Here’s what you should do this weekend to prepare your garden for winter
The gardening mail keeps pouring in -- with some good ideas and one very, very bad one.
Gardening
I was wrong about the zinnias. So wrong.
Zinnias are spectacular annuals and totally worth growing in Southcentral Alaska.
Anchorage spruce trees are dying. We need to talk about what happens next.
At some point even commercial tree removers will need help with disposal. And what should be planted in their place?
Feed your garden beds now so they’ll be ready for spring
Putting organics into your system now means that by the time spring comes along there will be plenty of goodies for your plants.
It’s almost time to plant spring bulbs: Tulips, daffodils and ... garlic?
Garlic is every bit as easy to grow in Alaska as the traditional, colorful spring bulbs, and surely the harvest is much more rewarding. Garlic even produces an interesting flower.
The trouble with thrips: They’re as annoying to gardeners as is possible
These tiny, black, thread-like pests dig into plants and like to hang about in gangs, which is why you see so many of them. It is as if they want to be as annoying as possible.
Last year’s garden did great. This year, it did nothing. What went wrong?
Other reader questions answered: Plastic pot recycling day, small raspberries and tall potato plants.
Do these two things to make your Alaska garden look amazing right now
Do you really know what it means to deadhead? How much water is enough?
9 super gardens will be open to the public this weekend for the Anchorage Garden Club tour
Visitors can stop by any of the locations on the tour from Noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. The event is meant to foster interest in Alaska gardening and plant species, said Sharon Jones, chair of the Anchorage Garden Club.
Blackberries, shade gardening, snakes? Imagining a warmer climate for Alaska gardens
Change is coming to Alaska’s plants, animals, insects and microbes, and gardening practices will need to change too.
Here’s what’s going on with those blotchy brown spots on your lilac bush
We are experiencing a lilac leaf roller plague of biblical dimensions. Look at any common lilac in your yard and you will see what that means.
Hilling potatoes, flowering lettuce, and other reader questions
Also: When is the day to recycle plastic pots this year?
Love the warm weather? Your plants will too - but only if you water them enough
Get huge berries and glorious delphinium flowers when there is not just 18 hours of sunlight, but also hot sunshine.
How to make your lilacs bloom like crazy next summer
And whether to thatch your lawn, ants on your peonies and eating carrot tops.
Your Alaska summer weeding strategy is right here
Chickweed, we’re coming for you - and the dandelions too.
I insisted on keeping a tight grip on the garden. Then I let my wife help.
Time has taught me sharing a garden with family is better than having a perfect garden.
These are Alaska farmers’ favorite vegetable starts. Plant them this week.
Plus, the Airport Heights farmers market has returned, among other market news.
Here’s what you should be doing in your garden right now (but leave the lawn alone)
Chop the horsetail, mulch around perennials and head off the pests naturally.
I’m not spraying for spruce beetles. I wish you wouldn’t either.
Jeff Lowenfels: There is no guarantee your sprayed tree hasn’t already been infected or will survive even if is coated with poison.
Want to plant vegetables? Think outside the old-fashioned garden bed
It’s planting time. Here are tips for container gardening and making raised beds.