Last of the Year - Time to Plan Next Year!

So, it's the end of October, the snow isn't quite here yet - but it will be soon.  The only outdoor chore left is cleaning out the planter boxes (the goose and the hanging baskets) and puting them up for next year.  That means finding a place to plant the goose's columbine, so it comes up next year.  Very exciting. :)

The rest of this fall has been plotting sewing projects, getting geared up for the Christmas season, and prepping for next spring.  The planning season starts now, making lists of supplies needed for next year and when to order them - seeds to be started inside have to be obtained near March in Alaska, and most of the suppliers don't start selling them locally until the end of April.  So this year I'll be ordering online, which means figuring things out soon so that I can budget.

The raspberries are trellised temporarily, but not well - just enough to get through the winter.  Next spring I plan on building them better supports, or weaving the canes into fencing to keep them upright.  Two green fence posts, 18" of green fencing between, leave the spaces between the first and second rows.  It will take a good number of fence posts to spread a relatively small area, but I think it will support them sufficiently as the canes grow high - they should grow up to 8 feet, I hope to keep them trimmed to five or six so that I can keep the berries coming. 

The blueberries didn't find time to really ripen this year - too cold for the last month of the summer.  Though if I'd waited until now they would have been good, as I found a few berries I missed that were tasty and sweet, plump and deep purple.

Next year I also must repair the trellis for the peas - the moose pushed in the netting on the back corner of our garden to eat the leftover pods this year - no seed peas for us.  :(

Change in the Weather

So, the temperature fell, and so did the rain this weekend.  No mowing happened, not much time in the garden either.  Hoping for one more good weekend - maybe a couple of evenings? - to get the rest of the gardening and outside preparations done for this year. 

I need to get out there and do the prep work.  Also, I've decided to try to pot a few of my herbs, and bring them inside for winter - need to clear the plant shelf for them, and see if it works out.  I used to do it when I was a kid in Minnesota, but I need to do it soon or the shock will kill them.  Maybe tonight after class.  Or maybe I'll leave class a little early.  We'll see. 

I also need to get around to moving the compost heap.  I want to shift it all the way into the corner, and fix up the front part of the garden. 

So much to do!

End of the Year - so much to do!

So, it's that time of year.  Most of the garden has been harvested, though there are still a few things out.  The broccoli I didn't plant has produced a head about the size of a baseball.  The brussel sprouts almost looked like they were going to do something - maybe I didn't thin them enough to really do it, though.  Next year I'm going to start them way earlier in the window - maybe in April - to give them a fighting chance. 

The herbs are still waiting for me to pull them in bunches - I've been a bit busy having started classes again.  Working full time, taking two classes, and trying to work in the garden/yard work is tough, but I'm managing.

The fall chore list:

1.  The final mowing of the yard - need the clippings to insulate the vegetable garden.
2.  Clean out the beds of dead or dying plants - pull the old, make room for the new
3.  Trellis the Raspberries - they're going to need it.
4.  Bunch of new bulbs to plant - both front and back yards
5.  Use grass clippings to cover the strawberries too, trim back the old dead stuff, weed their bed - take leather gloves, something with spines grew in there and hubby never took care of it.
6.  Clean up the dog run
7.  Plant the last of the things that aren't in the ground yet - a little bishops weed for the front garden.
8.  Stir the compost heap, and add more of the powered bacteria stuff to it
9.  Put all the plastic pots and garden art up in the utility shed
10. Put up the hoses and tools (hoses go in the utility shed, tools go to thier respective homes
11. Clean and put up the mower, put note on it to sharpen blade next year
12. Empty and put up hanging baskets and goose planter

I think that covers this year's list - strange, I thought there was more to it. 

13.  Clean up leaves off of driveway, add to compost pile

Anything else?

No?

I think that's it.  Oh, wait -

14.  Find new home for the pond liner, plan out pond this winter - start watching craigslist for pump supplies

Okay, now that's gotta be -

15.  Trim back roses

16.  Add ash to roses / blueberries / currants

Okay, now I think that's it.  At least, that's what I've got for now.  I'm sure I'll get outside and think of fifteen more things. :)

Back from Vacation

So, after three days of no attention, the garden is doing what gardens do when you aren't looking - it's overgrowing!

Unfortunately slugs got to the fourth baby zucchini (I've only had one make it to harvestable size) and so it fell off the vine.  I've got three more babies working though, and we'll see how they do.

Something attempted to pull a parsnip through the fence, but failed.  So I have an 8" parsnip on my counter, that probably will be simply steamed and buttered tonight. 

Of course there are tons more peas to collect (I bought in about a cup last night) and the lettuce is going great guns.  Soon I have to go and collect herb bunches to dry, and I need to clean the deck a bit before that - this year I think I'm going to do more of the drying on the deck instead of in the basement, unless I can come up with a reliable way to do it in the microwave.

I'm also going to have to dig potatoes soon - the main plants are turning yellow, and the slugs have started in.  The yard needs mowing if the rain quits a bit more tonight, and the grass clippings will be handy for mulching around the berry bushes and paths.

The blueberries still aren't ripe!  Just a little tinge of purple along the edges.  Hoping they finish up in the next two weeks. If they don't, it's going to snow before I get to pick!

Looking into chickens again.  I have the whole fall and winter to come up with a design that will work.  Hoping to have four Orpingtons next year.  (I really want lavender ones, but we'll see what I can find!)

Stuff left to do this fall?  Let's see, there's trellising the raspberries, cleaning up the compost pile and moving it, clearing out the garden when it's done, weeding and mulching the perennial bed, a pile of gladiolus bulbs to plant, and planning to do for the other garden beds I want to put in.  I need to mulch the strawberries like crazy.  I also need to plan on where I'm going to get the money for the new fence around the mountain ash, and plan on doing that next spring if I run out of funds this fall. 

Then I need to make the list for next year, draw out where the plants currently are that should come back, and plan on what I'm searching for as fill-ins.  Primroses are on the list - there are some awesome varieties, and a great greenhouse in Homer that's supposed to carry one of the largest selections of them, if I can get there next spring. 

It's a great day to be in the garden!

Someday, pictures will be forth coming. I actually took them...I swear.

So, it's been a month (about) and the garden has gone great guns!  Lettuce that is almost as tall as me (it will grow on stalks if you keep stealing leaves), peas that have crested the 9' mark by enough that I think we're safe calling some of those vines 10', and my first zucchini!  The eight-ball zucchini have really struggled on fruiting - the plants are great, but every time I got out to check them, another small fruit has rotted off the vine!  I managed to save one to be proper size, and it's in the vegetable drawer in the house.  One more and I'll make some bread!

The carrots will probably be ready soon, but I'm going to try to be patient and wait for the frost.  The blueberries are going to be huge, and we're still waiting for them to ripen - right now the little green orbs are the size of the first joint of my first finger, and still growing!  The currants were huge too, the size of marbles! 

I scavenged about 40 golden raspberry canes from a friend's patch, and they are all doing very well.  Hopefully I'll get them some trellis' built by next year - they'll do much better on production if I trellis them up and prune them proper.  I've been looking up instructions on the proper care of brambles, and think I've got a good idea on how to care for them properly. 

This month has been so wet (rain every other day for most of the month) that the yard isn't mowed, the perrenial garden is overgrown with weeds, and the garden paths are gone (thick with weeds as well).  I started cleaning up the edges with my new weed trimmer yesterday - it's the best one by far that I've ever owned.  This time I opted for a light model, electric, and the Stihl FSE60 has not disappointed.  It made quick work of the small canes from the weird purple flowers that remind me of my mother's hostas out back, and it trims up rock and fence lines easily.  The vegetable garden paths were half cleared when I decided to take a break, and tonight I'll finish them, and start working on the grass.  The lawnmower is gassed and ready, and we've had two days of sun in a row - one more and tonight it should be ready enough. 

No chickens yet - I've had bear scat in the yard three times this month, so we're going to not do that this year.  Chickens are great bear-attractors, and apparently my backyard is already interesting enough without adding that temptation.  I do have plans for the coop drawn up though, and I've been chatting with the feed store about a solar powered electric fence.  I'm considering connecting the coop and fencing to the vegetable garden fence, so that it's easy to let the chickens clean up the garden at the end of the year. 

My compost heap is shrinking, almost too fast for me to keep up!  I need to go stir it some more, though - I've got more curly dock growing out of the top of it, so the center isn't warm enough to kill it any more. 

So far this year Dave's strawberries have been mostly safe, but he hasn't weeded them much and they are getting hard to find among some of the thicker weeds.  Which means it's also harder for the pests to find them, but still. 

My fern that I moved in from the woods has not been doing well, but as it is still alive I think next year it will do fine.  My wild geranium appears to have made a good start, and the new peony isn't dead, so I think it will come back.  I've got a Rugusta Rose to find a home for - it's still in a large pot, but it's still alive!  I think it's going to share a space under the Mountain Ash.  We'll see.

I guess that's it for now.  Without pictures, you can't really see any of my progress, and I left the pictures on the camera yesterday!  Ah well.  Later tonight, perhaps.

I just suck sometimes...

Okay, so I've been bad about pictures - it's been a busy summer!  With a new nephew on the way I've been quilting, painting furniture, and helping move.  Also, this is the summer of new babies and new houses, so again, more quilting. 

So I haven't taken many pictures of the garden this year - perhaps I will remedy that today while my laptop charges.  Until then, you'll have to take my word for it that the peas are 8 feet tall.  :)

Okay, So A Bit About My Garden / Goals

Hi again!

So, a little bit about my little Urban "Farm".  I have a 27,000 sq. ft. lot on the East end of Anchorage, AK.  The house sits well towards the road, and all around there are stands of trees in my neighbors (and my) yards.  We are occasionally visited by Black Bears, more often by Moose - and the orange stray cat that haunts the neighborhood.  This year we were also visited by a pair of mallards (which I'll admit I fed when they were around).  Stellar Jays and Magpies come by regularly, and the occasional Bald Eagle or Raven will check things out.  I've even seen a small grey fox in the area once.  We haven't seen a grizzly yet, but my neighbors assure me that they do roam the neighborhood now and again.

Currently I have a small fenced garden for my vegetables, about 20' x 10', 9 raised beds with roughly 3' of walking space between.  (Yes, I promise, I'll post pictures later.)  I also have a small unprotected plot of strawberries, and soon will have some raspberries.  I've got a large rhubarb plant at the front of the house.  I've got plans in the works for chickens - the laws were recently changed here making them legal.  I'm still plotting how I want a henhouse to look, and where exactly in the yard to make thier home. 

I've also been putting in a perennial garden this year, and adding to my bulb garden at the front of the house.  I still have a few pine trees to plant, some fencing to replace, and some more work to do to prepare a place for a pretty large lilac, but that's about the size of what I have right now.  Plans are in the works for the future projects, and every year I'll add more until I get the garden just where I want it.  Clemetis for chain link fences is my next game.  I'd really like to get a few different kinds growing along the dog run fence. 

Last year, before the vegetable garden was fenced, we lost most of everything to hungry Moose.  The problem with Moose is that there isn't a good way to stop them if they want your crop badly enough.  The trick I've found is to introduce things they can reach that they like more.  Or make sure that nothing in your yard is a Moose attractant.  The store sells sprays and deterents, but I've never found one that works - not even wolf urine makes them pause. 

For some reason the Bears have not been interested in my yard - probably because I don't put any meat or bones in my compost.  Fish bones get ground in the food processor after baking dry, and then buried in my blueberry patches. 

Composting in Alaska - that's a topic for another blog post.  It isn't easy, but once you get started it can work very well.  I actually need to refine my system again - I just learned of another trick that is supposed to work miracles. 

Well, later gardeners!  Don't let the rain get you down, it's getting your peas up!!

All right Gardeners!

So, this is not my first blog, (I think it's my third) and I'll admit, I'm not good about posting on a regular basis.  Mostly because I never know what to post about.  So I'm trying something a little different - I'm going to chronicle my gardening experiences in Alaska, and hope that someday the information is useful to more than just me. 

That being said, it's a rainy July day here in Anchorage.  I haven't taken pictures of the garden since I fenced it to keep the moose out, and I haven't taken pictures of my new perennial bed (it's so empty right now).  But I will, and then I'll post them, and it will be cute!

Notes on my vegetables: I have 9 planter boxes, most of which are 3 feet x 3 feet.  Starting in the back left corner, I've planted potatoes, pumpkins, (blueberry bush between boxes), carrots, chives, (currant bush between boxes), parsnips, brussel sprouts, (blueberry bush between boxes), snap peas, cucumbers, lettuces (4 different varieties), scarlet runner beans, dill, coriander, parsely, thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, sage, yellow squash, and zucchini.  Currently the only things really struggling are the basil and the beans, though the cucumber isn't doing so well either. 

Future note: If I'm going to plant cucumbers or squashes outside at the top of June, I need to make cold frames for them.  The cucumbers probably need it most of the season, it just doesn't get warm enough here.  Beans I'm better off planting from seed - the plants I got at the nursery did not fare well.  Herbs did much better when I purchased them rather than starting from seed - only the Sage made it from seed, and the purchased plant did much better than any I started.

The pumpkin might still get a cold frame around it - it's struggling a bit with the cooler weather, though it did great when it was warm.  We'll see, I'll just keep an eye on it.

The birds have not found my husband's strawberries yet (it's the first year they are in, so they might not find them at all).  I'm going to have to plan ahead to save them from the Stellar Jays, though.  I'm devising a plan for small boxes to keep them safe as they ripen - we'll see what happens. 

I also need to prune back the wild roses, move in a few more ferns, and gather up a pile of raspberry bushes from a friends' house and move them in. 

All in all - lots of gardening work left to do this year!  See you out in the dirt!