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!