Do you like to garden ?

[Jacob Petersheim]

I suppose that far North a greenhouse isn't practical for extending the season much further. Even with a heat source there probably won't be enough daylight.

 

[Don Alaska]

I suppose that far North a greenhouse isn't practical for extending the season much further. Even with a heat source there probably won't be enough daylight.

That is true to a point. At the equinox, we will have about 12 hours of full daylight, plenty to grow stuff. That decreases quite rapidly after that though, and it is not practical to heat a greenhouse much into October both for light and heat reasons. The people who grow beyond that, which we sometimes do, is best done under artificial lights in a warmer environment. We can use heat to exend seasons beyond frost, but our big greenhouse is heated with wood, and we are getting too old to do that for more than a few days. My smaller greenhouse is electrically heated, so that can stay in operation a little longer, but that, too, becomes impractical when the temperatures are below freezing for more than a few days. I have a "heated" attached greenhouse that also serves as an entryway (or arctic entry in Alaska talk) and that stays in the 50s all winter. My wife overwinters her roses there and they are blooming from late February onward.

 

[Mary Stetler]

This was a terrible, no good, very bad garden year for us both at the farm and the house. We basically quit last month. Daughter said the big garden is too low so she wants to move one to higher ground. This one has been there for over 12 years. She has only been here for 3. She planted flowers in the small garden. Weather always starts out wet or cold, so, it is hard to get an early start although, being a gambler, I always try and usually win. I tried to remind her how we usually have to haul the hoses out because it is so dry later on. (not this year). But as one who often makes plans but changes my mind, I think she will too. It has just been so disappointing. And now when the marigolds are so pretty, she finds that the chipmunks are eating them too. I've had woodchucks pushing through fencing, even squirrels eating my pea vines like spaghetti! I thought nothing likes winter squash but I was wrong. The wild cherries are off and wild plums, though tasty were few. The grapes look good but the critters are circling and, of the fruit trees, we did well with peaches and just the asian pears but not apples. If we had to depend on our own food production, we would starve this winter. Makes one think.
I am ripping up the garden we have at the house to set it up for veggies for next year. I have let it go for a couple of years, happy with the mostly monarda and tall flox for lots of color out the window. But a lot of other things were 'drowned out' so will start over.
Surprisingly, hubby got a bee in his bonnet and just had to stain the deck, like, right now. I got him set up with a roller on a stick and supplies but still worried about him. It is huge and he is a bit wobbly.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

We didn’t do much for gardening this year. I did plant a few tomatoes, and some Malabar spinach. Everything started out great this spring with warm weather and lots of rain, so the roses and the berry bushes both grew and we had lots of berries all the way through the strawberries, raspberries, and then the blueberries.
The Jostaberries didn’t even bloom, as far as I could tell, but they are over run with Bobby’s bamboo that keeps them shaded, plus the miserable wild vines that grow everywhere here. I want to dig one of the jostaberry plants up this fall and move it where it can actually get sunshine and see if maybe we can get berries next year.

The tomatoes grew, but then we went from rain every day to 90+ temperatures, so they didn’t even try to bloom or set any fruit. Not likely to happen this late in the year, but they are still growing, so we will see.

The squirrels ate the grapes as they got ripe, and also the peaches and the figs. I kept seeing green figs and never a ripe one. I think I actually got maybe 4 edible figs this year from a huge tree full of them.

 

[Don Alaska]

We had one of the most productive gardens in years, but it got started slow, as the first two weeks of June were still frosty and we planted the big greenhouse where most of our tomatoes reside with the woodstove blazing away. Our apples were/are fantastic, one of our cherry trees set more fruit than ever, and the raspberries produced more than we could even give away. I think I have posted about our beans, Those, too, were the best in years and turnips grew larger and better than in many years. Tomatoes were slow to start ripening, and we had ripe peppers before we had ripe tomatoes--a first for us, as we grow several very early tomato varieties. We are now covered with ripe tomatoes, which will be roasted and frozen today, and several shelves of green tomatoes and tomatillos awaiting ripening. Out little greenhouse is electrically heated, so we still have peppers and tomato plants in there where they will remain until we return next week.

Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli also got off to a slow start, but the broccoli is nearly done now and the cauliflower is beginning to roar. Only a few of the earlier cabbages have been harvested, and there are still lots of beets, rutabagas, and potatoes to harvest.

Overall, far more food than two old people can eat in a year, but we always hope for guests and family to visit.

 

[Smithy]

Cut my grass yesterday won't be long now till winter is here and the garden is looking messy again.

 

[Mary Stetler]

We had one of the most productive gardens in years, but it got started slow, as the first two weeks of June were still frosty and we planted the big greenhouse where most of our tomatoes reside with the woodstove blazing away. Our apples were/are fantastic, one of our cherry trees set more fruit than ever, and the raspberries produced more than we could even give away. I think I have posted about our beans, Those, too, were the best in years and turnips grew larger and better than in many years. Tomatoes were slow to start ripening, and we had ripe peppers before we had ripe tomatoes--a first for us, as we grow several very early tomato varieties. We are now covered with ripe tomatoes, which will be roasted and frozen today, and several shelves of green tomatoes and tomatillos awaiting ripening. Out little greenhouse is electrically heated, so we still have peppers and tomato plants in there where they will remain until we return next week.

Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli also got off to a slow start, but the broccoli is nearly done now and the cauliflower is beginning to roar. Only a few of the earlier cabbages have been harvested, and there are still lots of beets, rutabagas, and potatoes to harvest.

Overall, far more food than two old people can eat in a year, but we always hope for guests and family to visit.

OK, we'll be up Tuesday.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Thinking of opening back up the greenhouse.
A few months ago, I raked up lots of leaves and have some good compost ready. Weather is finally cooled off some and storms have stopped past week or so.