Chloe Pleznac

With all the rain this past week, fear of landslides and flooding has been at the forefront of many minds in Juneau. But what about the gardens? How does one respond to too much water permeating plant roots and garden beds? Master Gardener Ed Buyarski spoke with KTOO’s Chloe Pleznac about potential problems to look for, which plants may be ready to harvest and even shares his anti-slug elixir (it’s ammonia and water).

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Chloe Pleznac: With all the rain this week, should gardeners be concerned for their garden beds? I imagine with all the moisture building up, it can destabilize uncovered — and perhaps even covered — gardens. 

Ed Buyarski: Yes. And I’ve certainly gotten calls about what do I do? Do I need to pull out my garlic? I’m worried about my potatoes rotting in the ground. Again, this pushes us to go outside to see that our soil is draining well or that we may need to work on digging ditches. That’s assuming that you have a place to drain the water off safely, without draining it onto your neighbor’s property, which gets ugly. But looking at your own, you may need to add some more sand to your garden soil compost mixture. You may need to put up some hoops in plastic to keep things warmer and drier. All that helps. 

Chloe Pleznac: Concerning root rot or other symptoms of all of this wetness, what kind of things should gardeners be looking for? 

Ed Buyarski: Yes, so certainly just I mean, mold and mildew are always with us. Last summer in July, it was nice and dry. It was wonderful. Things were big, beautiful, healthy. And this year, I mean, rain has beaten down the plants. There’s some of that extra fungus and mold and mildew happening. We need to be aware of that. Depending on the plants, I mean, lettuce does not take this heavy rain very well, though the slugs like it a lot. So what we can do, is raise beds and create raised boxes, that is important for warming our soil and drying out our soil. Again, making sure there’s enough good drainage is good, you don’t have pools out there, or you don’t have your plants in your garden in a low spot in your yard. So again, making some ground higher or if you can move — I mean, literally move — your beds.

Chloe Pleznac: Aside from the weather, it’s now mid-July. What plants are you beginning to harvest in your own garden and for maybe the less experienced gardener — perhaps this is their first year — how can you tell when certain veggies are ready to harvest? 

Ed Buyarski: Garlic has several indicators of when it is ready to be harvested, I’ve already harvested our scapes. So, the scapes curl when they first come out and then they uncurl and when the tips are pointing straight up, that’s one indicator that the bulbs are mature enough. I’d also like to see four green leaves still on the top of the plant, the lower leaves will start to turn yellow and or, if we’re lucky dry off or turn brown. But with four green leaves on top. That means there are at least two layers of skin covering the garlic bulb underground, which we want for long-term storage when we carefully dig them up. Don’t pull them up by hand as if your garlic is well anchored, you may break them off at the soil level. Use a garden fork to loosen them. Pull them up gently, brush the soil off, and find a dry, hopefully warm, spot. I’ve used a dehumidifier to help dry out the garlic so that it will store properly for weeks or months or longer. I’ve got one or two bulbs left from last year. With potatoes, looking at the plant again will tell us. Right now, mine are flowering which means little potatoes are forming underground. And because they’ve grown rather well and the rain has hit them, they’ve kind of flopped down on the garden boxes and beds. That’s okay. They’ll keep growing sometimes you’ll get three to four to five-foot-long potato vines. But when the potato vines and leaves start to turn yellow, most likely in September, maybe late August, and maybe even later than that depending on when you planted yours. Or, if we get a frost, the frost will usually kill off the potato plants. And so that is time to know after that to harvest. 

Oh! And get out there with the ammonia and water spray and start thinning out the herds of slugs, which are just dancing in the streets or, in this case, the gardens.

Joel Bos is a local master gardener who divides his time between his business, working as a naturalist with Discovery Southeast, and serving on the board of directors for Juneau Community Garden.

For this week’s Garden Talk, Bos spoke with KTOO’s Chloe Pleznac about outdoor programs for kids — and about how anyone can get involved in community gardening.

Much of Bos’s work is centered around the Juneau Community Garden in the Mendenhall Valley — work he describes as standing on the shoulders of Juneau’s gardening giants.

“The folks who laid the foundation and are still working on the board and are still maintaining the gardens are just heroes in our community,” he said. “If you haven’t been out to the Montana Creek Road community garden, you should check it out. It’s the closest thing we have to a farm here in town.”

Bos also works to introduce children to gardening through Discovery Southeast’s free and payment-optional programs. 

“They’ll get to explore the gardens, they’ll get to see everything that’s growing, they’ll get to taste, they’ll get to help weed and maintain the plots,” Bos said. “Sometimes they get to harvest and we donate the produce to charity.”

This summer’s camp openings have already filled, but interested youth can get involved through after-school programming this fall or next summer’s camps.  

For Bos, watching Discovery Southeast campers get settled and comfortable in these natural settings is rewarding. 

“Every once in a while you can get this moment where every kid is working and every kid is quiet and every kid is silently weeding or looking at an insect or just touching a flower pedal,” he said. “It’s just kind of this magical moment.”

You can join the Juneau Community Garden plot waitlist online at juneaucommunitygarden.org. Bos says it usually takes about a year for the waitlist to turn over. You can learn more about Discovery Southeast’s year-round youth outdoor program offerings on their website, discoverysoutheast.org. 

Bos suggests that people interested in getting involved with Juneau Community Garden come out for the 29th Harvest Faire on Aug. 24, where they can buy locally grown produce for a good cause, meet other gardeners, and explore the three-acre garden.

Correction: This episode previously gave the wrong date for this year’s Harvest Faire. 

If you’ve listened to Garden Talk before, you’ve heard the term “master gardener.” It’s the title we stick in front of Garden Talk regular Ed Buyarski’s name. This week, KTOO’s Chloe Pleznac decided to finally ask Buyarski just what a master gardener is — and if listeners and readers can become one, too.  

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Chloe Pleznac: I’ve heard the term master gardener used both in referring to you and to others within the community. I’m curious if you could explain to me exactly what a master gardener is and how someone can go about becoming one.

Ed Buyarski: Sure. The master gardener program started in Oregon Cooperative Extension Service as a teaching tool, I guess — and also I guess a community service tool. So that here, the Alaska Cooperative Extension Service offers classes every year or every other year depending on demand. And so that’s how people sign up for the classes.

There’s roughly 40 hours of classes and workshops involved, and there is a fee for that. But at least locally, some of the master garden organizations actually offer scholarships for that, for people taking the classes.

There is supposed to be some experience of people who want to become official master gardeners — should have a couple of years of gardening experience beforehand. And then that gives them kind of a foundation or reason to ask more questions about what they’re learning.

And in return, you go through the class and there’s usually a project of some sort — might be a research project or otherwise to do. And folks are also then asked to volunteer back to their communities, 40 hours of community service. And whether that is answering questions from other gardeners who don’t know, What kind of a pest are we looking at? Or, how do I deal with these weeds, or how do I improve my soil — and other things to make their gardens grow better.

So I’ve enjoyed learning — started the first class in Petersburg back in 80s and finished it in the early 90s — took the test, finally, and became a master gardener. I’ve got the pen and had the t-shirt. It’s worn out.

Chloe Pleznac: That’s awesome. That sounds like a really interesting process. Do you know off the top of your head who people can reach out to here in Juneau if they want to become involved?

Ed Buyarski: Yes. The Alaska Cooperative Extension Service has an office downtown, and that’s the way — you can look that up online to call. I just helped finish teaching a series of classes this winter and spring. And I know at least our local extension agent, Darren Snyder, usually offers that class every other year and it is both in person and online and virtual. So folks around Southeast and others can participate in the classes.

And then in the alternate years he has more of a, I guess, a beginning gardeners class. A little definitely less formal. And I suppose if folks are interested can go from that one and then sign up for the next master gardener class to follow.

Chloe Pleznac: Is there anything else you want to add about the topic of master gardening or people being interested in that?

Ed Buyarski: Certainly helped educate me. You know, it starts out with basic botany stuff, which I did in college. I’ve got a biology degree, but it has led into lots more, especially, experimental stuff. 

I mean, every year is a new experiment, between our weather being different from one year to the other, new varieties of plants — seeds are always available. And so I’m always trying new stuff and learning truly from other people. 

And if I go to somebody’s garden to visit, seeing them growing something I haven’t or haven’t thought of. Seeing, “Wow, you’ve got a new pest that I haven’t seen before.” So we need to identify this because things are coming in, pests and diseases are coming in, unfortunately, with plants we import from down south. 

So it’s really a great program to help local gardeners.

To find out more about becoming a Southeast Alaska Master Gardener you can email Juneau District Agriculture/Horticulture Agent, Darren Snyder at darren.snyder@alaska.edu.

Disclosure: Darren Snyder is married to Cheryl Snyder, KTOO’s Vice President & General Manager, Music & Arts.

Yesterday was Summer Solstice. In Alaska, it can feel like a relief to begin losing daylight again — especially for this Morning Edition host, who’s been struggling to get enough sleep. But the solstice also marks an important milestone in the growing season.

This week, I spoke with Master Gardener Ed Buyarski about things to consider in your gardens as we head into July. 

Listen:

When asked what he’s been up to in his own garden, Buyarski said, “Oh, pulling weeds, pulling weeds, and pulling some more weeds…” 

But Buyarski says those weeds can be useful, post-plucking. 

“Take those weeds, put them in a bucket with water, throw in a handful of seaweed, and let them ferment for two weeks so you get this brown, nasty, slimy stuff,” he said. “Take that out, dilute it about five-to-one, and use that to fertilize the plants that we want to grow.”

That liquid fertilizer can be a great way to keep your plants hydrated, as high summer temperatures dry out the earth. Buyarski said that’s especially important for plants in containers.

“You can almost watch them wilt if they are not being watered again and again on these warm, sunny days,” he said.

If you’ve already started harvesting from your garden or just finally found the free time to start thinking about getting something in the ground, Buyarski says it’s not too late. 

“We can plant some more broccoli now for later harvest,” he said. “Kale can be planted anytime, and seeds from the mustard family. I did reseed a patch of carrots. The soil is nice and warm, so things are going to sprout quickly, along with the weeds.”

And he says it’s almost time to harvest garlic scapes.

“You can use them just like green onions, but with a garlic flavor for everything from pickling and stir-frying and making pesto,” he said.

Finally, keep your eyes peeled for a full strawberry moon Friday night. It might just break through the clouds.

Companion planting is a technique gardeners can use to increase their yield, boost soil fertility, and reduce weeds and pests. For this week’s Garden Talk, Joel Bos of Tidal Wood Food and Forage shared his companion planting techniques.

Listen:

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

Chloe Pleznac: Let’s talk about companion planting. I first learned about this concept when reading the book Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. She talks about the “Three Sisters,” which are beans, squash, and corn. Could you give me some examples of companion planting combinations or techniques that you’ve utilized?

Joel Bos: I use zucchini very often in my gardens, and I make mini hoop houses about three and four feet tall to shield them from some of the rain in the colder weather that we have here in Juneau. I like to grow them with brassica family plants or fast-growing plants like lettuce. And then, because the zucchini will just fill in a whole four-foot-wide bed, each planet, you can plant faster-growing plants on the outside and still be able to crop those before the zucchini spreads in and takes over. So for the home gardener, it’s a great way to utilize a small space and get maximum yield. 

The techniques I use to warm up the squash — because squash and zucchini really like warm weather — is to keep the soil dry, which is done in a number of ways. One, you could make a raised bed. I’ll cover it with a green plastic mulch or another name for it is IRT. It’s just a plastic film that allows a lot of warmth through the sun but reflects the wavelengths that weeds need to grow.

This can do two things for you — slow down the weeds and warm your soil and keep it drier. Over top of that, I’ll make it a hoop house, sometimes out of bent metal conduit or sometimes out of PVC pipes, and then over top of that add what we call row cover, which is kind of like a white fleece, over the top of that.

That’ll do two things. One, it’ll warm it a little bit. It’ll shed some of the rain off but allow some through, and it also keeps the insects from coming into your brassica family plants, like your cabbage and your kale. Then maybe later on in June or July, I’ll take the cover off and crop all the brassica family plants and let the squash really fill in.

Chloe Pleznac: When you’re sowing these starts, how close are you planting them together? Is there a general rule of thumb that you use?

Joel Bos: On my farm some of the stuff I do is in 30-inch-wide beds because there’s a lot of good tools that work at that width. But when I’m making these hoop houses and growing zucchini, I prefer a four-foot-wide bed. You can do one zucchini every three feet along that right down the middle, and then you can do a row on each side of it, about 12 inches apart, sometimes eight, depending on what plant you’re planting. Some of the lettuces can get closer. Certain kinds of bok choy can grow closer together, too. If you’re trying to do a fast-growing cabbage you may want to give them a foot.

If you’re doing a big red Russian kale, you may want to give those every 18 inches. It gives you a decent crop. I’ve already cropped bok choy back in May that I started indoors, and I’ve replanted another row. I just added some compost and it kept growing, so now that’ll be cropped in late June, and the zucchini went in, with this cold May, only about seven to 10 days ago, and it’s starting to take off.

 

As part of a group called the Kayaani Sisters Council, Naomi Michalsen helped develop a free guide for people who want to learn to sustainably and respectfully gather local plants. In May, Michalsen spoke with KTOO’s Chloe Pleznac about respectful harvesting. 

In last week’s Garden Talk, Michalsen talked about some of the basic principles of respectful harvesting. This week, she talks about some of her favorite books and resources — but also why it’s important to learn directly from experts.  

“Plants can teach us a lot,” she said. “We can look at plants as our relatives and our family. And when we look at things that way, it helps us when we think about how we want to treat this area or these plants.”

Michalsen said caring for the plants you harvest is important. That could mean cleaning the areas around them or being an advocate or steward for the land. For Michalsen, gratitude plays an important role.

“Always just, you know, leaving a gift for the plants. Some people also leave a strand of hair, they might leave some tobacco, they might leave a gift or a song or say thanks,” she said. “But part of that is just being present in the moment and being aware of your surroundings and appreciative of everything that we have.”

Michalsen said one of her favorite resources on harvesting is Haa Atxaayí Haa Kusteeyíx Sitee, Our Food Is Our Tlingit Way of Life, an oral history project that focuses on traditional Lingít food and culture. 

She also recommends the books of Jim Pojar and Andy MacKinnon, and a book called Plant Teachings for Growing Social-Emotional Skills, Alaska Edition. 

But Michalsen stresses that going out with an expert is crucial to staying safe and learning to properly identify plants. 

“If we’re only relying on the internet or books, we can get ourselves into trouble,” she said. “We might be missing a lot of what the messages and the teachings are of each of these plants.” 

A free, printable version of the Respectful Harvesting Guidelines is available on the University of Alaska Fairbanks website. Michalsen acknowledged the other contributors to the project: Trixie Bennett of Ketchikan, Louise Brady of Sitka, Eva Burk of Nenana, Tia Holley of Soldotna, Gloria Simeon of Bethel, and Disney Williams of Juneau.