Different day (at least for print), but the same Alaska gardening column

Habits are hard to break. Last month, the Daily News announced it was reducing the frequency of the printed newspaper from six days a week to two. That first Friday without a print paper, readers who went online to the e-edition found no trace of this column in its usual home. That’s when the questioning emails began. “No print, no Lowenfels?” asked one reader. Not to worry. You can’t get rid of me so easily.

For many years, this column was published on Thursdays online and on Fridays in print and in the e-edition. Now that there’s no Friday printed newspaper, editors made the decision to continue publishing the column online at the end of the week (generally Thursdays) and move the print version to Sundays.

I’ve always approached writing my column by asking, “The weekend is coming up, what needs to be done?” That’s still my approach. You can find my columns online on Thursdays or Fridays. If you prefer print, you can check Sunday mornings to see what you need to tackle after breakfast, or see if you completed what you should have.

I know some readers are not keen on reading the ADN online. I don’t work for the News, I just contribute this column. But it seems to me there is a huge advantage here and knowing the ADN leadership, I am sure they will take advantage of it. Now there is a greater ability to point to more web content right in a column so you can simply stop, click and read more right there.

Here is a great example. It’s August, and whether it’s Thursday or Sunday, lawns are lush and green (see, I told you yours didn’t need feeding). It’s time to mow patterns into your lawn when you next mow. The same-old, same-old pattern can result in lawn ruts and is, well, b-o-r-ing.

I’ve written about mowing patterns before and if I could find the column, I would refer you to it. I can’t, so instead, check out a lawnchick.com article that checks all my boxes. Or, on thespruce.com is a slightly different take on the subject. Go ahead, take a look at them. Just remember to come back and finish here after you are through.

Or, you can clip the column on Sunday and look up these sites. You can also just get out there and dance around the lawn using steps other than back and forth. Circles, waves, diagonals, checkerboard. It is August and you have the palate. Paint.

In addition to driving around looking over lawns, I check yards in general. Some are a real mess and I am not referring to junk cars or abandoned refrigerators. We work all weekend on various projects. We really should put tools, buckets, hoses, bags of soil and any of the other stuff away. All of this detracts from what you have been trying to accomplish when working in your yard. Neaten things up. Put stuff away.

Be it Thursday or Sunday’s edition for the next few weeks, I urge you to go out after reading and get a few of those linaria vulgaris, butter and eggs, which are blooming everywhere. What do they look like? Miniature, yellow snap dragons ... see how this works? I still have hopes we can control butter and eggs, but maybe sometime this winter we will have a community symposium on invading weeds and what we should and shouldn’t worry about.

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar

The Alaska Botanical Garden: What are you waiting for? Get out there and enjoy. Get ideas, new information, plants from the nursery and just have fun. Oh, and don’t forget to take your visiting friends and relatives. More info at alaskabg.org. Don’t forget to get tickets for Beer in The Garden, which is Thursday, Sept. 5 from 6-9 p.m.

Alaska Master Gardeners of Anchorage: Yippee! The group is having a fall plant sale Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the parking lot of Benny Benson school next to ABG.

Weed Smackdown: You are invited to attend the 2024 Anchorage Invasive Weed Smackdown on Saturday, Aug. 17 at 10 a.m. at Chanshtnu Muldoon Park, near the Food Forest. Lunch and shirts will be provided. Please register at reg.planetreg.com/SMACKDOWN2024.