being gone, I wrapped (in newspaper) all the little
green marbles I'd picked and put them in a box, which I promptly
forgot about after I put it down by the front door where it would
stay cool. A few days after returning from our trip I re-discovered
the box... and feared the worst. Surprise!! I found the box full
of nicely ripened red cherry tomato "wands". Not as good as summer's
sweet fruit, but good enough to enjoy!
Here's to a Merry Christmas and a Happy New (Gardening) Year to
you all... everywhere.
With Peace and Goodwill to All,
Virginia
2001
January
In the Anchorage area of Alaska, we've been on hold in the same
weather pattern as last year: temperatures rather warm (around freezing)
and windy, as the jetstream pulls the moisture and storms southward.
So... still almost no snow here, just a few inches left over from
a small snow a few weeks ago.
Gardening in Alaska, in January, is an indoor hobby. As real sunshine
is in short supply (still under 6 hours), I'm using added electric
lights to help my house plants, and a few kept-over geraniums, make
it through this tough time. I add extra humidity to the air, too.
Otherwise the humidity would be under 25%, and both plants & people
would suffer from over-heated, over-dried air; thus a humidifier
is a necessity in Cold Country!
With the passing of the winter solstice and the coming of the
New Year, spring will be coming, too! About in April/May up here,
leaving a few months for some snow to fall and for me to check out
this site and the Web for new seed & plant catalogs.
And make some plans... In the meantime, have a wonderful time enjoying
your garden.
February
Hello from the Frozen North,
I almost can't say that this year, as our temperatures have probably
spent as much time above freezing as below, this year! Quite unusual,
I can tell you...
As you can imagine, gardening is not the Hot Topic in Alaska in
the winter. Other than doing some early and wistful preparation
with any new catalogs, my only gardening outlet is caring for house
plants. There is hope for the future though... our daylight is noticeably
longer than just a couple of weeks ago, and soon we'll be adding
daylight at the rate of 5 minutes a day or more. That adds up fast!!
On to gardening topics...
Inside the house, my plants are holding on. The leaves on the geraniums
are gradually turning brown and dropping, on a slow denuding up
the stems. As soon as they start putting on larger leaves (from
more light), I'll cut them back some. I know this isn't what a lot
of folks do to keep their geraniums over the winter, but it seems
to work best for me. The orchids I keep do okay with artificial
lighting, but they'll soon go into blooming mode again as the natural
light increases a little more.
Outside, there is so much ice around (from freezing rain) that
I'm not very confident that my strawberries will survive the winter.
The perennial shrubs and flowers will probably suffer, too. Until
spring comes around there is little to do except wish YOU...
Happy gardening, wherever you are!
Virginia
March
Hello from Alaska, USA,
Well, we've made it through the Dark Days of winter once again,
and spring will be coming along in good time... soon! We're gaining
daylight at nearly the maximum rate now, about 6 minutes a day,
which adds up fast. My house plants are already looking to be in
better health and putting on some new leaves, too.
It'll be a while before I have any outdoor chores to do with my
garden of raised beds, but another month should see me neatening
up the greenhouse from the clutter I left last autumn... "out of
sight, out of mind." My husband is going to be taking the spring
and summer off from work, so I'm not going to be doing the usual
gardening... more a maintenance plan. With him off for a much deserved
vacation, we'll be doing more motorhoming, plus flying in to visit
our cabin (with an appropriate amount of fishing included). His
retirement may last through to fall, I hope, before he opts to go
back to work for a few more years, so I'm going to take advantage
of the freedom we'll have for these months. I have been setting
up a self-watering system the last couple of years, using timers
for watering and a drip system, so my flowers and shrubs that make
it through to spring will make it through the summer, too.
I'll drop a note to let you know what's up. In the meantime...
enjoy your season's change!
Virginia
September
Hello all you happy gardeners!
After spending most of our Alaskan spring and summer either in
Australia or out in the (Alaskan) bush, working on this year's project
(a big, new shed) at our cabin, I'm settled down enough at home
to share my last strawberries with you as summer turns to autumn.
Since we were away most of the time this summer, I didn't plant
my usual garden of tomatoes, zucchini, and other veggies. Leaving
2 out of the 3 raised gardening boxes fallow, my only concern was
for the strawberry box. After having to replace all my plants last
year, I was anxious to see how the new variety would survive a fall
and winter similar to the deadly one the year before. The new variety
was "Laramie", and it did quite well; nearly all the plants
survived. To fill some of the empty spaces late in the spring, I
filled in with a hardy wild or volunteer (unknown) variety which
was growing at this house when we bought it. That turned out to
be a big mistake!
My strawberry box is 10 feet by 6 feet, with 4 rows of strawberry
plants growing in mixed, enriched soil covered by landscape cloth.
This stuff is great! I thought all I'd have to worry about for pests
would be slugs... not so! The wild strawberries became so aggressive,
their runners were taking over the whole bed, crowding into the
small openings where the Laramie plants were and runners even down
to the ground. The wild plants did produce some strawberries, but
small and not very sweet... and NOT what I had wanted to overrun
the others.
One nice day when we were home, I decided it was not too late to
remedy my error... I removed the bird-netting and waded in: a thorough
weeding out of ALL the wild plants! And they were everywhere in
the box, even trying to send runners under the landscape cloth...
insidious little sneaks! Fortunately, the leaves were different,
and the runners redder than on the Laramie... I think I routed (or
unrooted?) them all! Then I took a few runners from the Laramie
plants and encouraged them to root in some of the empty spaces.
The rest of the runners I clipped off! And guess what? My Laramie
plants began to put on flowers again, whereas they had nearly all
stopped producing new flowers. It reinforces what I
learned as a youngster, when my mother made me go out and trim runners:
trimming the runners keeps the plants putting energy into flowers
& fruit! Yes, they still make more runners, so if you need to
fill in empty spaces, you can... but do it in late summer.
I'm hoping our weather will stay nice enough to enjoy a few more
berries... the precious berries of autumn. Enjoy!
Happy gardening, and trim those runners!
Virginia Badger
October
Hello from Alaska!
Here in the north, the fall to winter change is sliding down the
mountains, as illustrated by the lowering levels of snow. Two steps
down, then one step up... but soon enough to drop that final white
cover that will last until next spring. Since my gardening was limited
this summer (because my husband & I visited Australia in April/May
and then spent many weeks building a shed at our cabin), this autumn
I
am ready for it! My greenhouse is neat as a pin, the hoses are drained
and put away, the two geraniums from outside happily residing in
the sunroom. I'm ready for spring!
The other summer project that I got involved in was the design
and updating of our personal family website and another site for
the display of our Australia, Alaska and personal photos. In lieu
of an Alaskan gardening article this month and next, I invite you
to visit our sites:
Our website: http://webpages.rogershsa.com/akbadgers/AKbadgers/
Our photo website: http://community.webshots.com/user/alaskabadgers
And while you're doing that... I'm going to Hawaii for a few weeks!
Happy gardening in my absence,
Virginia
2002
July
Hello, and best wishes from the far north!
As my southern hemisphere friends get going into their winter months,
we here in Alaska are in overdrive trying to get everything done
in our short summer. We had an exceedingly confused spring, with
some hot weather in May... yes, I do mean hot, as 27 degrees C.
IS hot for here, especially in May when we more likely to be around
15 C. And before May we'd had a long cool April with little rain
and an easy breakup of all the snow.
Strangely enough, June then turned back into May-like weather....
*sigh*
Gardening waits for no man, though... or woman... so I got out
to the greenhouses and bought starts for all the things I expected
to grow, both to eat and to decorate the areas around our house.
My husband bought some new skin for the greenhouse, Lexxan, or something
like that, and got it up just before the end of May (which is our
usual frost-free date).
I bought: broccoli, swiss chard, green zuchinni, yellow zuchinni,
and crooked-neck squash for outside, and I bought 5 tomatoes and
two cukes for the greenhouse. And I bought flowers... lots of bright
yellow marigolds, sweet smelling white alyssum, Silver Dust for
contrast, white lobelia for hanging over the pots, and yellow Coreopsis
for height, and yellow pansy-faced violas for filler. Once those
were spread around my containers and hanging baskets, I started
some peapods and purple beans, carrots, radishes and spinach in
the ground, with a lot of volunteer green (bunching) onions from
last summer.
Unfortunately, we had another crummy autumn last year... wet or
very cold, but with no early snow to protect my strawberries. They
all died again this year. The old wild ones that came with the house
came back up, but they are mostly just running wild on the ground,
not planted in my nice raised boxes. They are not, also unfortuantely,
an everbearing strawberry and have very small fruit... but they
are hardy devils!
All that said, I'm now in the water and weed mode. I cheer on sunny
days and can almost see the broccoli growing as I watch it. On cloudy
days everything seems to just mark time... slow growth... but at
least nothing requires watering except the items in the greenhouse.
That's it from Alaska for this month; wishing you lots of sunshine
and Happy Gardening!
Virginia Badger
August
Hello, all my fellow gardeners,
Bad news on the garden front, here.... very bad news! Instead
of moving away from the lowland areas and up into the hills and
mountains, some of the local moose have decided to "lay low"
as it were, and spend the summer here in the inhabited areas around
Wasilla.
About the first of July, I woke up one night with my cat looking
toward the garden from his place of repose on the bed. It was about
2A.M., but it wasn't dark and I looked out to see what he might
have heard. Out in my garden was a cow moose and her two twin butterscotch-colored
calves... munching everything in site from my garden boxes. I grabbed
my robe and ran outside to make noise and scare them off, which
they responded to by trotting off down the street. So far, so good...
but a little while later, I heard clop... clop... clop coming quietly
back up our driveway. And there they were again, munching the spinach
and pulling the radishes up (but not eating them), and decimating
my half a dozen broccoli plants in the furthest raised box. They
didn't bother my lettuce or chard in another box, nor the oriental
peapod peas and purple beans in the same box as the spinach. I got
up again and slipped on my robe and chased them off again, this
time wearing slippers so I could actually chase them. They trotted
off this time and down the street, no further damage, but I was
awake, listening, for the rest of the night.
Dammed moose.
Unfortunately, it was not the last time they came to see me...
and the next time they ate what they'd missed the first time. My
lettuce was munched to the ground, some of the roots pulled out.
The broccoli, which I had tried to replant as bitten off stems,
was bitten off and pulled up again, as was the spinach again and
the carrots they hadn't gotten at first. The chard and beans/peas
were the only things left.
Dammed moose.
On the plus side, I do have 5 big tomato plants, 2 pots of cukes,
and 2 pots of bell peppers, and some herbs, in my small greenhouse.
As far as having a vegetable garden this summer, though... I really
don't...
Dammed moose.
Regards from Alaska & happy gardening... without moose!
Virginia Badger
September
A breezy hello from Alaska!
As we've moved from summer to autumn, our weather (not great this
summer anyway) has taken a turn to rain and wind. The Termination
Dust (snow) is on the mountains and a definite chill is in the air.
And we've had our first frost... which seems to have made the leaves
turn to gold nearly overnight.
Fortunately, with a small greenhouse, I still have the gold of some
cherry-size tomatoes hanging on. This is the first time I've tried
the gold ones, and I find them lacking the bright flavors of the
more typical red varieties, like Sweet 100 or Sweet Million. The
other varieties of tomato are still producing fruit, and I may bring
some of the plants into the house to keep them going in the sunroom
for a while.
The last few weeks have been so consistently wet that most of my
potted blooming plants have already met their demise. It looks like
my next garden jobs will be cleanup ones. If I can get a few nice
days, it'll help me get out to collect all the pots and get then
cleaned, into the greenhouse and ready to go for next year.
Since the marauding moose left me almost no garden outside, all
I have left that is producing are a few oriental pea(pod) plants.
*sigh* Damn moose...but here's always next year!
Happy gardening!
Virginia
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