Gardening in Alaska : Have a healthy winter

Talk Dirt To Me

Do you love to make mud pies, grow a houseplant, eat veggies, or stop to smell the bouquet on your co-workers desk? Everyone enjoys a bit of green growing around him or her and then there are those that are passionate and needy when it comes to dabbling in the dirt. With this blog, we'll try to satisfy those needs and tell you about what's going on with the Anchorage gardening scene. You know, as I finally learned, it's all about the dirt.

Photographer and gardener Fran Durner (fdurner@adn.com) writes the blog.

Interactive Map

2008 Anchorage garden tour

Take an interactive tour of the gardens showing in Anchorage's garden tour, with photos and audio commentary from each gardener.

Have a healthy winter

Posted by talkdirt

Posted: November 13, 2008 - 3:09 pm

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Got your shots? I'm not just talking about flu and pnuemonia. Get a tetanus shot too, while you're at it. It's good for 10 years, and it's something every gardener should be current on. Bacteria lives in the soils we so like to get our hands into, and all it takes is one little scrape, one little hangnail or one little blister on your digging hand and some mean, ugly bacteria can enter your system and take you down. Sometimes permanently.

I gotta warn you, though, for three days after I got my shots, my shoulders felt as if I'd been roughed up by some goodfellas who waited around the corner for me. But the alternative in all cases is worse, so it's worth the slight discomfort.

Speaking of taking care of yourself, a very recent bout of sinusitis reminded me to up the humidity around the house. Your nose will thank you and your plants will like it too. Shy of hanging wet laundry in all the doorways, trays of pebbles can be filled with water and plants placed on top. I have forced-air heat, and bowls of water sit near each floor register. I've become very good at walking around them.

Misting your plants occasionally will also make them happy and may help cut down on the incidence of bugs such as spider mites and thrips, which do not like humidity and which always seem to show themselves as soon as the heat comes on indoors.

And finally, if you are thinking of forcing bulbs indoors, wear gloves when handling. Bulbs such as hyacinth contain a strong irritant, and if you get it on your fingers and then touch your face or some other place on your body - well, you get the idea.

Stay healthy, stay happy! Have a good winter.

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