Gardening

TALK DIRT TO ME

Whatever works: Clean garden now or wait for spring

Talk about timing! I spent last week at home taking in, cutting down, cleaning up and generally putting the garden to bed.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

Local events for gardeners

Plants, tips, clubs, meetings

JEFF LOWENFELS

Blanket of snow is a poor man's fertilizer

Termination dust, a quaint Alaska phrase that used to be applied to that first snow and therefore the end of the construction season, now really only applies to gardeners by signaling the end of the outdoor growing season. For the next nine months snow acts like a concrete barrier to our favorite pastime until warm weather crashes into it.

Local events for gardeners

Plants, tips, clubs, meetings

JEFF LOWENFELS

Set up lights to see your indoor plants through winter

Well, it is time to go inside, and by that I mean it is time for houseplants to go inside. Have you even looked at your houseplants this summer? You need to pay attention to them now so they will get you through another Alaska winter.

No rest in fight against invasives

What I have seen this summer is mile after mile of sweet white clover, north and south of Anchorage, and more bird vetch than ever -- both seriously invasive plant species. Could they be smothering the fireweed? My guess is that next year the invasives will have extended their coverage dramatically.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

Botanical Garden closes after bear kills moose near fence

A bear feasting on a moose carcass along the perimeter fence of Alaska Botanical Garden Tuesday morning has prompted officials to close the facility.

Interactive map: Tracking bears in Anchorage

TALK DIRT TO ME

A season for letting go

My last trip of the year to Homer last weekend was to watch the creation of a large basket made of local grasses, wood and fireweed on the beach near the base of the Spit.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

JEFF LOWENFELS

Don't delay: Remove hoses, clean paths and store tools

OK, it's scramble time. Lots of little things should be done before winter hits the yard.

Local events for gardeners

Plants, tips, clubs, meetings

JEFF LOWENFELS

Practice mowing lawn patterns

The regular reader knows I am a lawn-mowing fool. Show me a lawn, and in my mind I automatically map out ways I would mow it so the yard would look suitable, or more so, for a magazine cover. OK, it's not the first thing I think of, but I usually get there.

What's blooming at hhe Alaska Botanical Garden

Many of the same plants blooming last week are hanging in there at the Alaska Botanical Garden. This will be the last bloom report of the year as the fall cleanup is next week. Volunteers are welcome to come out between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. Monday through Friday and help winterize the garden and Shop-in-the-Garden Nursery plants.

TALK DIRT TO ME

Scarlet runner beans of fairy-tale dreams

I've read somewhere that the giant beanstalk referred to in the fairy tale, "Jack and the Beanstalk" was probably from a scarlet runner bean, and I could believe it.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

Local events for gardeners

Plants, tips, clubs, meetings

JEFF LOWENFELS

Frost is just around the corner; plant spring bulbs now

No frosts as of this writing, but there is a chill in the air, the leaves are yellowing and the honks of geese practicing formation flying punctuates the notion that one can't be far off.

TALK DIRT TO ME

Jamming with chocolate, blueberries

I couldn't stop myself from bolting up the mountain in southeast Anchorage as early as possible Saturday and try to get some blueberries before it was too late.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

What's blooming at the Alaska Botanical Garden

The end of the Alaska Botanical Garden blooming season is near, probably only one more bloom report left. It would be very hard to judge a plant's performance or bloom times from this past summer.

Local events for gardeners

Plants, tips, clubs, meetings

TALK DIRT TO ME

Late-blooming dahlias make appearance

The dahlias are blooming -- finally! And none too soon.

Gardening Blog: Talk Dirt To Me

Whats blooming in the Alaska Botanical Garden

Fall is upon us with cool nights and mornings in the Alaska Botanical Garden. The birch are turning yellow and dropping leaves everywhere. The next few week will be all that is left of our summer that never warmed up. So this is a last call to see the garden before it's too late and the snow falls.

JEFF LOWENFELS

Take steps to save cherished plants from first frost

Aw, do I have to write about saving plants from the doom of frost? I feel like Ann Landers copying former columns.