Gardening resources

Alaskan - you & your Missus are TOO CUTE for words

I prefer to buy locally because of shipping costs too, but I'll also keep an eye out for things like free shipping & online sales. I can't buy organic seeds locally, and I prefer that whenever possible.

My favorite place to "shop" is still my mom's house though. She's a Master Gardener, and has 1 acre WELL planted with just about anything that will grow here including a half-dozen miniature fruit trees & 125+ rose bushes. She's always got cuttings or suckers that need new homes, and they're free for the digging. I just raided my mom's garden for a start to my potted herb garden. Her chives, mint & thyme have surfaced and she had plenty of extra.

If you have a friend that gardens, try asking them if they have any extra plants. All sorts of perennials will grow quick enough that they need annual pruning, and you might be able to get a few cuttings for free. Up here, both my local health food store & my church have bulletin boards where we can post who has what type of cuttings, and what we'd like to swap for. And come fall, it's converted into a "please come take my excess zucchini/tomatoes/cantaloupe" board. Ask around, maybe you've got something similar!
love,
mom

 

Hi Mom: That is kind of strange. Your the same age as my youngest daughter.
Wish I could beam you up here for a walk around our garden.
Carol and I have both taken the Master Gardeners Program.
I guess we're like your mom's place, we're taking the mulch off the hundreds of pots , may be a thousand that wintered over with perennials in them. Our 9 raised beds are now uncovered and all showing a good return.
Today #1 and #2 greenhouses are full. Their both heated until the chance of frost has passed. Mothers Day or not , Carol has re-racked about 70 flats into meshed flats and transplanted about 15 flats of 4 packs. Thats 720 new little green babies.
Tomorrow I've got about 3-4 truck loads of our straw mulch to haul off to a friends place who raises a good number of chickens.
The end of the week I've got to get out to another friend place who has a string of Llamas he uses for packing into the high country. This will net us about 2 tons of Llama poop for our composting.
Gardening is so much fun, why am I so tired ?
Love...Dennis and Carol

 

Violas, pansies, poppies, mimulus and calendula are cold weather annuals for us. When the temps hit the nineties they tend to punk out. I do have nasturtiums, but I tend to ignore them they just grow, to the point that if they are near the house and there is any opening say between a window screen and the frame, they grow right into the house. Had them in the living room more than once. But they are great in salad, so when I am weeding they get to stay.

Of course the California poppies are wild. But if our Icelandic poppies don't do their thing between January and March it's just too hot for them, and they have to be replanted every year.

 

Gardener:
Our Icelandic poppies are a summer plant and usually reseed them selfs so they are basically a perennial here. Nasturtiums are very popular here and start flowering in July and last through September.
(Here is a normal Febuary here.)
Nastys are so easy to start, but everybody is so eager to buy them. We have about 700 started now and Carol has about 500 more seeds soaking now.
Guess I been in the north country too long, forget that people down south bare ground with things growing in the middle of the winter.
Light rain last night here, hope it helps green up the lawn a little.
Later ......Dennis

 

We get some frost and freezes in January and February, but the nastys usually make it through them and poppies, pansies and snaps aren't even phazed. But we are talking 21 degrees as a real low. We can't make ice cubes outside most winters. We've had a few that would frost your moustache, but not that many.

 

We go to the beach (which is close to the house) and gather sea weed after a storm and put it on the beds when they are resting over winter. There is usually some sand attached. We garden/grow our food organically and it is wonderful stuff. So is comfrey left to rot in water - wonderful tomato food, and strawberries/raspberries like it too. Comfrey is easy to grow - even from a timy bit of root but it can be invasive so pot it!!

I have to say that between P_O_D(the ultimate fount of gardening wisdom and resource and general star person) and Dennis in Alaska you don't have to go much further!

 

Sea Breeze: Thank you very much, that was nice.
Kelp, we don't get a lot of 'Wash up on the beach" here, but down in the southeast panhandle of Alaska they use a lot of kelp in their gardens.
When they plant potato's they cover the patch with kelp. In S.E. they get a lot of rain
and the kelp sheds a lot of water to keep the potato patch from turning to mud. Plus it adds a lot of nutrients to the soil.
What ever the combo is, they grow a killer crop of potatos there.
Thanks again dear...........Dennis.....Alaskan

 

Traditionally the farmers use seaweed on the fields here too. Not all of the unfortunately!!