Gardentalk

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At the Jensen-Olson Arboretum — a source of inspiration for gardeners of Southeast Alaska — late-season flowering perennials are in bloom.

“And one of our favorites is the Primula florindae, which blooms in mid-to-late summer and sometimes will go on until frost,” manager and horticulturist Ginger Hudson said. “They love the cool moist temperatures — they love to be cold over winter.”

Yellow is the standard color for Primula florindae flowers. But when planted alongside a primula of a different color, the flowers can bloom in a variety of shades.

“There are some oranges and they will cross with each other,” Hudson said, “So we have one that’s a kind of a mango color. And even one that’s a deeper mustard yellow.”

Not only does the Primula florindae bloom longer than other primula and attract pollinators, it’s also easy to propagate.

“This variety of primula spreads easily in the garden, Hudson said. “Not only by clumps expanding, but also seeds being carried away and washing away in our rains.”

Monarda, also known as bee balm, is another late-blooming perennial that produces copious amounts of flowers.

“We have two different kinds of bee balm growing here at the arboretum, a pink shade and a deep, deep fire-engine red shade,” Hudson said. “You want to plant them in the best sun possible to get the maximum amount of blooms.”

As the name suggests, bee balm attracts pollinators as well — primarily, bees.

“We have a lot of bumblebees here even in Southeast Alaska and they love these, as well as lots of other little flies and late season butterflies,” Hudson said. “But mostly you’ll see bumblebees.”

Phlox and hostas are two other perennials that are still in bloom this time of year, and Hudson says she’s even seen hummingbirds visiting the hosta flowers. While attracting pollinators, the flowers and foliage are also entertaining through the autumn.

“And makes you think, well, summer’s not really over because look at this big head of flowers that just keeps on going,” Hudson said.

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Greenhouses expand the possibilities of what can be grown in cool, wet climates. Certain cucumber and tomato varieties do particularly well in Southeast Alaska.

Master gardener Ed Buyarski uses some of his greenhouse space to experiment with dry-weather crops, such as corn. While his corn is tall, it’s not quite maturing.

“The corn has reached the ceiling, but it’s gonna be a while before we get any of that,” he said.

The rest of the space is dedicated to tomatoes and cucumbers. Buyarski selects varieties that are adapted to growing in a greenhouse, such as the Manny cucumber.

“Manny, I’ve grown for two or three years now,” Buyarski said. “They’re tasty. They’re smooth-skinned slicing cucumbers — they’re considered a European-style cucumber.”

Inside the greenhouse, Buyarski has staked the cucumber plants to grow vertically instead of flat on the ground.

“Cucumbers tend to get mold and mildew on them pretty easily, unfortunately,” he said. “I’ve got them strung up in the hopes of getting good air circulation in between the plants.”

Sungold, Siberian, and Glacier are examples of tomato varieties that consistently produce good harvests. The plants were started indoors from seed in April and transferred to the greenhouse in mid-May. The green tomatoes just started to show colors in early August.

And for gardeners without greenhouses, it’s still possible to grow tomatoes in the rainforest.

“Fourth of July is a short-growing tomato, determinate tomato, which could be grown in good-sized hanging baskets or in pots.” Buyarski said.

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Taking a propane torch to the rows between crops is a quick, easy solution to controlling weeds in the garden. But many weeds can be harvested and eaten.

Master gardener Ed Buyarski carefully burned away hundreds of tiny sprouts threatening his lettuce rows.

“Like we see between two lettuce, there’s about 50 chickweed plants, and it will steal the nutrients from them,” he said.

The torch eliminated hundreds of weedlings in a matter of minutes, along with any pests that may be in its path.

“Slugs should beware,” Buyarski said.

Other weeds can end up on the dinner table. Lambsquarters, for example, is a close relative to spinach that can be tossed into salad or lightly sautéed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

“You can even layer it in something like a casserole.” Buyarski said. “It’s very tender, very mild, and it’s terribly good for you. Not to mention, we’re eating the weeds, so you get extra points for that.”

Chickweed, if it escapes the torch, is also edible. It has a mild taste as well and is nutritious when eaten fresh.

“We can eat a lot of these weeds, and I try to,” Buyarksi said. And he introduces other people to them when he can. “Certainly, I subject friends to it, put in their salad.”

After garlic is harvested, it can be cured by hanging in a warm, dry place with good air circulation for a few weeks.

Master gardener Ed Buyarski says that he has garlic hanging in his greenhouses, his furnace room and his garage.

“In fact, last week I bought a dehumidifier to go in my garage underneath the garlic, and I’m emptying it twice a day.” Buyarksi says. “So I’m hoping that it will dry it better so it keeps better.”

Some of the garlic has been set aside to be eaten fresh rather than preserved. They show signs of the fungus disease botrytis. Buyarski recommends keeping them separate from unaffected garlic plants and giving them a quick rinse in a 10% bleach solution.

“We’ll eat them, friends will eat them. But we will not use that for the replanting later on in late September and October.”

A couple of days of air-drying is all that’s needed to preserve garden herbs, too, such as the oregano Buyarski grows in his greenhouse.

“Dry it just on cookie sheets in the open. I don’t bother to put it in a dehydrator.” he recommends. “Because if you heat it then you lose some of the volatile oils.”

Buyarski has even experimented with drying garlic leaves.

“That was quite a failure, that was in a dehydrator,” he says. “Made the house smell wonderful. But the next morning when we went to taste the dried crunchy garlic leaves, there was no flavor left.”

For other herbs that lose flavor when dried, like basil and chives, or are too tender for the drying process, Buyarski suggests freezing them in a baggie or even in ice cubes.

A year after completion, the greenhouse built by Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska has produced its share of successes and setbacks.

“The name is Taay Hít, which means ‘garden house’ in Lingít,” says Lindsey Pierce, master gardener and environmental specialist at Tlingit and Haida.

Also referred to as “the dome” because of its shape, the structure was assembled from a kit by local contractors last July. This year marks the second growing season for the greenhouse.

Cer Scott, also a master gardener and environmental specialist, said he was new to indoor gardening and overwhelmed at first. For him, one of the first challenges was deciding what to grow.

“We’re trying to decide, you know, should we grow things that are not as accessible at our stores?” Scott said. “Or should we grow things that people that are more, you know, wanted in the region, like cultural traditional foods. So we kind of did a mixture of both.”

One of the successes from this season included multiple crops of Swiss chard.

“We had several harvests and made a nice big lunch for the staff,” Scott said.

A lot of it also went to Smokehouse Catering, the tribe’s event company, who use produce from the dome in the meals they serve.

Tomatoes also did well, but basil was an especially big hit.

“It’s one of those things that it’s right next to the door, so when you walk in you get a waft of some fresh basil,” Scott said.

They had a few setbacks however, like pests and heat.

“We did have some cabbage here but we lost that unfortunately to some of the aphids,” Scott explains. “Aphids took over those so we just ended up pulling them to kind of help combat that.”

And a long stretch of hot weather earlier in the summer threw off the timing of their broccoli.

“While we were still trying to figure out the environment inside the greenhouse, as far as climate control, our broccoli ended up bolting. And flowering.” Scott explained. “It’s just their life cycle.”

“You can eat the flowers though,” Pierce added.

Scott and Pierce both completed the Alaska Master Gardener Program, and they agree that they have learned a lot in just two growing seasons under the dome.

“Last July is when it started. And it’s just been a ride ever since.” says Pierce.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled Taay Hít, the name of the greenhouse.

Peas planted this spring are ready to be picked, but it’s not too late to start a second crop. And carrots due for harvest this fall likely need some thinning. With both plants, the shoots, tips and leaves are edible and delicious in salads and sauces.

Master gardener Ed Buyarski’s crop of peas was planted outdoors from seed in early May, then covered with agricultural fabric to protect the sprouts.

“We’re standing in front of my pea patch with all these alder sticks coming up out of it, which are my low-budget pea trellis,” he said. “The peas are blooming and very quickly. In fact, I noticed there are some little tiny peas I’m looking forward to eating.”

Buyarksi prefers the varieties with edible pods, like snow peas or snap peas.

“In my youth I planted and harvested and shelled peas, which is tedious,” he said. “Tasty, but tedious.”

In addition to the pea pods, the shoots, tips, leaves and even flowers can be eaten.

“Of course if you eat the flowers, you don’t get peas,” Buyarski said.

Peas are cold-hardy and can be planted even as late as mid-July for a fall harvest. Which is just in time for the carrots to come out of the ground.

“Our regular harvest for carrots for storage is usually after the first frost, so late September, October. I’ve harvested them into November,” he said. “It’s best to do it before the ground freezes because it’s a lot more convenient that way to get the carrots out of the ground.”

Buyarksi recommends direct-sowing carrots in late April if conditions allow, then covering the bed with plastic sheeting over hoops while the weather warms up. They will need to be thinned to about an inch apart as they grow.

Whatever gets pulled while thinning carrots can be set aside for salads and sauces. As with peas, the leaves and shoots of carrot plants are edible, too.

When Buyarski finds himself short on basil or other greens, he’ll chop up carrot tops, pea shoots or kale to make pesto and chimichurri. He says that every batch is different.

Starting now through mid-August, garlic plants will be ready to harvest. But master gardener Ed Buyarski says gardeners should look out for botrytis, a fungus disease that can spread throughout crops.

“It’s mostly in the soil already, assuming that we’ve been gardening for a while — or even in the wild soil.” he said.

Buyarski pulled a garlic plant that was showing signs rot due to botrytis and pointed out pinkish-red streaks running down the base of the stalk to the bulb.

“Not a good thing this time of year,” he said.

Buyarski said each leaf of the garlic plant’s stalk corresponds to a layer of protective skin over the bulb.

“If they’re rotting, they don’t protect it,” he said.

He peeled away layers of red-streaked skins from the stalk to reveal the bulb and its cloves. Those are healthy and can be eaten fresh, but they are too small to be saved for curing.

Botrytis is very common and attacks plants when conditions are right, such as too much moisture or not enough air circulation. Buyarski said that having good drainage and air flow in beds and greenhouses will help reduce the fungus, and that gardeners should set aside affected plants to prevent more contamination.

“When I am harvesting the garlic a month from now, six weeks from now, I will sort out any of these that I am suspicious of, if I see that red streak going down into the bulb,” he said.

Email Sheli Delaney if you have questions for Garden Talk.

Garlic bulbs planted last fall are now full grown and producing scapes. In this week’s episode of Garden Talk, Ed Buyarski talks about what they are and how to use them.

“This garlic in front of us was planted last September or October — covered it over with plastic for the winter and rested till it starts to grow roots, just like tulips and daffodils do in the fall.” Buyarski said. “So they’ve grown almost to their maximum height.”

At this point they have formed scapes, which Buyarski says are “weird-looking curly growth out of the center of the plant.”

Beginner gardeners often have questions about what to do with the strange-looking, coiled scapes. If they’re not harvested, scapes will straighten and grow up to five feet tall. Eventually they’ll form rice-sized baubles that could potentially be used to reproduce the plant, in a few years’ time. 

But Buyarski believes most people will get the best use out of scapes by eating them. He says they “can be chopped into stir fries, into pasta sauce, you can make chimichurri, pesto.”

He compares them to green onions but garlicky and says “some are spicier than others.”  

Buyarski adds that removing scapes also helps the garlic form bigger cloves by redirecting energy into the bulbs.

Garlic scapes can simply be cut or snapped off the plant near the base of the shoot. Buyarkski usually likes to leave them until they just start to curl. However, one day he was out of fresh garlic. 

“So, some of them were cut just as immediately as I saw them.” 

In this week’s episode, Ed Buyarski talks about the best practices for watering your plants during this long hot and dry spell.

If you have questions for Garden Talk, email [email protected] or call 907-209-8905.

This week, Ed Buyarski shares a wide variety of methods for combatting slugs in your garden. Also, how to prepare your crops for a summer heat wave.

If you have questions for Garden Talk, email [email protected] or call 907-209-8905.