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Garden Talk

Gardening tips and information from KTOO in Juneau. Tune in Wednesdays at 3:00 p.m. on Juneau Afternoon.

Garlic scape is all curled up in a North Douglas garden.

Gardentalk – Garlic harvesting

It's nearly time for harvest when the garlic plant's lower leaves turn yellow and dry out, and the scape uncurls and points straight up.

Uh, oh. This almost looks like Japanese knotweed that has a established a foothold in a North Douglas garden.

Gardentalk – Invasive species

Orange hawkweed, reed canary grass and Japanese knotweed are some of the species that have been seen in the Juneau area this season. Mitigation measures include manually pulling them out, spraying herbicide, or covering the buried roots with black plastic.

Horstmann roses bloom in the KTOO Agricultural Test Station and Garden of Science.

Gardentalk – Fungus among us

Gardeners should trim away leaves and stems infected with fungus. A spray mix of baking soda, liquid soap, and water also works as a cheap and safe fungicide.

No scape yet: Garlic continues to grow in a North Douglas garden.

Gardentalk – Garlic scapes and cabbage root maggots

In this week’s edition of Gardentalk, Master Gardener Ed Buyarski reminds us about removing garlic scapes. Much like the deadheading of flower bulbs that was covered in last week’s segment, Buyarski explains that clipping the emerging top bud or scape of a hardneck garlic plant sets aside more energy for the garlic bulb’s development. Just…

Close up view of daffodils in a North Douglas yard that disparately need to be deadheaded.

Gardentalk – Deadheading and division

Deadheading wilted blooms or bulging seed pods allows some plants to devote their energy to perpetuation instead of propagation.

Extreme close-up of a new cherry growing from a young Telephone Hill cherry tree planted at the KTOO Agricultural Test Station and Garden of Science.

Gardentalk – Young fruit tree care and feeding

Young fruit trees up to two years old should be allowed to grow a strong root system instead of ripening a lot of fruit.

Close up view of potato seedlings growing in a North Douglas garden.

Gardentalk – Hilling potatoes

Mound loose, well-drained soil around your potato plants as they grow so they can produce more potatoes this season. Also, Ed Buyarski has some advice in combating the cabbage root maggot and the European currant worm.

Bags of lime are stacked on a pallet in a Juneau home improvement store.

Gardentalk – How to sweeten your soil

In the latest segment of Gardentalk, Master Gardener Ed Buyarski suggests using horticultural lime to sweeten or change the acidity level of your garden soil. Bags of lime are usually found in home improvement or garden outlets around Juneau.

Buttercup flower in bloom in late May in a North Douglas back yard.

Gardentalk – Burying buttercups

Smother buttercups with cardboard and top off with a layer of clean garden soil. As long as the soil under the cardboard remains undisturbed, the dormant buttercup seeds should not germinate.

Primroses and daffodils simultaneously bloom in a North Douglas flower bed.

Gardentalk – Dividing primulas

Carefully dig up the plant and separate out the various drumsticks of flowers by lightly shaking and washing out the soil from the roots. Trim off the flower top and a few of the roots before transplanting in groups of three.

Garden Talk