In My Alaska Garden: Eating the Harvest
Being sick for almost 5 weeks sucks. Thank goodness my family helped me with the hoop house. This week, I finally gave up and went to the doc for my antibiotic treatment. I’ve been on 3 days and while the cough hasn’t stopped and I still feel drained from that, I’m feeling a little better overall. Of course, it’s just in time to take care of Morrigan, who seems to have gotten a much lighter version…probably because she had her booster for Whooping Cough last year. Dang…I’m sounding like my grandma… The good news about this is I didn’t feel…
In My Alaska Garden: Harvest!
Though a little later than expected, we are finally seeing the (literal) fruits of our labor in the hoop house! I’ve been sick for the last three weeks and haven’t felt much like writing or anything else. I wanted to at least get the pictures out to you of what’s been happening in the hoop house. I have a lot more near-future writing about what I’ve learned and the changes we want to make for next year. Let me know how everything is going in your garden!
In My Alaska Garden: Eating Locally
There is no getting around it…Southcentral Alaska’s flora of both the edible and decorative variety is late this summer. My lilacs, though lovely this year, were about three weeks to a month later than usual. Many other folks made the same comment about the famous Anchorage downtown lilacs as well as the beautiful blooming apple and crabapple trees. Today, I received an interesting report. My friends went to their favorite Salmonberry-picking spot this weekend, the same time they do every year. (I cannot reveal the location upon threat of murder.) They were dismayed to discover that the plants are just…
In My Alaska Garden: Hoop House Heaven
With some health challenges and the really rainy weather, I was glad this week that the hoop house is at the point in the summer where it doesn’t require too much constant care. I can leave one door open now day and night because the evening temps aren’t below 55 (even with one door open, the interior stays about 5 to 10 degrees above the outside.) It’s been a very slow process due to our chilly summer, but finally this week I’m starting to see some real plant explosion! This is good, because I need something to counterbalance the disappointing…
In My Alaska Garden–Busy Summer Addition: Flowers
I am wayyyyy behind on my photo blogging and I’m going to try and catch up a bit this week. I promise that I’ll show you the photos of setnetting and I’ll also get to the vegetable progress. As you can imagine, everything is exploding right now. However, I wanted to catch the flowers “while they are hot” so you can enjoy the beautiful colors this Fourth of July week! Yes, lavender is my favorite color…why do you ask? The Thrift was a victim of Dear Husband’s weeding…but notice, I said HE WEEDED — and without complaint! You can bet…
In My Alaska Garden — Summer Finally Arrives!
South Side Farmer’s Market in Anchorage The Farmer’s Markets (above) don’t have much produce yet (the cold temps have slowed down growth) but they are open every Saturday selling bread, meats, some veggies and plant starts. The temperatures are now above 50 degrees at night (finally) so items in the hoop house are MUCH happier! Plus, I must open both doors during the day. (In the photo are my tomato, green pepper, and cucumber plants with some basil mixed in). It’s finally warm enough to bring my fuchsia’s home from the Nursery! Yay…Alaska summer is finally here! Between the huge…
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…
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 – We Finally Built My Hoop House!
I deeply apologize for not publishing a garden post the last two Sundays. The first one I was drowning in writing and activities for the Hand Recount and last Sunday I was in Fairbanks being a delegate to the Democratic Convention. Believe me, I preferred to be in the garden! This weekend is very exciting for me because I’ve been anticipating building a hoop house since the Botanical Garden Spring Conference in early March! Now, we finally did it! And when I say “we,” I mostly mean Josh! First, we started out with some great, detailed instructions for a 10′…