Life in Southeast Alaska

Working in the Garden

The weather has finally turned to Spring here in Southeast Alaska!  It is so nice to be outside enjoying the sun and warmer weather (60's is warm!).  Of course I have lots to do outside and big plans for the yard and things to improve and work on over the summer.  Rod is gone to work in Skagway for the summer, so I need lots to keep myself busy and occupied.

I finally finished painting the chicken coop front.  I also sealed in the windows and re-glazed them.  Looks nicer now.  Ran out of glazing compound, so I still have to finish the middle window.  Not bad for free garage sale windows though!

I bought some plants since I didn't have a chance to start any from seed.  I planted 3 early girl tomatoes, 3 Mr. Bell peppers, and 7 Centurian cucumbers in the greenhouse.  I also bought some lettuce and swiss chard to put in the small raised beds, but haven't planted those yet.

I planted a new rhubarb patch in front of the greenhouse.  Moved in some sifted dirt from out back and added some chicken manure from last year - still alot of shavings, but they have started to break down some.  I built up the border with some big timbers and rocks.  I dug up all the rhubarb plants from beside the greenhouse, separated the big clumps, and planted in the new area.  The side area will now just be raspberries.  Turned out pretty good - hope the weeds don't take over too fast.  That's always my problem, lots of weeds and I can't keep up!  I will get some sort of mulch to put around the rhubarb which should help with the weeds.  The white chicken has been helping, but she isn't much help when she is stepping all over the plants and breaking things!  She is good at finding the worms though :o)

I planted a new bed of strawberries from runners I had started in little pots last year.  I think I did that last week sometime and they are looking good.  I can see where the flowers are going to be popping out soon.  I have the original bed that needs rejuvenated, so I will dig everything up and replant just a few and see how it does.

Last night I planted out some potatoes.  I used potatoes from last year's garden.  I had them inside in a couple buckets because they started sprouting in February.  I didn't think they would stay good until planting time, but they did.  Alot of them have really long sprouts, but I just used the ones with little ones.  They were doing so good in the bucket that I actually had a couple new potatoes forming!  So we have potatoes in one of the large raised beds (3' x 16') and two of the potato bins.  I still have lots of potatoes that could be planted, just need to figure out how much space I want to take up with them.  I was planning on only one large bed, but I may decide to use two.

My onion plants should be here by Monday.  I want to build some new raised beds and that is where I plan to put the onions, so I have to get busy this weekend.  I have two weeks off from work and I plan to just spend it at home working around the yard and such.  So much to do, so little time.  I will try to focus first on the veggie garden so at least they can start growing, then I will move on to the side yard and perennial bed.  Lots to do there to get it looking kept up.  The primroses are blooming now and the shrubs are budding out - lilac, maple, dogwood and rose bushes.  The bleeding hearts and astilbe are just coming out of the ground.  The salmonberry bushes have their leaves and a few flowers here and there.  The current bushes got trimmed up and tied back and I can see where they will be full of flowers soon!  I kept the trimmings in hopes to get them to root so I can start another row of them.

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3:58 AM, Friday, May 15, 2009 .. Posted by sharondubars

Love the pic's! I hope your garden turns out great.

garden

4:19 AM, Friday, May 15, 2009 .. Posted by Vickie

Your beds look good so far. Ever since I was little I've wanted to live in Alaska. Funny that I somehow wound up in one of the hotest & humid states! LOL
I enjoyed looking at your pictures. Good luck with the weight loss I'm working on that too.
Hope you have a good day!

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5:19 AM, Friday, May 15, 2009 .. Posted by haflinger

Everything looks great. I'm trying to put in strawvberries this year but things aren't going so well. Good luck
Happy Gardening!
Blessings Sister Brenda

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4:33 PM, Saturday, May 16, 2009 .. Posted by CandyFoote

Wow, you have been busy!
It looks great!
Enjoy the weather.

Candy