Life in Tee Harbor, Alaska

Potato Harvest

There was finally a little break in the weather this afternoon - I even saw the sun!  That has been a rare occurance this summer.  It was a great chance to dig up our potatoes - organic Yukon Gold.  The plants have all died and I was worried the potatoes might have rotted with all the rain we have been having.  But they were perfectly fine!  Yea!!  I dug half of the large raised bed and here is what I ended up with:

There are a few good sized ones in there, most are smaller ones.  I am hoping there is about 2 more bucket fulls left to harvest - the other half of the raised bed and the four potato bins.  We don't have a root cellar or a basement, so no real good spot to store them.  I'll save out some for the next month or so, but will try canning some and maybe drying some too.  I would like to be able to store some to use as next year's seed potatoes...  Anyone have any advice?

Red Current Harvest

I have 8 red current bushes that are 3 years old now (or 4, I can't remember).  The berries were so big and plentiful this year!  Our summer has been so cool and rainy, I'm suprised anything is producing.

It looked like all the berries were ripe, or very close, so I picked them to make jelly.  They are fun and quick to pick if you just take the whole string.  Since they will be used for jelly, I won't have to pick them off either, just boil as is to get the juice out.  I got two gallon size bags full and they weighed 7 1/2 pounds!!  I'm very pleased!  They are in the freezer waiting for me to make jelly.

Juneau's First Farmers Market & Food Festival

...and I'm so excited!  I've always thought it would be so great to have a farmer's market here, mostly because fresh produce is hard to find.  Our first one will be on August 30 and I would love to participate.  I'm not sure that I really have produce that I could sell...maybe some raspberries.  But they also allow jams, jellies, syrups, and baked goods.  So I was thinking about things I could make from local foods - blueberry muffins with wild blueberries, fresh eggs, fresh ground wheat, etc.  I thought about selling my soap, but most of them aren't made with local ingredients - only my peppermint soap.  But maybe just selling the Gardener's soap...not sure.  I also have a bunch of strawberry plant starts, maybe I could sell those.

The Farmer's Market is being organized by the Juneau Commission on Sustainability.  Their job is to look into ways for Juneau to be more self-sufficient - with food, with utilities, etc.  I really just learned about them yesterday.  Here is a link to their site if you want to participate in the market:  www.sustainablejuneau.blogspot.com

Do you sell things at a farmer's market - what kinds of things do you sell?  If anyone sells jams or jellies, could you give me an idea of what price you sell them for?  Thanks for any comments!!

Garden Pictures

The garden is doing well, mostly...  The slugs ate most of my zucchini plants and today I see they attacked the rhubarb.  Chickens like slugs, right?!

Here is the main garden - peas, strawberries, potatoes, onions and beets.  I have reseeded the beets where some did not germinate.

These are a few more raised beds - pretty wild looking as I haven't been tending the garden as I should lately.  In the boxes are carrots, more carrots with radishes, cabbages and the far one was zucchini.  I saved the best three plants and repotted them and replaced them with more cabbage.  Those yellow flowers in between the boxes are my not so favorite buttercups - they take over everything!  To the left is rhubarb and raspberries.  There are so many new raspberries coming up, next year we should have lots of berries!!  May have to consider moving the rhubarb...

Next is the greenhouse.  The tomatoes look good so far.  A few small fruits are starting to form.  The cucumbers aren't doing so well, I think they have some sort of fungus or something - they are kinda just withering up and dying.  So I have about 3 small fruits on them - not quite enough to make a jar of pickles!  I was thinking of moving them to a better spot to see if that helped and replacing them with something else - I have some jalepeno plants that I could put there.  I also have more tomatos plants that need to be planted, just have to find a place.

Inspiring Website - Path To Freedom

If you haven't been to this website and read this story, you should.  www.pathtofreedom.com

It is about a family in California who grow edibles on their urban lot - urban homesteading they call it.  They even have chickens and goats!  They are able to produce 80% of their food in the summer and about 55% in the winter - impressive!!  There is a video to watch that shows their place.

They are starting a challenge similar to the Victory Gardens of WWII - Freedom Gardens.  I think this is fantastic - everyone should have a closer connection to where their food comes from - and try to grow some of their own.  This is a valuable skill to have and to pass on to the next generation.  And hey it saves money!

Beautiful Day for Gardening

The weather today was outstanding - sunny and WARM  :o)  And I feel like I got alot accomplished. 

I finished planting the beet seeds - about 1000 of those little suckers.  Hope they produce well for us.  Then I moved on to the 2 smaller raised beds (2.5' x 5') - added sandy soil and fertilizer and planted carrot seeds.  It is so hard to get those spaced right.  I know you can buy seeds strips, but that is more expensive.  So in a month or so I will be out there pulling hundreds of little guys so the rest will have room to grow big.  Carrot tops are really good in stir fry or fried rice.  Next, I had another small raised bed that I had planted rhubarb in a couple years ago.  Well, they needed to move somewhere else so I could use the box for other veggies.  I weeded out an area for them in the side yard - not a full sun area, but it does get some sun.  Added fertilizer and sandy soil to loosen things up a bit.  Dug up the rhubarb and divided the clumps.  Boy some of those roots were huge - like 14" long and 1 to 2" around!  I hope they like their new home.  I have some extra starts, so I need to decide where those should go.

Gardening Today

I was able to get some gardening done today - the weather was pleasant, and it was warm - almost 60 degrees.  I worked on one of the raised beds where I decided to plant beets.  I sifted some sandy soil and added it in to the dirt already in the box and mixed in some fertilizer too.  Got that all mixed in and evened out with the rake.  I used a stick with markings to get my spacing right - I planted 2" apart in all directions in the box which is 3 feet by 16 feet.  I got half the box done (2 seed packets).  Maybe I can get the rest done tomorrow. 

Out of this space, I should get about 100 pounds of beets.  That should come out to somewhere between 32 and 40 quarts when canned.  Will be interesting to compare to what I actually get.  We will use the thinnings for greens during the season too.

My onion plants haven't arrived yet...hope they aren't all rotten when they arrive!  Their raised bed is ready and waiting...  Actually, I have to add some wood ashes and ground egg shells I've been saving.  They are supposed to help with the root maggots - we will see!

Earlier this week, I planted another raised bed with Yukon Gold potatoes.  I used about 30 pounds of seed in that bed and have another 20 pounds to plant in my 5 potato bins. 

Still have lots to do in the garden - more seeds to plant, transplants to set in, new garden spots to prepare.  I hope to get it all done by the end of the month.  I'm trying to grow more of our food and get the most out of the space we have.

Planted Some Seeds Tonight

Tonight the weather cleared a bit, stopped raining and the sun peaked out for a bit.  I siezed the chance to do some work in the garden.  More peas needed to be planted.  The sooner I get them in the ground, the sooner I will be tasting those fresh, sweet pods!

I try to get early varieties of everything here so they have enough time to mature before winter is here again.  The peas are Little Marvel and should be ready in 62 days according to the package, which means here it will take about 3 months.  I had already planted half of my raised bed a couple weeks ago.  No green sprouts peeking out yet, but I checked out a couple and it won't be long for that batch.  The new batch has the advantage of innoculant - the powdery stuff you put on peas and beans that gets them off to a better start than otherwise.  Will be interesting to see which ones fare better...  I had dumped two packages of seed in a jar, moistened with water, and sprinkled with innoculant.  Once this is done, the seed must be planted within 24 hours.  So I had plenty for the raised bed and found another spot near the greenhouse.  Still have some seed left, so I'll think about where to stick those and finish up tomorrow night.

My seed potatoes arrived today.  I ordered 50# of organic Yukon Gold.  They will live in the house for about a week - spread out in a light area so they will sprout.  Then in the ground they will go - try to do that this weekend.  Next week my onion plants will be arriving and they will need to get planted right away too.  Busy time of year in the garden!  I love it!

Spring Planting

I consulted my Gardening in Southeast Alaska book and one of the chapters says to plant these vegetables in the garden as soon as the soil can be worked:  peas, radishes, turnips, water cress, spinach, onion sets, leaf lettuce and potatoes.  Saturday I cleaned up a couple of my raised beds in the garden to get them ready for planting and yesterday I went out and planted some peas.  I just did two rows and will do two more in a couple weeks.  I have never planted this early - last year I planted the peas at the end of May!  More because of time than weather I think.  So I am anxious to see if the book is right...

I'm doing a little rearranging in the garden.  I have some rhubarb that I plopped in a raised bed that needs to be moved...but I haven't decided the best spot yet.  I also have raspberries coming up in another rhubarb patch, so I'll have to either move the rhubarb or the raspberries...  I would like to expand the raspberry patch, but I might wait until the chicken run is built and plant them around the fence. 

Lots to do and I have today off, but it has decided to snow a little...  So I guess I'll be doing inside projects today!

Fruit and Berries for Southeast Alaska

As if my spring fever weren't strong enough...  :o)   I went to a seminar today at the Home and Garden Show in town about Fruit and Berries for Southeast Alaska.  I'm sure every place has its challenging growing conditions - here in Juneau we have cool, wet summers.  It was exciting for me to hear that it is possible to grow fruit trees here - and actually get good fruit!!  The guy has grown apples, cherries, hardy kiwis, pears, plums and lot of different berries.  Out of those the apples do the best, then the sour cherries. 

He said it is best to get bareroot apple trees which will adapt to their home best.  Carefully choose where you will put your trees - where they will be well drained and get the most sun (when it does sunshine!).  Dig a large hole for them - add some lime.  Use a tree wrap to protect the trunk and stake them for the first couple years.  Water in well and use seaweed as a mulch around the tree.  Do not fertilize for the first year.  As far as which kinds to choose, make sure they are early ripening and scab resistant.  Yellow Transparent, Discovery, William's Pride, Pristine, Geneva Earl were some he recommends on semi-dwarf M-7 rootstock.  

Strawberries should be planted in a raised bed to help with drainage.  Should be planted in full sun and sandy soil.  Don't fertilize too much or you will just get big leaves, but few berries until the plants use up the fertilizer.  He said just a little bit of seaweed or compost is enough.

Rhubarb grows well around here - it is a heavy feeder.  It should have two buckets of horse manure (or steer, chicken, etc.) in the fall and two buckets in the spring.  If the stalks are skinny, then you know it needs to be divided.  There are many varieties and they have a range of flavors.

Red currents do very well here and they are easy to propagate.  Just cut a one foot piece off of your plant and stick it into damp soil and it will root, almost as easy as willow.

Highbush cranberries which are wild are good for making jelly or ketchup.  As with many berries, their flavor is improved with cooking.

Raspberries do well in raised beds like strawberries, but with more organic matter as they need the moisture.  If you want to start a patch, it is best to get a start from a neighbor.

The pie cherry variety that does the best here was brought to Southeast in the early 1900's to the Sitka Research Station.  It is known as the Telephone Hill Cherry and if you are lucky, you can get a sucker from someone downtown or in Douglas.  Another that does well is Montmorency - this is the kind I have, but it hasn't produced fruit yet...

So now I am dreaming of where on the property would be the best place for some apple trees and maybe another cherry tree.  And I should plant raspberries around the chicken run...so many plans, so short of a summer!!!

New Seedlings

Starting from Seeds

I started some seeds on Saturday... I have a nice sturdy shelf with flourescent lights that I use.  The lights are on a timer and I have them on for 15 hours.  I just read in The Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel that 16 hours is optimum - 12 hours is not adequate (which is how long I had them set for last year).  So it will be interesting to see if these plants are more stocky... 

I started some leaf lettuce, crisphead lettuce, celery, dill, basil, parsley, tomatoes and calendulas.  I am planning to move the lettuce to the greenhouse as soon as I can...  and hopefully the tomatoes will go to the greenhouse in late April to early May.  Usually our last frost is mid-May, but this year seems to be warmer, so maybe it won't be so late.

The lettuce and a couple of calendulas had sprouted as of yesterday morning.  This morning, the basil is up.  So the garden is started!  I also started some Cilantro about a month ago in a windowsill.  We don't have nearly enough sun or light to keep them growing, so I hung a single flourescent above them and have it on from when I get up to when I go to bed.  I have transplanted them once so far, but need to get them in soil instead of seedling mix so they get the nutrients they need.  They are doing really well and I picked a couple leaves off last night to have with our dinner.  Yummy!

Garden Notes: Potatoes

Another entry for the homesteading binder.

Garden Notes: Onions

Another entry for my homesteading binder.  I buy my onions from Dixondale Farms (www.dixondalefarms.com).

Garden Notes: Tomatoes

I am starting a homesteading binder with a section for gardening.  Here is some information I've gathered about Tomatoes:

Tomato

Amount to Plant
Per person – 3-5 plants per person, double for winter storage
Primary vitamin source:  vitamin C

Soil
Choose a sunny, open, well-drained spot.  Best soil is slightly acid, organically enriched sand or clay loam.  Fruit will ripen faster in sandy soil.  Soil pH should be around 6.5.

Planting
Start indoors from seed six to eight weeks before last frost.  Keep them as close to as possible to 80 degrees for prompt germination.  Then the seedlings should be kept around 60 degrees to prevent overly rapid, difficult-to-harden growth.  When seedlings are 3” tall, transplant to deeper container, burying stem deeper as roots will develop all along stem.  Transplant again when 10” tall into ½ gallon milk containers putting the root ends at the very bottom of the container.  Very Tender – plant when the soil is warm – about 10-20 days after the last frost.  Harden off for two weeks before planting out. 

To plant in the garden, dig a trench and put compost in the bottom to within 3 inches of the ground surface.  Use 1 cup of bone meal around each plant.  Lay the plant down in the trench pinch off lower leaves, cover with 2 ½ inches of soil and firm.  This way the tomato roots will be in warmer soil and will grow faster.  Water in with lukewarm water that contains fish fertilizer. 

You can mulch them after they have been in the ground 4 or 5 weeks to allow the soil to warm.  The best time to stake them is right after transplanting.  Staked plants should be spaced 18 to 24 inches apart.  Or enclose with a wire cage.  For indeterminate varieties, cages should be 2 ½ feet across and 5 to 6 feet tall using large mesh, galvanized fence or sturdy iron mesh used to reinforce concrete.  Companion plant with spinach, radishes or lettuce.

Fertilizer & Care
Determinate types should not be pruned, indeterminate types need to be pruned to keep growth in check.  Sidedress with compost when vines are in flower.

Harvest
Pick tomatoes when they are red and firm but beginning to soften, usually about six days after you notice the first red color.  Twist the fruit from the stem, bracing the plant to avoid damage, or cut off the fruit with a sharp knife.

Plant Yield
Tomatoes are a type of vegetable that gives greatest yield for space and effort.  100-ft row of single row planting will be about 40 to 60 staked plants or 26 unstaked plants and will yield 3 bushels (160 pounds).  Uses 3 pounds per quart jar.  One bushel will provide 15 to 18 quarts.

Making Garden Plans

Rod and I have talked about what we liked about last year's garden, what we want to change, and new stuff to try.  I think I have a plan now and am doing some more reading on the new items we will be planting.  I would like to expand the raised beds and have additional space for veggies.  Here is what I've planned:

Greenhouse:
* Tomatoes
* Cucumbers
* Jalapenos

Small Raised Beds:
* Lettuce
* Radishes

Large Raised Beds:
* Peas
* Onions
* Potatoes
* Carrots

New Raised Beds:
* Strawberries (babies from other strawberry bed)
* Zucchini
* Cabbage
* Beets
* more Peas

I also have some raspberries, red currents, a bed of strawberries, rhubarb, and chives that are already established.  I have a cherry tree - that has yet to fruit.  I think I need to get another, but it is supposed to be self-fertile.  I would love to have some apple trees, but I have yet to decide where I should plant some...

Here is the garden from last summer - the new raised beds will double the size of the garden.

Building Our Greenhouse

Our greenhouse has been under construction for the last two years, since the winter snow collapsed our wood framed greenhouse.  I bought the aluminum frame used for $40 and ordered the polycarbonate sheets and that is as far as we got for awhile, our focus turned elsewhere - new house, etc.  Well, since the weather has been great and my Stupice tomatoes that I grew from seed are outgrowing their pots, we have had new motivation to work on the greenhouse.  Last week Rod got some more roof panels and the back wall cut and fit.

Yesterday Rod, Greg and I worked a couple hours and got the roof completed and one wall completed - starting to feel like a greenhouse now.  When can I plant?? Do we have to seal it?  Okay, I'll wait until it is done...  So I rushed home after work to cut and fit more panels, maybe we could get another wall done.  I got on my work clothes and Rod and I went out - they had already finished it!!!  How cool is that?!  I was so surprised!!!  It really turned out big inside - having it raised up really makes a difference.  So all that is left is to fabricate a door and finish sealing up everything with silicone.  I need to order a new vent lifter which should run around $30 or so.  Then add more dirt and plant those tomatoes!  Yeah!!

Updated Garden Pictures

The garden is going so well - helps when the weather cooperates!  It has been warm and mostly sunny for almost two weeks now and the plants are just loving it!  I made a dessert the other night - Cherry Rhubarb Crisp - that turned out very good and used up some of our rhubarb and a jar of cherry pie filling that I made last summer.

We have started eating green onions - we will eat every other one so the rest can bulb and form onions for storing.  No sign of the root maggots yet - my fingers are crossed that the wood ash has kept them away...

Here are the Kennebec potatoes that I planted May 20.  I just hilled them up - filled around them with dirt last Friday.

Here are our Norkota Russet potatoes that I have in 5 of these potato bins.  These ones I planted May 28 and tonight I added the second row of boards and filled in with dirt.

The tomatoes are getting huge!  The stalks are getting nice and thick and look really healthy.  I put stakes up - some hardwood, some bamboo.  There are lots of little blossoms forming...

And...I have one tomato blossom that opened today!  It is one of the Stupice plants that will be going into the greenhouse when we get it finished...  It was started from seed on March 28.

Tomato Plants Pic

I fertilized the tomatoes tonight - they look so pretty with the marigolds!

Planted Tomatoes