Hey from Alaska

[greg egle]

I'm up on Kodiak, Island in Alaska. Our growing season has traditionally been very short but about 10 years ago greenhouses came on the scene and have increased our growing season by about a month on either end. A real game changer. I've been following self sufficient me for a couple of years now. It's fun to watch another horticultural mad scientist exploring new ideas with enthusiasm. I hope to meet some folks here and learn a thing or two.

 

[@redearthveggies]

Hey Greg! Katie here! I’m curious about what you manage to grow in such a contrasting environment to me... I’m in outback, arid Australia. We had 21 days in a row over 45•C (113•F) here last summer and couldn’t keep much of anything alive..

 

[Mark]

G'day Greg and thanks for joining SSC!

Excellent to hear about the greenhouse success - I would like to experiment with a small greenhouse myself. Not that it gets really cold here but it might be useful for some plants and seedlings etc

 

[greg egle]

We grow mostly greens, ( kale, spinach, collard greens; napa cabbage) Carrots, beets and potatoes also do well. Since putting up our hoop houses we can grow more short season heat loving crops like tomatoes, which we start indoors around March and move out to the hoop house the end of May. From about mid June to mid July we get about 20 hours of light a day. Everything grows like crazy. Another crop that grows well here is garlic. We plant it outside in October and harvest in July. Lately I’ve been reading about and practicing Korean natural farming techniques. What do you guys grow in your environment? Any good work arounds for the heat.

 

[@redearthveggies]

That sounds like so much hard work as fun! 20 Hours of sunlight!!! Sheesh. I don’t think I’d cope! I struggle in DLS when the sun doesn’t set til 9pm.
I’ve never heard of Korean farming techniques so I’ll now go into a google rabbit hole for that!
Winters are always our better crop.. being so hot and dry out here in the summer we struggle to keep most anything truly in abundance but we’ve kept our cucumbers, some tomatoes, zucchini... over 10 of my herbs and 1 chook died on a 50•C day - heat exhaustion and smoke inhalation for her
We are on tight water restrictions so use our shower water on our veggie patch- aircon bleeder on the fruit trees- dishwashing goes to our pomegranate - washing machine to our grass soil and gum tree.
Mulch everything we can find. Encourage weed growth. Compost and chook **** and shade shade shade!! Whatever we can find.
It’s hard work also but the rewards, be it in small doses or large wholesome harvest is so worth it! Like everyone I’m sure!

 

[@redearthveggies]

This is our surrounding area and what our farmers are dealing with..
Once a natural water hole here where families use to BBQ and swim etc.

 

[@redearthveggies]

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[greg egle]

We're kind of the opposite up here. Here's a picture of my dog on a hike up a hill last summer.

 

[ooglek]

I'd love to see some posts of your greenhouses!

 

[@redearthveggies]

Wowwwww!! That’s purrrrtttyyy!

 

[Albert]

We're kind of the opposite up here. Here's a picture of my dog on a hike up a hill last summer.

Such a beautiful place, awesome picture!

 

[AZ Orchard]

Welcome Greg