In My Alaska Garden — Trial and Error
I attended Pride on Saturday and saw the gorgeous Oriental Poppies above. I saw them on the walk from the car near the Parkstrip. They are the huge poppies and they are on my list for the future in my yard. We’ve been working outside all weekend and while I left to go grocery shopping, I learned what it means to be grateful for the help you get even though it may not be exactly what you want. My husband weeded the perennial garden below: Gone are all of the weeds, the encroaching grass, and the Campanula Glomerata (which should…
All Hands On Deck! EPA Public Hearing TODAY at 5:00 PM
by Jeanne Devon and Linda Kellen Biegel Today is the day. The EPA findings tell us that Pebble Mine is an unacceptable risk to thousands of sustainable jobs, and the last great wild salmon fishery on earth. With the stroke of a pen, the EPA can assure that this special place remains safe from development, and intact for generations to come. One of the most, if not THE most important meetings there will ever be on mining in the Bristol Bay Watershed will be held today at the Wendy Williamson Auditorium on the UAA Campus. The EPA will be hearing…
In My Alaska Garden — Progress & Solutions
This week is a bit of a grumpy week for me. The temperature here keeps dipping below 45 degrees at night and we’ve seen it below 50 in the hoop house. Some of the plants are not happy, specifically the tomatoes and the basil. Here’s hoping the warmer forcast for this week is accurate, although today is not a great start. Since we talked a great deal about the hoop house last week, I figured we’d take a look at what is going on outside this week. (OK, I’ll admit it…it’s because we actually got some weeding done.) In the…
In My Alaska Garden – Memorial Weekend Planting and Hoop House Lessons
I’ve been a very busy girl in the hoop house, though not as busy as I would like. Life has interefered but I plan on spending the rest of the evening and most of tomorrow getting things together. This is my Memorial Day tradition, as it is for most gardeners. I can take you on a little tour… First, we look left to the “herb garden,” as yet incomplete… Missing from the photo (on the far left) is the bin containing Sage and Dill. The Basil is the “Aromatic Trio” from Renee’s Garden…I believe this one is the “Red Rubin”…
In My Alaska Garden — A Tale of Two Gardens
My friends at Anonymous Bloggers reminded me of something this week: I cannot think of a place where the internet and social media has made more of a difference in intra-state communication than Alaska. In a place this size (663,266 sq miles) where the majority of the land is not accessible by the road system, people who otherwise would rarely converse can carry on regular conversations and build relationships. Such is the Alaska gardening community. Thanks to AB and a friend’s Facebook page, I was tipped off to two fascinating garden projects separated by roughly 600 miles, as the raven…
In My Cottage Garden — Happy Earth Day!
By Linda Kellen Biegel How are you celebrating? My Earth Day celebration involves the fact that the snow is gone off of the raised beds! Of course, we can see exactly how trashy we left the place before the snow flew (note the unrolled hose). I haven’t quite ventured out there yet because it’s a total swamp at the moment (you can see a little standing water in the picture). Luckily, this is the south side of the yard which dries up much faster. I’m dying to do get out there and do something, but there isn’t much need at…
In My Cottage Garden: Dohnn Wood at the Anchorage Garden Club
Well, it is truly spring in Anchorage and even the flowers are undaunted by the snow. This was a picture taken at UAA yesterday. As the melt continues, the flowers have already pushed their way to the surface under the snow and even have blooms! As promised, today’s post is all Dohnn Wood and container vegetables. I apologize for the video. The meeting is at Pioneer Schoolhouse, which is as old as the name suggests. They turned the lights off to better see the slide show so I had to decide which to focus on, the speaker or the show….
North Pole Republican Wants to Eliminate Government Regulation… of Food
~Want some yummy fish? You’ve got to hand it to Alaska State Rep. Tammie Wilson. Right in the middle of the “pink slime” debacle that is turning stomachs across the nation, and increasing scrutiny on what we are putting in our mouths, she’s got a project – and it’s worse than pink slime. At least that gelatinous cow-part goo was designed to preserve food. She wants to deregulate food – even hazardous food. Just like many of her right wing cohorts, she thinks there’s just too much government regulation these days, specifically at your local farmers’ market. Sanitation is overrated…
In My Cottage Garden: Personal Scale Urban Farming
By Linda Kellen Biegel The ABG Conference session where I received the most personal motivation was on “Urban Farming” and was run by Dohnn Wood. It was motivating because his journey was similar to mine: from he and his family discovering that fresh, Alaska grown produce actually has taste and intoxicating aroma unlike the shipped-in variety to year by year, trying to improve their vegetable gardening and increase their yield. However, his story today is one all home “farmers” would like to achieve: in 2011 he was able to harvest over 1500 lbs of food from his 5000 sq ft…
In My Cottage Garden: ABG Conference–Growing In Containers (& My Herb Seeds are In!)
When I saw Verna Pratt at the front of the room, I had no idea she was the author of several of the Alaska wildflower books I have on my shelf as well as wonderful pressed-wildflower pictures I’ve always wanted to hang on the walls of the little English Cottage I’m going to have some day! But I digress… Verna was there to talk about the joys of growing vegetables in containers. I was actually rather surprised that she chose to do it that way because I knew she had beautiful gardens and lots of space. However, there are things…