Sitka’s weather

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• Lori Adams discusses ‘The End’ in her last Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be wrote a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer and fall. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 4 of the Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

THE END

The ground is frozen now, but at times throughout the winter and spring things will thaw out. So there is still time to tinker in the garden before planting time.  Once it thaws you can gather and apply seaweed, pull weeds, remove rocks and salmonberry bushes, sterilize your greenhouse or sun room, etc. It can be hard to make yourself get out there, but once you do it’s not so bad.

Those delightful seed catalogs should start showing up in the mail pretty soon, so now is a good time to plan for next year. Try to connect with a gardening friend some time before spring arrives and have them help you come up with a realistic plan and suggestions for reliable seed varieties to invest in. I try to get together with my gardening friends at least once a year and it is SO helpful.  Networking is important.

I think I pretty much covered the basics with the “Gardening In Sitka” column, so the time has come to put away my pen.  You now have enough information to get started growing a successful vegetable garden.

Quite a few people have suggested that I compile all of the printed columns into a book and I think it is a good idea, so I’m in the planning stages of that project right now.  My goal is to have the books ready to purchase by March 2013 in time for the annual “Let’s Grow Sitka” event. They will be edited and revised, with room for your own notes, and a yearly planner calendar will be included.

The “Let’s Grow Sitka” event, usually held on a Sunday in mid-March, is a fantastic resource for new and old gardeners.  There are informational booths, presentations and demonstrations, things to purchase and experienced gardeners are available to give you answers to any questions you might have.  It’s a MUST-ATTEND event for anyone interested in gardening in Sitka.

Another great resource you should check out is the Sitka Local Foods Network’s website at http://www.sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org.  It has notices for upcoming gardening events and many, many links to other informative websites.

Thank you for all of the positive feedback you’ve given me on the column.  You made it so rewarding.  And to be truthful, I learned so much by doing it.  I had to research the “why” and “how” to get my tips into readable form and ended up learning more myself.

Feel free to give me a call if you have questions and be sure to come out to the Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden next summer to get a tour.  Happy gardening and be sure to BUY LOCAL!

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams says a word about growing beans in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 4 of the Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

A WORD ABOUT GROWING BEANS

In general, Sitka is just not bean-growing country, but there is one bean that actually does really well here — the fava bean (also called the broad bean).  Up until a few years ago I had never even heard of fava beans, but had read that they’re grown in England so I figured they would grow here too and gave them a try.  The results were excellent.

Fava beans are from the legume family. As a rule the members of this family grow pods with seeds in them; peas, beans, alfalfa, clover and peanuts are the most commonly known legumes.  Legumes can do something that other plants can do — by working in a cooperative partnership with the Rhizobia bacteria found in the soil they can pull nitrogen right out of the air.

Nodules form on the roots in this nitrogen-fixing process and the plants store nitrogen for pod formation. When you plant beans in a garden bed for the first time there is a good chance that the proper strain of this bacteria will not be present in the soil, so it is important to “inoculate” the seeds.  Inoculant bacteria can be purchased in powder form and sprinkled onto the seeds at planting time.

Before planting fava beans prep the soil with plenty of organic material that is not too rich with nitrogen (cured compost or beach mulch) and lime (seashell sand) and prepare some type of support to put in place to keep mature plants off of the ground.  I used wire tomato cages. Fava bean plants get about five feet tall and although they are fairly sturdy they can eventually get knocked down by the wind and rain.

You can start seeds indoors mid-March and transplant them outdoors mid-April or just sow them directly outdoors mid-April. Either way it’s best to dampen the seeds and sprinkle them with inoculant before planting.  The seeds are quite large and should be planted an inch deep. Final spacing in the garden should be at least 12 inches apart.  Floating row cover is not necessary but can speed up maturity.

Fava beans bloom just like peas do with beautiful blooms similar to lupine flowers.  These flowers are self pollinating. Pods soon appear and can be picked while very small and cooked and eaten whole like snap peas. Once the pods get a little size to them they are wooly and fibrous and unpleasant to eat whole, so let them get to be full sized before harvesting them for the beans. Full-sized pods contain anywhere from 1-5 beans in them.

Cooking fava beans is rather labor intensive but worth it.  Shuck the beans and discard the pods, blanch the beans and then “pop” each inner bean out of its waxy covering.  The inner bean will fall out in two halves and can be eaten cold or hot. As with other vegetables, it is good to harvest the mature pods regularly so the plant will continue to produce more pods. Besides, the longer pods are left on the vine the tougher the beans will be.

I think any attempt to leave beans on the vine in hopes of harvesting them as shelling beans is futile as they will probably just mold.  I have read that the tips of the plants themselves are also edible as a leafy green but I have never tried them. A word of warning: some people of Mediterranean descent are allergic to fava beans.

I used to grow Fava Beans in the u-pick garden but very few of my customers were familiar with them so I had trouble selling them.  Rather than taking up valuable garden space growing something my customers don’t want I decided to concentrate on growing vegetables that they do want.

It is possible to grow green beans here but very, very difficult.  The plants simply do not like to get wet and slugs just love, love, love them. If grown outside they MUST be protected from the rain, but if enclosed with a covering they are very likely to rot, so any cover needs to have the sides open for ventilation.  I have had very little success growing green beans, but they are so delicious fresh from the vine that I just keep beating my head against the wall trying.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing strawberries in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 9 of the Friday, Nov. 23, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING STRAWBERRIES

Strawberries do well here in Sitka, but they come with some challenges.  I think one of the key secrets to success is location, location, location.

Strawberries are a perennial crop that come in two basic types:

  • JUNE BEARING/SHORT-DAY cultivars that produce a heavy crop over a short period in the summer, or
  • EVER BEARING/DAY NEUTRAL cultivars that produce a smaller crop that is stretched over a longer season.

Within these two types there are many different varieties.  Most strawberries that are grown here in Sitka have been passed down generation after generation and originated from early breeding work at the USDA Sitka Experimental Station during the 1920s.  The berries from these plants are small, pale in color and not very sweet, but they make up for it by being very hearty and producing large crops. In Sitka it is very difficult to grow large, beautiful red berries with the “true strawberry” flavor.  Besides the two basic types there are also alpine and specialty varieties.

Strawberries can be grown in containers, rows or patches.  Most Sitkans have patches because of the way the plants grow and multiply, but your production will go up if you have rows and take the effort to control plant growth.  Containers can be helpful in keeping the fruit off the ground where it will rot or be eaten by slugs.

The best strawberries I have tasted here in Sitka were grown in rock walls. I believe this is because of the heat retention of the stones, the lack of slugs and soil, and the excellent drainage a rock wall provides.  The worst place to grow strawberries is in the shade, next to brushy slug-infested areas or areas with poor drainage.

Strawberry plants can be grown from seeds or “runners.”  Runners look like a stem/root that grows from the mother plant.  This runner grows about a foot long and then produces a baby strawberry plant that will take root and start to grow on its own.  To harvest runners simply cut rooting baby plants free from the mother plant and plant on their own.

The life expectancy of any one plant is about six years with only the first third years being highly productive, so the best plan is to grow a row of plants and consistently remove every single runner for two years.  On the third year allow no more than five runners to grow on each plan,t then harvest the runners mid-summer and plant them in a different bed being sure to diligently remove any runners that they themselves might produce.  At the end of the season just tear out the old bed.  Repeat.

Strawberries like soil that is full of organic material that is low in nitrogen.  If the nitrogen level is too high then you will end up with fabulous greens that will make your neighbors jealous but very few berries, and the berries you do get will not be able to ripen because of the shade of the foliage.

Berries require lots of potassium (seaweed) and only a trace of lime (seashell sand) to thrive.  The best way to apply seaweed is to mulch monthly with a thin layer around plants being sure not to cover up the growing center, or the “crown” of the plant.  To prepare a new bed just load it up with seaweed in the Spring, let it break down and then till it into the soil before planting time.

A strawberry plant has tough gnarly roots that grow from the crown.  When planting, it is critical that the crown is right at ground level — if it is buried it will definitely rot and die and if it is planted too high it will dry out and die.  Dig a shallow hole with a cone of soil in the middle, set the crown on top of the cone, spread the roots out like a spider in the hole and then cover with dirt.  Firm the soil around the plant being sure to position the crown properly.

Floating row cover can be helpful but it is critical that you remove it when the plants start to flower.  In order for pollination to occur the blooms must be accessible to bees and other natural pollinators.

Once strawberries start to ripen it is important to pick them almost every day because they are very perishable and easily susceptible to rot and slugs.  Try to leave their “caps” on, lay them in a shallow container rather than stacking them in a deep bowl, and do not wash them until right before it’s time to eat them.

In the fall you can mulch the bed heavily with seaweed being sure not to bury the plants themselves and then spread straw over the entire bed, plants and all, to protect them from frost heaves.

On a final note, there doesn’t seem to be anyone growing a large enough volume of strawberries to sell them.  If you have some extra garden space or an empty greenhouse, please consider growing strawberries and selling them at the Sitka Farmers Market. We’d all love you for it.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses putting your garden to bed for the winter in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 3 of the Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

PUTTING YOUR GARDEN TO BED FOR THE WINTER

The gardening season is basically over for most of us and if you haven’t already, then now is the time to put your garden to bed for the winter.

It would be nice if any vegetables you are planning to over-winter were grouped together in the same bed, that way you could tidy up everything else and just maintain 1 bed.  This is something to keep in mind next year when it comes planting time.  For now, if it’s an annual and you are not eating it then it should be pulled up and thrown in the compost pile.

Old raspberry canes should have been pruned away by now (be sure you don’t damage the new canes or you won’t have any raspberries next year) and mulched with seaweed.  This time of the year the leaves have all fallen off the raspberry canes and it’s very difficult to tell which ones are old and which ones are new, so if you haven’t pruned yet, wait until they start to bud out next year so it will be easier to tell.  Strawberries and rhubarb should have a thick layer of mulch around them too.

When it comes to your perennial beds there are pros and cons to clearing away all the dead foliage. As for the pros; clean beds provide less hiding spaces for slugs, mold and disease, and a present a tidier appearance. (Primrose foliage turns to mush when it freezes and then thaws again and can cause the roots to rot, so no matter what you do with your other perennials it’s good to cut all the primrose leaves down to within two inches of the ground.)

As for the cons; dead foliage provided nice insulation from freezing weather and breaks down to return to the soil as compost.  I like to remove all the dead foliage from my perennials except the ones that have hollow stems.  A hollow stem that has been cut open will fill up with water and rot out the plant.  Once the dead foliage has been removed I mulch the beds with about 10 inches of seaweed.  I try to put most of the seaweed “around” the plants rather than on top of them as this can lead to rot too, but a little is not bad.

What ever method you choose it is important to give your all of your garden soil some nutrition to get through the winter. Remember that soil is alive and must have something to eat to remain healthy and vigorous until it gets fed again next spring.  Seaweed is free, abundant, and close to town so there is no reason not to utilize this amazing resource.

If you are trying to over-winter vegetables there are things you can do to protect them.  Potatoes must be brought inside, but other root crops like carrots and garlic can be buried with a deep layer of seaweed or straw to keep them from freezing. Some Sitka gardeners lay a plastic tarp over the bed first and then apply the seaweed, but I have used just seaweed and have had great results.

Crops that grow above the ground can be mulched with seaweed or straw and then covered with floating row cover.  It’s amazing how long you can extend your season with row cover, but eventually even row cover won’t protect plants from being frozen.  Keep an eye on your crops and if it looks like they are growing weary and there is freezing weather in the forecast, then you can pull them up, roots and all, and store them in buckets in a cool space indoors- harvesting at your leisure throughout the rest of the winter.

Many gardeners cover all of their empty vegetable beds with plastic to keep the nutrients from leeching away during the long winter.  I am conflicted about this.  So far I have only used plastic over one bed — next year’s spinach and lettuce row — because I want maximum nutrition in that bed next spring.  I think it is probably a good idea, but it could be providing an excellent hiding spot for slugs, mold and disease.  Also, it can be difficult to keep the wind from ripping it off and you have to find someplace to store it the rest of the year.

Sometimes simple can be best and if you apply enough food throughout the season then plastic is not necessary.

Once everything has been put away you can relax indoors with the comforting knowledge that you did everything that you could to the best of your ability.  Soon those wonderful seed catalogs will start arriving in the mail and you can plan next year’s garden.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing kale in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 5 of the Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING KALE

Kale grows so well here in Sitka that it should be indigenous, but many gardeners don’t grow it because they have no experience eating it and don’t know how delicious and nutritious it is.

Kale is from the brassica family so it is a heavy feeder.  Prepare your bed for kale this Fall by amending with fertilizer rich in nitrogen (fish carcasses, spent grain, seaweed) and lime (sea shell sand), or amend your bed next spring using seaweed with herring eggs.

There are many different varieties of kale to choose from that have leaves of different shapes and colors.  You can sow seeds directly outdoors mid-April, but it’s best to start seeds indoors mid-March and then transplant the seedlings outdoors mid-April.  When transplanting make a dish-shaped depression in the soil and then dig a hole in the bottom of the depression for the seedling, being sure to bury it up to its first set of true leaves. Use 12-18 inch spacing because kale plants grow quite large and if they are planted too closely together they will just get tall and spindly and go to seed prematurely.

Cover the entire bed with row cover until July 15 or later and for best results use hoops to hold the cover up off the plants.

Kale leaves can be harvested at any time, but it is best for the plant if you wait until the plant matures a little bit before you start ripping leaves off of it.  When you do start to harvest leaves be sure to take only the biggest, oldest ones and leave the growing center of the plant alone so it can continue to produce new leaves. Never harvest more than one-third of the leaves at any one time off a plant or the plant will become stressed and take longer to recover.  To harvest just cut the leaves from the plant with a knife or snap them off with your fingers.

Kale can be eaten raw or cooked.  Many people use small tender leaves raw in salads and utilize the larger older leaves for cooking.  Just remove the “rib” with a knife (unless you like a little crunch), chop up the leaves, and then throw them into soups or stirfries, but don’t cook them too long- they wilt quickly.  I recently heard about a salad that’s made by “massaging” or “kneading” chopped kale in dressing that sounds really interesting.

Kale often acts like a biennial. A biennial grows during the first year and if it survives the winter it produces seed during the second year.  Sometimes my plants go to seed during the first year.  If they do I just pinch out the growing center flower bud which allows the plant to branch out with more leaves.

It’s a good idea to let some of your kale flower and leave it in the garden all winter and hope for some seedlings to sprout up the next spring that you can transplant into a new bed.  Kale is very, very hearty and will practically grow year round.  I have gone out the garden in the middle of the winter and broken ice off of my kale plants to harvest leaves and they were perfectly fine!  I am sure if you utilize row cover in the winter you can significantly extend your growing season.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing beets in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 9 of the Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING BEETS

I have had bad luck with beets, but they grow really well here for most people.  I am not sure what the problem is, but I suspect that it is because I don’t really care for the way they taste. Therefore, I procrastinate about planting them, don’t spend much time preparing the soil for them and then just toss the seeds out in some random spot that’s squeezed between other vegetables that I DO enjoy.

Beets are a root crop that bear edible leaves (greens). They will do best in a bed that is prepped with bonemeal (starfish, pulverized deer bones or fish skeletons), sandy organic material that is not too rich with nitrogen (beach mulch gathered in the fall), and plenty of lime (seashell sand). The seeds can be started indoors mid-March and then transplanted outdoors mid-April, but most people just plant them directly outdoors mid-April.

Each beet “seed” is actually a capsule that contains roughly 2-4 seeds. The seedlings will sprout together in a really tight clump but it is not necessary to thin them because each beet plant will grow “out” from the clump center. If the surrounding spacing is adequate there will be enough room for all of them. You can plant the seeds directly into your bed with about three-inch spacing if you are growing them for the greens, but if you are trying to grow large roots you should space the seeds at least six inches apart.

Another option is to plant them close together at first and then when the greens are large enough to eat you can thin the bed by pulling enough plants to achieve six-inch spacing which will produce large roots for later harvest. If beet seeds are planted too closely together the plants will just sprout up tall and spindly with tiny roots, so plant your seeds carefully.

Most of us are familiar with the typical round, red beet with dark green leaves, but beets come in many varieties with different colors, shapes and sizes.  I think they all do well here.

Be sure to cover the entire bed with floating row cover and leave it on as long as possible. Beets like it warm and can take a long time to mature in Sitka, so row cover can really speed up maturity.

Beets are edible at any stage. You can harvest baby greens or entire baby plants to eat raw or cooked, or you can wait and harvest plants that have roots 2 inches across for cooking. Roots that are larger than 2 inches across can become more fibrous.  Leaves that are harvested from mature plants tend to be tough and will need to be cooked. When harvesting roots, leave at least one inch of foliage on the root to avoid excess bleeding during the cooking process. I have heard that roasting beets in the oven is quite delicious too, but I wouldn’t know. I don’t really like beets.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing zucchini in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

LoriAdamsDownToEarthUPickGarden(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 4 of the Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING ZUCCHINI

Oh, zucchini …. the “hit or miss” crop.  Some years it does fantastic and you start to think that you’re an expert, and then the next year it totally fails and you realize that you know nothing.

I DO know that zucchini plants hate to get wet, that almost all varieties need insects to pollinate them to produce fruit, and that the plants do best in warm weather.  The best zucchini plants I’ve seen in town have been grown under some sort of clear roofing with open sides.  The roofing lets in the sun but protects the plants from rain.  The open sides allow the wind to blow through (reducing mildew and rot), and gives the insects access to the blossoms.

If you grow yours outside don’t expect the plants to get huge and sprawl across the garden like they do in a greenhouse or down south — they will probably only get big enough to take up about nine square feet.  I grow mine in black plastic longline tubs on a shelf that runs the length of my house.  They are under the eaves which gives them a little protection from bad weather.

Zucchini is a heavy feeder so prep your bed or pots with plenty of nitrogen rich fertilizer (fish carcasses or compost).  It also needs potassium to produce healthy fruit  (seaweed) and plenty of lime (sea shell sand).  Early April is the time to start seeds indoors.  This is where I often run into trouble.

This year I planted my seeds in seedling trays in the sunroom and none of them germinated.  TWICE. I figured there must be something wrong with the seeds and did a germination test (sandwiched seeds between damp paper towels in an open Ziplock bag in the warm kitchen) and ALL of the seeds germinated. Once they germinated I carefully planted them into the seedling trays and then they did really well!  (If the sprouts were stuck to the paper towel I just cut around them with a scissors and planted the whole thing.) I have decided that from now on this is how I am going to germinated zucchini seeds every year.  Once the seedlings have been planted into trays they can be placed in a cooler environment, but they still do not like to be really cold.

Zucchini seedlings can be transplanted outdoors in early May. Handle them very carefully because they hate to be transplanted.  If you are planting in tubs be sure to make a depression in the soil, dig a hole in the bottom of the depression and then plant the seedling in the hole up to its first set of true leaves.

Tubs have a tendency to dry out really quickly, so the depression can help channel the water to the roots rather than just running out between the soil and the sides of the tub.  It’s a good idea to add a 3-4 inch layer of seaweed as mulch on top of the soil to help retain moisture, but be sure it doesn’t touch the seedlings possibly causing them to rot.  If you are planting in the ground then catching water is not as critical.

It’s really important to protect the seedlings from the cold.  I cut the bottoms off of plastic milk jugs and place the tops over the seedlings (with the lids off) like little miniature greenhouses and then cover the entire bed with floating row cover that is held up by hoops.  When the plants grow big enough to “fill” the milk jugs I take them off but continue to use floating row cover.  Once the plants start to blossom I remove the row cover, but have it handy for cold nights or really bad weather.  If you keep your blossoming plants covered the insects will not be able to pollinate the blossoms and you will not get any zucchinis to mature.

Each zucchini plant produces both male and female flowers.  The male flowers grow on long skinny stems and the female flowers grow at the end of tiny baby zucchinis that are on short squatty stems. The blossoms are only open for about a day or two and if the female flower does not get pollinated during this time the baby zucchini will start to wither and then die.  If this keeps happening you could try to hand pollinate by breaking off a male flower, pulling back it’s petals and rubbing a little bit of it’s pollen inside a couple of female flowers.  Some people chose to grow “self-pollinating” varieties to eliminate this problem.

Once the blossoms have closed they are of no use to the plant and should be removed, but be sure they are “ready” to come off.  Gently break them off sideways with your fingers.  If they don’t want to come off easily then just wait a day or two otherwise you might break off the entire tip of the zucchini and ruin it.

Zucchini blossoms are edible and quite delicious when stuffed with cheese, dredged in flour and fried in butter.  But be sure to leave them on the plant until they have done their job!  Zucchinis are edible at any stage of maturity, but it seems like a waste to eat them when they are tiny.  On the other hand it is not good to leave them on the plant until they get huge because the plant will think it has done its job and will stop producing fruit.  For best results harvest all the zucchinis that are over nine inches long and then your plants will keep producing fruit until the first frost kills the plant.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing broccoli in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 4 of the Friday, Oct. 19, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING BROCCOLI

Broccoli loves the climate here in Sitka and with a few tips you can have delicious broccoli to eat for months.

Broccoli is from the brassica family and is a fairly heavy feeder.  Preparation should begin in the fall by amending your bed with nitrogen rich fertilizer and lime (or salmon carcasses, seaweed and seashell sand).

Start your seeds indoors mid-March.  They sprout up fast and grow tall quickly, so for best results after germination reduce the temperature in the room to 40-50 degrees F and turn the trays 180 degrees at least once a day to keep the seedlings from getting leggy and falling over.  It is also a good idea to have an oscillating fan in the room blowing gently across the trays to make the seedlings as strong as possible.

Transplant seedlings outdoors mid-April in a bed that has not had brassica’s planted in it the year before. Make a dish-shaped depression in the soil, then dig a hole in the bottom of it for the seedling and bury it up to its first set of true leaves.  The depression acts as a catch basin for water and will keep the seedling from drying out.

If your seedlings are a bit spindly, just do your best to prop them up and as they grow they will get stronger and straighten up on their own.  Space the seedlings about 20 inches apart.  It’s tempting to crowd them together to get more plants in the garden, but broccoli plants that are too close together produce small heads.

Mulch the entire bed with a generous layer of seaweed but try to keep the seaweed from touching the seedlings to prevent rot.  Cover the entire bed with floating row cover to protect the plants from the dreaded root maggot fly using hoops to keep the cover up off the plants if possible.  Leave the cover on until at least July 15.

In a few months you will see tiny broccoli head starting to form.  Some varieties of broccoli produce small heads and some varieties of broccoli produce large heads.  Immature heads are very tightly formed, mature heads are loosely formed and overly mature heads open up into flowers.

The key is to harvest before the heads flower regardless of size.  Harvest heads with a knife cutting the stem at a sharp angle.  This prevents water from setting on the stump and causing the plant to rot.  Broccoli leaves are edible and can be used like kale and broccoli stems can be eaten raw or cooked.  If the skin is tough just peel it away and eat the center.

Unfortunately, slugs LOVE broccoli.  Damaged leaves aren’t so bad, but when a slug crawls across a head and leaves a slimy, rotten track behind it, it can be very aggravating.  It’s easy to become discouraged and think the entire plant is ruined, but don’t pull it out. Just harvest the damaged head, eat the good parts and leave the plant in the ground because most varieties of broccoli will produce more, smaller heads called “sprouts” for months to come.  I have harvested fresh broccoli from my garden for Thanksgiving.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

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• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing sunflowers in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 7 of the Friday, Oct. 12, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING SUNFLOWERS

Many people think that it is impossible to grow nice sunflowers here in Sitka, but it is possible. It just takes careful planning.

Sunflowers grow in just about any type of soil, but will do much better in soil that is rich with organic material and fertilizer. I start my sunflowers by seed indoors in mid-March. Once they have germinated it is important to reduce the temperature in the room to about 40-50 degrees to prevent the starts from getting leggy and spindly.  If they have to lean to reach the sun, be sure to rotate them 180 degrees at least once a day to get them to grow as straight as possible. It is also a good idea to have an oscillating fan gently blowing across them to encourage them to grow strong.

I transplant my starts outdoors between mid-April and mid-May.  Transplanting time is the most important step for ensuring success.  The weather should not be too cold or too hot.  (This year I transplanted at the beginning of a long stretch of rainy weather and I had a horrible success rate.)  The starts should not be transplanted near a lot of brush or in a crowded perennial bed because these settings encourage rot and slug damage.

The larger the starts are the better chance they have of surviving, but be sure they don’t get too tall and spindly or they may fall over or break in the wind.  Prepare supports of some sort before transplant time. Supports can really help. After the starts have been outdoors for awhile and have recovered from transplant shock they will start growing again and become stronger, but in the meantime the supports will help them.

You can attach the stems of the sunflowers to the supports but be sure to check them once in a while during the season to be sure they have not gotten too tight as the stems grow thicker.  Even a large mature sunflower will benefit from support.  I have had beautiful, huge plants uprooted or broken off by the wind. It was very sad.  If my starts get leggy and spindly I still transplant them outdoors and prop them up the best I can.

I’ve been amazed at how hardy they can be.  The ones that recover from the shock of transplanting take root, get stronger, grow taller, straighten out and develop thick, healthy stalks.  The key is to transplant at the right time, in the right place, with the right supports. Take some time to do it right.

Although you shouldn’t plan on it, it is possible to harvest sunflower seeds to eat if the weather cooperates.  A mature head will often tip down, thereby preventing damage from rain and allowing the seeds to mature.  If you want to try to harvest seeds do not prune spent flowers — let them die on the plant.

Amazingly enough, some of the best sunflowers I have ever grown have volunteered from sunflower seeds that were thrown outside the year before.  Of course this is a hit or miss procedure, but you might try it.

Throw some seeds out right now, mark the spot and see what happens.  You might scratch them in a bit or cover them with a thin layer or dirt to prevent birds from eating them. I have noticed that volunteer sunflowers are stronger and healthier than ones I have started indoors as long as the slugs didn’t get them.

I have grown many different varieties and colors of sunflowers, but I highly recommend the basic yellow and brown branching varieties that produce more than one blossom on a plant. The other colors don’t do as well here and don’t stand out like the traditional ones. And nothing says, “There’s a garden here!” like the sunny face of a brown and yellow sunflower.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/

by

• Lori Adams discusses everything she’s learned about growing potatoes in her latest Daily Sitka Sentinel garden column

(Lori Adams, who owns Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden and is a frequent vendor at the Sitka Farmers Market, will be writing a regular garden column in the Daily Sitka Sentinel this summer. The Sentinel is allowing us to reprint the columns on this site after they first appear in the newspaper. This column appeared on Page 3 of the Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, edition of the Daily Sitka Sentinel.)

GARDENING IN SITKA

By Lori Adams

EVERYTHING I’VE LEARNED ABOUT GROWING POTATOES

I am relatively new to growing potatoes, but they are so fun to grow and do so well here that I am absolutely hooked.

Potatoes can be planted in almost any kind of soil and grow just fine.  I have heard people say they grew them in nothing but a pile of seaweed and I have seen someone plant them in a cleared lot with no food at all and they did great.

They are not super heavy feeders and prefer acidic, loose sandy soil with a moderately steady supply of organic material and phosphorus (bonemeal, starfish or fish bones and heads).  They can be grown right in the ground, but I prefer to grow them in tubs because it makes harvesting so much easier — no lost potatoes in the garden to volunteer next year!

Potatoes are very susceptible to a disease called “scab.”  It looks just like it sounds — rough brown scabs on the surface of the skin.  Scab is in the soil and although there are ways to try to avoid it, it seems inevitable.  Fortunately, although scabby potatoes are undesirable for market they are perfectly edible for home use.

To prepare the ground or tubs for potatoes do not add high-nitrogen food or lime.  New dirt is the best, and never plant potatoes in the same spot for at least three years. Just add some beach mulch for some organic material.  Buy certified scab-free seed potatoes from a garden supplier to avoid introducing “blight” (another disease), to the garden, or get some from a friend (they will probably have scab), and plant them outdoors mid-April.

Seed potatoes do not need to be large, in fact, it is preferable to obtain small ones with at least two “eyes” – dimples on the skin where sprouts emerge.  If you have large seeds potatoes you should cut them in several pieces and let the cut edges dry before planting them.  Whole seed potatoes do better in Sitka gardens than ones that have been cut.  They get off to a better start and are more resistant to diseases.

It’s best if your seed potatoes have already started to sprout, if they haven’t then they will just sit in the ground for a month before sprouting.  If yours haven’t sprouted by late March, expose them to 60 degree heat and as much sunshine as possible for two weeks before planting them.  Be sure not to break any sprouts off.

To plant, dig a 12-inch deep hole in the ground or tub that will not be below standing water when it rains, lay a fish head or a couple of starfish in the bottom and cover with dirt.  Or, dig a nine-inch hole and mix a handful of bonemeal into the soil.  Make a nest of straw or dried grass in the hole and set the seed potato in it with the sprouts reaching up, cover with more straw and then toss in a shovel full of spruce or hemlock needles (to made the soil more acidic to try to avoid scab), bury with dirt and beach mulch and top it all off with a couple inches of seaweed.

Potato plants usually sprout up fast and get quite large.  It is important to “hill-up” the plants a couple times during the season by burying the foliage so that only a couple of inches stick up out of the dirt.  This will cause more potatoes to grow on the buried foliage and dramatically increase your yield.

Potatoes can be harvested at any time for eating, but it is best to wait until the foliage has pretty much died back to achieve maximum yield. Early September is about right. Potatoes that have been harvested early have fragile skins and have a tendency to “peel,” like a sunburn.  If you want to store them all winter it is very important to wait until late September or early October to ensure that the potato skins have cured and will store well.

Now comes the fun part. Dump out the tub or dig a large enough hole to harvest every potato.  Lay them out on a tarp to dry. Lightly rub off the excess dirt and store them at 33-38 degrees in total darkness where they won’t get too dried out.  Be sure to save a few small ones of your favorite varieties to plant next year.

Brought to you by Down-To-Earth U-Pick Garden

2103 Sawmill Creek Road

Open June-August / Monday to Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

747-6108 or 738-2241

http://downtoearthupick.blogspot.com/