Garbage Warrior

This is a great documentary of a true sustainability hero - Micheal Reynolds.

http://www.garbagewarrior.com/

Great ideas on sustainable, low impact, building design and function. If you watch it, make sure to check out the extras on bio-desiel and the water systems in the earthship homes. The work they did in tsunami-ravaged islands on Indonesia and hurricane effected region of Mexico is inspirational.

Stocking Up

Thursday, August 26, 2010

After 33 days of off and on rain, we finally received some nice sunny days. Unfortunately, I was stuck inside last week getting ready for the new school year on a couple of those days. I did get out for a wonderful day in the sun Saturday, however today we are back to the threat of rain and this affords me the opportunity to catch up on the blog.

The garden has been a steady summer producer since my last post. We are at the point where we can barely keep up with the production. Saturday was spent harvesting zucchinis and beans for pickling and canning. I was able to make a wonderful cream of broccoli soup from a recipe out of the Moosewood Cookbook. This allowed us an opportunity to catch-up with the broccoli, for the time being. Next, we will blanche and freeze broccoli for the winter.

I have been harvesting silver salmon and blueberries lately, which is an indication of the season starting to change at our latitude. Last night, while we were out moose hunting the high bush cranberry bushes smelled of musty wine, a memorable indicator for me that fall is here. Much to our surprise this year has a bountiful supply of blueberries in our local forest, an added bonus to moose hunting. We have harvested seven quarts in the last week. Strawberries are starting to turn red, however, we fear that the cold temperatures on the last two clear mornings may cause an early frost. This also would be a hard hit to strawberries and to the shelling peas that are just starting to fatten up. Fall is ever present around the garden, as the pushki leaves are turning yellow. Strangely enough the fireweed in many areas around the garden are turning red, but they never flowered.

All of the fall seedlings have been planted and the starts are getting hardened off outside. It is time to consider which beds will be cover with seasonal extenders or cold frames. Yesterday, the morning was spent moving close to two cubic yards of compost that is ready for next spring to a sunny location, so that it heats up early in the spring and available for use. Next, the secondary compost was transferred to the tertiary compost bin and the primary to the secondary. I added algae, collected from the beach, into each and cover the secondary bed with another layer of grass mulch. Meanwhile, the primary compost bin is teeming with potatoes in the lower portion, so I just transferred the upper portion to the secondary bin and I will continue to add clippings and fall harvested vegetable manner for this compost bin. This may sound tedious and laborious, but this is the foundation of the garden and the key to success to any organic garden. A little hard work for a short amount of time pays off.

The greenhouse is producing tomatoes and cucumbers, yet this does not rival years past. On the other hand, the green beans are outstanding. I installed another fan to circulate air during these cool and humid days. Once the mold from wilting flowers and rotting fruit gets established on beans and cucumber plants you have a real battle at hand. I get rid of as many male flowers on cucumbers as possible and keep the place dry to stay on top of the mold problem – circulate the air. The beans we eat them daily and Nicky is pickling as we speak. The herbs are another summer success; marjoram, thyme, oregano, dill, and parsley are dying on a rack above the wood stove.

In the hoop house, the zucchinis leaves are trimmed back every few days to allow air to circulate. Scallions are being harvested along with beets. The broccoli were pulled, they ended up getting too wet in the hoop house. The late season carrots and cabbage are doing great. I started some claytonia, mache, and a pretty red leaf in the broccoli beds and they are all up. The herbs are doing great and the dill in the hoop house is seven feet tall. We also planted dill out side and we will not see any flowers, but there are plenty of leaves for pickling.

In the hog garden, we have been harvesting scapes from the garlic. Seventy scapes are hard to keep up with, so I placed scapes in the pickled zucchini. We cook scapes in something every night. The parsnips, lettuces, broccoli, beets, and cabbage all look great. The crazy thing going on in the hog garden are all the volunteer potato from last year. They are starting to take over in spots, especially where there is garlic. I though I would have harvested the garlic by now. Last year I harvest garlic August 20th. This year they still have a week or two before I harvest.

In the main garden, the beets and carrots are getting their second thinning. The cabbage is the success story of the year. We have huge tight heads. I bought a 5-gallon crock, so I am looking forward to making sauerkraut. The broccoli and Romanesque’s are being eaten, the broccoli side shoots are as big as the first shoots this year. The peas are slow, but we are eating them when we are in the garden. The radicchio and buttercrunch lettuce salads are delicious these days. One of the pleasant surprises this year is the onions that were planted in fours, with only the roots in the soil, are the best producers. They are well-developed sets that are somewhat flat. The onion sets that were pushed deeper into the soil are not has developed and often go to seed faster. The basil cold frame has the best looking basil still. The temperatures in the cold frame are around 70 degrees even on the coldest days.

I finally built a tool and planting closet attached it too the north side of the greenhouse. No longer is there clutter and tools left out in the rain. All the material is recycled. Recycling materials is one of the greatest things when it comes to gardening. It is a rural and an Alaskan mind set that I never knew as a Midwesterner growing up in the urban setting, where you throw way things that have benefit later.

As fall sets it cool cloak upon us the garden colors are stunning. The mock orange is in bloom and fragrant. Nicky’s poppies are blooming in and around the garden’s borders. The golds and reds are a great contrast to all the green. Next comes the second shoulder of the season.

Learning From the Tour

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Broccoli has been my reluctant plant of the year and after attending the Homer Garden Tour I will now plant my own broccoli starts from seed earlier than the beginning of May. We finally have broccoli buds, however many other gardeners in town and on the ridge have been eating their broccoli for weeks.

On a brighter note, we definitely have the best summer squash plants that I have seen. We are now eating them every other night. Tonight I will try a sautéed zucchini with crispy chickpeas. Soon I will have to start pickling.

Another thing I learned this year is to maximize the southern exposure and heat radiating off your house. Many local gardeners have capitalized on this. Above is a picture from one gardener at 1200 feet elevation, she did a great job of establishing Clematis vines and box herbs and small vegetable gardens on and along her deck. We have not used this space in our home and are bound and determined to do this next year.

In comparison to others Homer gardeners, ours is doing quite well for the cold and wet summer that we are experiencing. We have had weeks of cold and wet weather. This has been great for pak choi, and all the brassicas, greens, and peas.

In the greenhouse, the beans have more flowers and some are six feet tall. On the other hand, the tomatoes are setting fruit, but are far from ripening, even while wrapping them in Reemay. Because it has been so cold I placed a heater in the greenhouse and set it at 60 degrees, I have never done this in the summer, but we are in extreme conditions and I am willing to experiment. The aphids are under control in the green house. This week I bought Neem oil for a bio-pesticide against the aphids. Elliot Coleman spoke this past week at UAA in Homer and he saw aphid problems with soils that have high nitrates. I am not surprised that the amended soil that we have is high in nitrates, especially with the hog manure that is in the compost from last year. Surprisingly, the basil in our cold frame no long have aphids and are doing better than those in the greenhouse. This is the cold frame with the walls-of-water jackets.

Last night I looked at my old garden journal to see what seeds I planted for the fall. In the beginning of August last year, I planted radicchio and lettuce and transplanted them in 3” containers. I am on track this year, as I have several radicchio and lettuce starts going and a few transplanted. This week I planted frisee endive, orac, broccoli raab, pak choi, and mizuna. Last year on September 10^th we harvested 1 gallon of strawberries and 2 gallons of beans and it looks like we are on track for a similar harvest.

This week, during the full moon, I planted the new cold frame bed with Nichols Asian salad mix, claytonia, mache, and giant winter spinach. In this same bed I transplanted the third planting of pak choi that was getting munched on by the slugs in the greenhouse. The greenhouse and all the raised beds received a good dose of Sluggo.

The garlic are still doing great, scapes are starting to form. During the garden tour I learned that a gardener at the same elevation as us has several scapes already formed on her garlic.

Well the sun is shinning for a brief moment today so I am off to cut the strawberry shoots that are taking over the west side of the garden. This may be the year of great strawberry production. If that is the case, then I have have 12 pounds of honey, champagne yeast, and 5 pounds of rhubarb in the wings for a strawberry rhubarb mead. Garden on!

A Small Dose of Summer

Blogs posts have been slowed lately due to salmon harvest. This week I will be posting twice.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Finally, we have had some nice warm weather and I wore shorts for three days, the weather still has been predominantly cold and wet. Meanwhile, many of you suffer a heat wave.
The weather has resulted in some of the best pac choi harvest of the season.
Many of our oriental greens love this weather. We are now seeing broccoli flowers and cabbage is forming heads. We are eating out of the garden every night. Salads with many flavored greens, tomatoes, and zucchinis abound. This past weekend we had a frittata with many greens and fresh local eggs.

Tonight we hard a wonderful grilled pac choi with red chili paste.

In town many fellow gardeners are eating strawberries and broccoli. We are a week to two weeks behind leaving up here at 1300 feet.

This week we will harvest golf ball size beets out of the hoop house. Next year, I am expanding the hoop house to 24 feet long. This appliance has proven itself this year. Every plant in there is growing at a incredible rate and they are very healthy. The carrots I planted in the hoop house are doing fine and may surpass the carrots planted outside, even though they were planted three weeks later. I have been harvesting bunching onions and onions from sets that are the size of a golf ball.

The compost is constantly cooking; occasionally I stir the compost to keep it alive. It is great to see the potatoes at the bottom of the primary composter growing better than those in the garden.

I am still planting. The third planting of pac choi, cilantro, and romaine lettuce went into the garden. Radishes were planted in the new cold frame, unfortunately the cat dug them up, remember to kitty proof new beds. The first radicchio starts are coming up, as well as basil and more cilantro.

The basil in the basil cold frame is doing exceptionally well, the walls of water have had temperatures of 120 degrees F and the soil temperature remains at 80 degrees F.

In the greenhouse the beans have started flowering, some of the plants are five feet tall. I provided more strings hung from the ceiling to provide support for the runners. The cucumbers have pinky size fruit. Again, they are least a week or two behind. I do believe this has been the coldest summer we have seen since we have gardened.

In the garden the peas are not complaining, we have flowers and I have pulled off the Reemay that protects them from the birds. They are now four to five feet tall.

The highlight are the garlic plants, they appear to be doing better than last year. Parsnips are about two inches tall in the pig garden. The beets and the carrots are thinned. I have several different plantings and it will be interesting to see how this works with it being such a limited growing season.

Undaunted Gardening

Friday, July 9, 2010

Again we are haunted by a cold wet summer, I think the last one was two years ago. I looked the other day at the historic highs and lows and found that we were below the mean high temperature for June, but above the mean low; in other words it has been colder than normal. Although, we are behind by a couple of weeks compared to last year and because we are gardening on the edge we push on. Gardening in this country is work, and like anywhere else it is about paying attention to the present while preparing for the season ahead. With that, today I purchased frost hardy seeds for the fall planting; frisee endive, spring raab, orak, and winter spinach. The rest I have in my portable bucket of seeds, which I receive a ribbing from Nicky every now and then. The bucket allows me to go back and forth, from school and home, carrying seeds that can be planted whenever there is an opening to plant. Nicky teases me when I occasionally assess what I have, one must take inventory now and then.

I have been amending this week with compost, for the heavy feeders, and grass clippings for keeping back the weeds and holding in the moisture. I cannot believe how well this works. It is something I recommend to all gardeners. Mulch also provides organics to the soil. This week I am going to use fertilizers with my top dressing. In the book Square Foot Garden, Mel Bartholomew has two recipes:

All Purpose Mix

• 1 part blood meal
• 2 parts bone meal
• 3 parts wood ashes
• 4 parts composted leaf mold

High Nitrogen Mix

• 3 parts blood meal
• 2 parts bone meal
• 3 parts wood ashes
• 4 parts leaf mold

Instead of leaf mold I am going to use my own compost and top-dress the heavy feeders: such as zucchini, broccoli, and cabbage. The next thing to consider is once the plants are large enough, plant green manures around them. I experimented with this last year using clover. It takes clover 60 days to start fixing nitrogen. Last year I had mature clovers in late August and they did not flower, eliminating seed formation. The jury is out as to whether I will give this a go this year, because of all the mulching I have been putting down. Remember gardening is one big science experiment.

Thanks to friends and fellow gardening freaks, Tarri and Marlin at Moose Run Metalsmiths, I was able to grab a bucket of chicken manure for manure tea. I ended up place the manure in a big gunnysack or tea bag and soaking it in a 45 gallon black container in the greenhouse. The tomatoes, basil, and beans received the first batch of tea. Next will be the broccoli and cabbage plants. By the way it needs to be mentioned that Tarri Thurman has some great brocolli plants, she has been harvesting for the last three weeks. Awesome. The picture above is from Tarri and Marlin's hoop house, the broccoli are on the right.

I went fishing this week and caught a couple of ten-pound halibut. I ended up throwing the carcasses in the compost. I was sure to bearing it deep avoid any bear snouts catching a whiff of the carcasses. I only do this when the compost pile is the size of a four-foot by four-foot cube. The halibut, or salmon, carcasses really give a local kick to your compost. However, you must realize that this is gardening on the edge and there may be consequences.

Today was the last planting of onion sets. We just started harvesting golf ball size plants last week. I plant onions through out the year. Most do not get any bigger than a tennis ball, but we always have onions. The sees I planted three weeks ago of bunching onions are up, these plants will be part of the late fall harvest.

I need to mention that I am covering my zucchini in the hoop house every night with Reemay row covers. I am also experimenting with covering tomatoes in the greenhouse. The reason for this is to cut down on the light for increased production. If it is not the cold, then it is too much sunlight. Crazy. By the way, the tomatoes really started to put fruit on this week.

Cucumbers are also putting out fruit. However, the Alaska Cooperative Extension says, “If too many fruits are allowed to form at any one time, a large proportion will abort because the plant may not have sufficient food reserves. If a heavy load of fruit sets, fruits will be malformed, or poorly colored. Only one fruit should be allowed to develop in a leaf axil.” For our cucumbers it is time to prune. I will be using the umbrella method as describes in the Alaska Cooperative Extension Service’s Cucumber Production in Greenhouses.

The plant of the week is cilantro. Cilantro has been a plant that we relish. We cook a lot of tortillas and like it in salads. This year the cilantro was transplanted in the hoop house, and in containers in the greenhouse, and it is very happy. I also plant four cilantro plants every two to three weeks, that way you get enough plants to plant in any open spaces and have a ready supply.

The harvesting has been great considering the cold. Tonight Nicky is cooking wild bolete mushroom spaghetti with green garlic, onions, oregano, thyme, and basil form the garden. She tossed in a few ronde and green zucchinis. Meanwhile, I made a mixed gourmet lettuce, mach, and cress salad. Garden on!

As Luck Would Have It

Well after a bit of deliberation and discussion, the new name for garden has been determined. We decided on the "Lucky Garden" and we added a French translation by calling it "Jardin Chance". Why did we decide on the change? Why did we change? Basically, we wanted something that was original and inspired collaboratively between us. The reason for the name "lucky garden" is because we feel lucky to have great southern exposure, fertile soil, and water on our property. While we struggle with our elevation and latitude, we gifted with water, soil, and aspect. The French twist comes from the expression used by many of our Homer friends that appreciate the life we have and remember not to take it for granted. "Nous auont chancons du putain"

I am attaching a picture of our garlic. I have failed to mention this in the last few posts. This year we have 80 plants growing. We are trying to figure out which varieties will perform the best. So far Purple Glazers, Siberian, and German Porcelains are growing the best.

This week I planted several three inch red cabbages. I have never planted a brassica this late. I received an email today that friend had 100 red cabbage starts. I took several to the school and planted a few in our garden and hoop house. Gardening is one big science experiment, it will be interesting to see how they make out. Garden on!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

This has been the summer of the lupine. Last week the sun was out for a couple of days, but now we are back in the fog. As the moist Pacific air is sieved by the treetops I was glad not to have to water last week. The grass is growing by leaps and bound, making for great compost and mulch.

Last Sunday we opened Café Szarze to some of our friends. On the menu were crepes filled with fresh fruit crème cheese and a frittata with greens and onions from the garden. This is the best way to share the bounty of the garden.

In the garden love is in the air. The ladybugs are doing their thing creating the little ladybug larvae that will eat many insects, especially aphids and other sap feeders.

Last week I spent a lot of time amending the plants with compost, weeding, and spreading mulch around plants. The compost is an amazing thing. Last week steam came out of the vent for three days in the primary composter.

All is growing well in the garden this past week, although we think the cool weather has slowed growth of some plants, i.e. broccoli, cabbage, and alums. The lettuces, greens, and peas seemed to be doing fine. In the hoop house the zucchini and pumpkins have flowers and small fruit. All around the garden the flowers are making a show.

The currents, goose berries, strawberries, and service berries all were in bloom.

In the yard the wild flowers are putting on a show as well.

Another interesting note are the spruce trees are producing male cones on the south side of the trees along with a few female cones. Some trees are burst with male cones.

As of this week I am still planting seeds of beets, onions, lettuce, and pac choi for harvesting the last part of the summer. Within the next few weeks it will be time to consider what greens to plant for the fall.

As I start thinking about fall plants I should mention how mache has been a great producer up until this point, the cool weather has prevented it from bolting. However, the plant of the week has to be cress or pepper grass. In the photo above it is on the left. This wonderful green fared well in the cool weather and continues to produces leaves. We use it salads and tortillas. It is great to snack on in the garden when browsing.

Summer Time and the Living Is Easy

Being gone on a river trip in the beginning of June is the best time to leave a garden. All the starts are in place and the seeds have been planted. I was happy to see everything flourishing with only little weeding needed. Nicky was on top of the watering during a few nice days after I left, but fortunately weather last week has been wet and cold, with plenty of moisture for the young plants. Much to my surprise are the oriental greens that stared out so poorly in the seedling mix. They are bountiful and full-grown and very tender. Not only are we eating these greens, we are eating arugula, pac choi, tot soi, radishes, mizuna, and tomatoes from our indoor plants for dinner every night.




The last few days have been spent mowing, and gathering valuable lawn clippings for compost and mulch. This year, I am mulching more areas than in the past (http://www.savvygardener.com/Features/mulch.html). I decided to mulch the entire hoop house, because the soil can become dry on hot days. This also helps keep the weeds down. As I pull the oriental greens out of the hoop house I will plant carrots in their place, they like the warmth now and can stand the cold later in the year.

Walking trails of grass clippings are great along the strawberry patch. Notice the PVC hoops that will be used later in the season to prevent the sparrows from eating the berries.

The compost has been cooking for the last few days. It is great to see the steam rising from the perforated pipe that runs the length of the primary composter.


We are impressed with the tomatoes this year, they like the new green house addition. I was busy pruning and clipping suckers the day after I got back.

Even though today is the summer solstice and our hours of daylight begin to decline, it is still important to continue to plant. Today I planted beets where there were holes among the first seedlings. They will have plenty of time to grow, given the 60 days to harvest, which will equate to the last part of August. I also planted more cilantro, romaine, bunching onions, and pac choi. Tomorrow I will be planting more romaine, nasturium, and pac choi starts. By only planting four of these plants at a time using the soil blocker I always have room in the garden now as I am harvesting daily.

A fun green this past week is miners lettuce (claytonia). I like the flowering head in the middle of the leaf. The tastes is sweet and succulent. This green is a great early and late season green that can handle cold weather and frost. Apparently, miners in the west used this plant as a basic green.




As far as the river trip goes, I must say it was exciting. Here is a blog by our trip leader
Dan Niemela (http://falconmtn.blogspot.com/2010/06/middle-fork-of-slammin.html). The Middle Fork of the Salmon is a river to be reckoned with when it is close to peak run-off. Every morning we drank enough coffee to get our confidence up, every afternoon we drank a few beers telling tales of rivers past and present, and every night we ate like kings.

Planting Fever

The tomato addition is finished and planted. We have basil, a great companion plant for tomatoes, in the same beds and they are happy. Cucumbers are planted in this area as well. This project took longer than planned, I am still going to experiment with a heating system for the beds.
I am using concrete mesh for the tomato cages. I will prune the suckers and let the plants grow TALL.
Nicky has more room for planting even more beans; purple, yellow, green, and spotted beans.
All the starts are in and covered for cut worm protection and protection from the drying winds at the 1300 foot elevation. They floating covers also help keep the soil moist for the seedlings.

This week I learned about planting leeks using the dibble method; planting the seedling up to six inches in the soil eliminates the need for rowing later. The intention is to cause blanching of the leek ends. The other lesson was to plant onions with the bulbs exposed and the roots in the ground. If the bulb is exposed, then the bulb will become bulbous.

Finally, the potatoes are planted in the pig garden. This past fall we planted 30 plus garlic plants in the pig garden and the plants are enjoying this space. The straw was pulled off and laid on newspaper on the walking paths next to the garlic. We also added more lettuce, onions, and broccoli in the pig garden. A fence is soon to come for keeping those pesky moose out.

In the morning meadow, the paintbrush, geraniums, chocolate lilies, and lupine are growing by leaps and bounds. Every day that I walk down to the garden I am amazed by how fast these hardy Alaskan perennials grow. We have had some great weather this past week; warm and sunny, followed by cool and wet. A great combination for planting. This post has been rushed, but I hope to get one more entry in before the big trip to Idaho for the Salmon River trip. Garden On!

The following is sent from Neil Wagnor. There is some great information on potassium and heat tape.

Potassium and Heating tape from Marion.

Hi Neil,

Here is my most recent article which deals with heating tapes (story 1) and potassium (story #2)

More coming,

Cheers, Marion

Jeff Werner in his High Tunnel talk at the college a couple weeks ago also mentioned using Epsom salts for added magnesium. I gave all my greenhouse tomatoes a drink of Epsom salts last week. My goal over the next week is to mix up 5 g buckets and give all the plants in the garden a drink.

TWO TALES OF BROCCOLI

Allan Thielen expects to be eating broccoli by the first week in June -- at least 6 to 8 weeks ahead of schedule -- thanks to a set of thin heating cables that warm the soil.

As Allan explains: “I started a batch of 60 broccoli seedlings on April 15. Then on the first of May I transplanted them in the hoophouse, 30 seedlings into raised beds without the cables and 30 seedlings into raised beds with the cables.

“By mid-May, the plants in the cable beds were 5 times bigger than the other seedlings.”

As one observer said, “It’s like comparing giants and babies.”

The cables, called Gro-Quick Soil-Warming Cables, help speed seed germination and seedling growth to help gardeners get a jumpstart to the growing season. Allan purchased them from FarmTek (www.growerssupply.com; 800-476-9715). They’re also available through Charleys Greenhouse in Mt. Vernon, Wash. (www.charleysgreehouse.com; 800-322-4707).

The cables come in a variety of lengths, from 6 to 48 feet, and are covered with a tough, moisture-proof PVC jacket. “The cables are very sturdy,” says Allan. Last year, at the end of the season, he unplugged the low wattage cables and left them in the soil all winter without any problems.

A thermostat automatically activates the cables when soil temperature falls below 74 degrees. “Within three days of plugging in the cables, the soil was 14 to 18 degrees warmer. And they heat an area much bigger than the literature claims,” he added.

“The surrounding air may be 40 degrees, but the soil temperature is what’s important, especially with young plants. So for just a few dollars per month, you really extend your growing season. Ten degrees in soil temperature makes a huge difference.”

Known for his watermelon, cucumber, zucchini and pumpkin crops, Allan first used the heating cables last year for growing cucumbers and pumpkins in his hoophouse on the mountainside above town. “Out of the 5 x 10-foot raised bed I harvested about 150 cucumbers.”

Anxious to extend his harvest, Allan plans to use the cables far into the fall. The third week in October marks the point where daylight dips below ten hours per day, slowing plant growth.

I’ll give you an update this fall from the Hoophouse on the Hill. Meanwhile, if you have any questions about hoophouse cultivation or the heating cables, contact Allan at 486-8738.

LESSONS FROM THE MASTER GARDENER CLASS

If you stop, look and listen, plants will tell you what’s wrong. Last year, Heather Preece was looking forward to a healthy harvest of vegetables, but it was not to be. “I got huge broccoli plants with lots of big leaves but very small heads.”

Heather, a long time, organic gardener who lives in Bells Flats, realized something was wrong. Knowing that soil is the foundation of every successful garden and that broccoli plants are “heavy feeders,” she fertilized her beds with blood meal and all-purpose organic fertilizer during the season. Still, it wasn’t enough.

During this winter’s Master Gardener class, Heather learned the value of testing your soil. “I sent a soil sample in to Brookside Labs in New Knoxville, Ohio (www.blinc.com), the lab recommended by Tom Jahns, who taught the class. She recommends asking for soil test package S001AN, which gives basic Alaska soil test requirements, and organic matter, plus micronutrients. Brookside Labs, she says, is less expensive and provides a lot more information than the labs in Alaska.”

In mid-February, she mailed two samples: one from all her annual vegetable beds and the other from her perennial beds (raspberries, strawberries, rhubarb). “The soil wasn’t frozen so it gave her some lead time to make corrections.”

If you’re thinking of sending in a soil sample, you’re not too late. Heather’s results came back in less than two weeks, and the lab was happy to interpret the findings.

In a nutshell, the amount of organic matter in the soil was excellent (25 percent), but the phosphorus levels (the “P” in N:P:K:) were very high while the potassium levels (the “K” in N:P:K) were very low.

Fueled with new data, Heather referred back to her class notes. “It all started to come together.” Potassium, she learned, helps with fruit development, which explains why she ended up with small broccoli heads. “We ate the leaves anyway, but this year I'll be interested to see if there is a change.”

“So I needed primarily potassium (K) and magnesium (Mg), which you can correct easily with adding Epsom salts.” (Epsom salt recipe: Dissolve 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt in 1 gallon of water.)

Magnesium, which is quite water-soluble, leaches out quickly in areas of heavy rainfall. Leaves are a great source of magnesium, so it’s important to add them as a mulch or to your compost pile. You can also correct a magnesium shortage with Epsom salts: Dissolve 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts in a gallon of water.

SOIL NUTRITION AND HUMAN NUTRITION

At this point, Heather, a Pediatric Dietitian and Lactation Consultant at Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center (“Basically I'm all

about food, personally and professionally”) had an aha moment.

“Funny, it said in my garden notes that potassium and magnesium deficiencies often go together. I've been studying for re-certifying my pediatric nutrition specialty exam and found that in malnourished hospitalized kids, potassium and magnesium deficiencies often go together.”

A magnesium shortage can also cause a calcium metabolism problem in people and animals, because calcium cannot be used without magnesium.

EVERYTHING IN MODERATION

Because Heather’s soil had plenty (too much) phosphorus the lab suggested she avoid adding any more because it can prevent plants from taking up other nutrients. This presented a problem: She needed potassium (K) but no more phosphorus (P), yet most sources of potassium (potash rock, granite dust, wood ashes) also contain phosphorus.

Heather contacted Allan Thielen because he’d experienced a similar shortage of potassium. He gave her a bag of greensand, a mineral mix from the East Coast that has an N:P:K rating of 0-0-3; only potassium. (For more information about greensand, call Marion at 486-5079 or email: mygarden@alaska.net)

And so the story has a happy ending. “Getting the soil tested really helped to take the guesswork out of fertilizing,” says Heather. “From the lab results, I feel I’m sitting pretty well, though I might try to find a liquid source of potassium, like blended comfrey leaves that Allan told me about.”

But that’s another story.

Planting and Building

The last two weeks have been consumed with building a tomato room for the greenhouse. The greenhouse was built 5 years ago at the Homer Flex High School, as part of our building trades class. I knew back then that it should have been 16 feet long, but due to building it at school and hauling it 15 miles to our house we decide on 10 feet. This year we thought it would be nice to have some of our tomatoes in the greenhouse, you can never have enough tomatoes, and all we had to do was make more room. Everyday after school I have been planting and tending to the beds for planting, then I try to build a bit to the addition. I usually make a little bit of headway and realize I need to eat dinner around eight or nine o'clock. Remember, this is the land of the midnight sun and it has a way of possessing you late into the evening. Possessed or not, most of the greenhouse work is done on the weekends. I hope to have it done this weekend, since I have a trip outside in two weeks. It will be wiggle fiberglass on the exterior and visqueen for the interior. I have found that this double wall offers much more insulation that just the wiggle fiberglass. During our nights I can get 4-6 degree warmer than the outside temperature in April. With this design and some heat sinks, i.e. water jugs and soil, this amount of temperature gain matters for keeping frost off the young plants for spring planting. The addition will step down to ground level from the original greenhouse, so we hope to get some added heat in the fall. Also, I am plumbing in 4" pipes under the planter boxes and piping into our exhaust fan at the ceiling level for heating the beds in the spring. Once completed I will saw out the west wall and enter the addition. Currently, the existing greenhouse is working hard and packed with all of our seedlings.

Nicky and I are hardening off the zucchinis, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, herbs, and lettuce every evening at the house and down in the greenhouse. It is that time of the year when you are stepping over plants and constantly watering. This year I caught as much snow run off from our roofs and stored it in the garage in several 45 gallon containers. Our plants do better with snow melt we have found. When hardening we have to be careful, because of the day breeze that we get on sunny days can ruin small seedlings. The other day I lost a whole planting of broccoli and cabbage. Not worry, I plant in a continuous cycle so that I have back up plants and plants that can be harvested through out the summer.

Today, Nicky and I bought parsley, broccoli romanesco, and a pumpkin (the only experimental vegetable this year) at a local greenhouse and I noticed that many of their seedlings have the same orange, red, and brown color on the cotyledons and first true leaf. Is it a result of the seedling medium, hers looked like mine, or was it too hot or cold at one time. At school we had the same issue and they are bounced right back, especially the Toi Choi and Tatsoi. We had our first greens and radishes this week at the Homer Flex School Garden. I planted many of my seedlings that have this color in the hoop house and under cold frames this past weekend. Transplants can take a week or two to prove themselves. While I wait, I will continue to plant and build the addition. Garden on!

Snow Melts and Cold Frames Are Planted

It has been wet and cold at the 1300’ elevation this past week. We had a couple of good blows with 30 mph gusts, but the loosely tied down hoop house has managed to survive. I was pretty antsy to get it up last weekend in hopes of obtaining some solar gain for melting the snow inside and get a jump on planting some cold tolerant plants. Yet, I really don’t know if it helped with the winds blowing through the many small openings.

Looking at the flowering plants in the yard you really notice the sudden burst of energy. We have crocus poking up along with many others small perennials. It is like they are growing before your eyes. In the vegetable garden I planted under every cold frame, the soil is ice free down to 4-6 inches. The standing cold frame has sprouts of oriental greens from the week before. In the greenhouse, I am starting to see a second burst of energy from many of the seedlings from the greens, cabbages, broccoli, and onions. The onions are the happiest in this environment. Inside, the herbs have strengthened their stems, while the basil planted in March is close to a foot tall with half dollar size leaves. The tomatoes from the Wagon Wheel are small bushes and have many green tomatoes on the vine.

The garden is starting to reveal itself, as the yard has lost most it’s snow, I am able to walk down in knee high shoes with out getting snow in them. I have noticed a lot more moose and rabbit pellets than in years past. The rhubarb is up, mountain ash has burst its buds, and all the berry bushes are swelling. While it rains outside the temperature hovers in the 40’s while the greenhouse is in the high 50’s. This weekend, I planted in two of the beds that have portable cold frames. Spinach, radishes, and corn salad were planted from seed, while leeks were planted as starts. Leeks are hardy and are becoming the plant of the spring as they continue to grow, ever so slowly, through the cold spring temperatures. This is the earliest I have planted them outdoors. I am also transplanting starts from the 4-packs to the three-inch plastic containers. This week I received a 4-block soil blocker for two-inch blocks. This tool makes soil blocks using a start mixture, so you don’t have the need for plastic containers. It is an Elliot Coleman design and I am looking forward to getting away from plastic. Lastly, I covered the beds with wiggle plastic to speed up the soil heating process. Now I will move on to securing the hoop house down since all the snow and ice has melted away.

At school, we just let the plants grow this week. However, we did assess how they were doing. I will include a link to a journal a student wrote on Wednesday in a later post. The temperatures are warmer in town and hoop house is in the high 50’s to lower 60’s. All the plants have rebounded from transplanting and poor temperature management during our short heat spell two weeks ago. Inside the classroom, we continue to plant according to the bio-dynamic calendar. This week we planted fruits: zucchini, cucumbers, and peas. I should mention we did receive a write up in the Homer Tribune and it hit the AP press later in the week, so the story is receiving hits from many lower 48 newspapers and the Fairbanks Daily News Miner. Pretty cool. I am sure the next time we receive sunshine it will be infectious. Garden on!