Alaska News

Jeff Lowenfels: It's time to act on autumnal instincts

The geese can't help it. They are influenced by tens of thousands of years of instinctual patterns of behavior. So when the daylight changes and the stars in the night sky shift, they begin to practice their formation flying, soon to be off to wherever they spend the long Alaska winter.

The Alaska gardener is instinctive, too. Looking up and seeing geese flying in the wrong direction triggers an emotional response that must soon be translated into action. All gardeners, although not necessarily hunters, know what geese flying south means.

The first impulse is to harvest. I say follow your instincts. The season is very close to being over and if you don't harvest, you waste. There is simply not one excuse for leaving any food on the vine. There is always someone who can use more cabbage or broccoli, no matter how sick of it your family happens to be.

There are exceptions, most notably potatoes and Brussels sprouts. Both of these will taste much sweeter if you let them freeze a few times. All sorts of things happen in cold weather. Sugars are pushed to roots and tubers. And the bitterness molecules in many vegetables disappear as they are no longer needed to fend off insect and animal grazers.

Harvesting breaks one of the key rules of the soil food web, the law of return. Normally, what grows dies and decays in the soil, helping to feed the plants around it. You, on the other hand, are taking away the material that would be decayed, so you are reducing the future fertility of the soil. This is why you have to add things to garden soil every year to keep it productive. Do it now so your garden will start off right next spring.

In the case of your vegetable beds, start applying bacterial foods as you harvest, as bacteria are what really feed vegetable plants. There are two great ones. The first is mulched-up grass clippings. These are really easy to supply this time of year. The second is aged manure. You can also mulch with compost. Some folks also sprinkle a bit of granulated molasses this time of year. Don't wait to mulch until the potatoes and sprouts are in. Do it now so the soil food web can start working before it freezes.

Next, your flowers. Those of you who winter over your plants in commercial establishments had better get going. You are not the only one who has seen the formations of geese. Space is limited and filling fast.

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For the rest of us, pay attention to the fuchsia ("fewk-see-a") first, as these do best not getting hit by a frost. Same for the rhodochiton. Take both inside and either let them grow as houseplants for a while or store them in a cool, but not freezing, dark spot. Collect seed pods from the rhodochiton and trim the fuchsia back to six or eight inches, shaping as you go along.

Next, pelargoniums (incorrectly called "geraniums") are also in the "no frost" group. These make great houseplants. Trim them back a bit if they need it and grow them "cool." You can also take and root cuttings. (After exposing the cuts to air for 48 hours, stick them in damp sandy soil). To store, put them upside-down in paper bags and hang in the garage or a dark, non-freezing crawl space

Dahlias and gladiolas can take a few frosts if need be and some swear this is the best way for them to be handled. Sugars are forced into the corms and tubers by the plant when it gets cold. When you do bring them in, don't wash them. Just shake off the excess soil after they dry out for a day or so on the garage floor. Store both in sawdust (dahlias undivided) or in individual paper bags (not the best way, but it works most of the time). Store in a cool, dry and dark spot.

Finally, pay your fine for breaking the law of return in flower beds. Annual beds are best mulched with grass clippings. Perennials do best with leaves, which should be free at hand in a few weeks, but that is another column.

JEFF’S ALASKA GARDENING CALENDAR FOR THE WEEK OF SEPT. 12

Plant now: Those geese are also telling you to move peonies if you must and plant any trees, shrubs and perennials you can find at local nurseries, along with spring-flowering bulbs.

Lawns: This is a good time to let yours grow a bit longer. You can mow it down closer when the leaves start to fall and need to be mulched up.

Plantskydd: What are you waiting for? This moose repellant is best applied when it is relatively warm outside. Once applied, it should last most of the winter.

Jeff Lowenfels

Jeff Lowenfels has written a weekly gardening column for the ADN for more than 45 years. His columns won the 2022 gold medal at the Garden Communicators International conference. He is the author of a series of books on organic gardening available at Amazon and elsewhere. He co-hosts the "Teaming With Microbes" podcast.

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