Upper Chilkat Valley Garden Tour

Haines Master Gardeners and friends toured four gardens Monday, July 28: Klukwan Community Garden, Lani Hotch's garden, the Gunn/Kistler Garden at 36 Mile, and the Ramsey garden at 9 Mile Haines Highway. There are a few pictures posted at the end of the blog.

I took away a sense that we eaters are in good hands.

Spinach bolts for me and my beets are bitty. Not so in the Klukwan Community Garden. Lani showed us the Savoy and New Zealand spinach with leaves bigger than my hand; and beets ready to eat. Mardell showed us kohlrabi, purple broccoli, and red ripe tomatoes.

Mandy introduced us to her pea experiment: she soaked some peas in ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and some she just soaked. The peas are planted as side by side as possible to control for environmental differences. Neither was treated with innoculant. The vitamin C soaked peas are patently larger plants. Stay tuned to see if they produce more succulent peas! See the photo below.

We were lucky to have Charlotte Jewell come along with us. She was over for the Fair from Jewell Gardens in Skagway. I loved hearing Charlotte humbly offer the scientific names of plants. Centaura montana, what I call "wild bachelor button." I confessed to her that I have made, repeatedly, 3x5 cards identifying the scientific name of my crops and favorite flowers endeavoring to commit those elegant terms to memory - to no avail. Maybe it's because I don't understand the system. Why are cabbage and kale and rape coles and brassicas, but broccoli is only brassica? So much to learn. Charlotte has graciously invited us to tour Jewell Gardens. We organized quickly to take up her offer. Seventeen of us are Skagway bound Friday.

We were also accompanied by Darren Snyder from the Cooperative Extension Service, Juneau office, also in Haines for the Fair. We peppered Darren with questions about plants that seem to be diseased. Powdery mildew seemed to be a common affliction - perhaps because this season has been exceptionally moist and cool. This unattractive fungus literally sucks the life out of its host. Anchorage gardener and photographer, Fran Durner (Talk Dirt to Me, A Cure for Powdery Mildew?) writes that, "Once infected, it is unlikely you will ever rid your plant of the fungus though you can try to control it with good horticultural practices and fungicides, either commercial or organic." Based on the description of the disease cycle from Cornell University, it seems like it might be a good idea to just pitch out the infected plant.

The fungi which cause powdery mildew are spread by spores produced in the white patches. These spores are blown in the wind to other parts of the plant or to other plants during the growing season. ... During the winter the fungus survives on infected plant parts and in debris such as fallen leaves. It may produce resting structures known as cleistothecia, which resist harsh winter conditions. These will appear as small black dots within the white powdery patches. The next spring, sexual spores (ascopores) are released from the cleistothecia, shot up into the air, and carried by air currents to leaves of plants where new infections will begin. During the growing season, the fungus produces asexual spores (conidia) that help the fungus to spread and infection to build.

But if you are brave or just love that plant, cut off the diseased tissue, then try to dislodge some of those spores. Durner recommends hosing off the plant early in the morning to remove spores and then treating the plant with a fungicide. Fungicides don't have to be as nasty as they sound. Durner gives this recipe from the Integrated Pest Management Office of Alaska. (Here is the link to Alaska Integrated Pest Management, but the page labeled "Insects & Diseases" is currently "under construction." It's worth bookmarking the site, though. It should be valuable when it is finished.)

Mix 1 tablespoon baking soda, 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil with one gallon of water. Shake this up thoroughly. To this, add 1/2 teaspoon of pure castille soap. Spray the upper and lower leaf surfaces and spray some on the soil. Repeat every 5-7 days as needed.

I am sure that every gardener returning from the Upper Valley tour went home and inspected their own with a critical eye. I know that George Figdor did. And right away, he recognized powdery mildew on his zucchinis! Turning to the Internet, he discovered that a spray of skim milk, applied early in the morning is the recommended "fungicide." Others spray with milk as well. According to Durner, Camille Williams of the Anchorage Garden Club uses a mixture of 1 part milk (any kind) to 3 parts water for years.

And that's why we make these field trips: to learn from each other how to recognize and treat trouble before we are sunk. And to lavish praise and appreciation on the artistry and hard work underlying every single garden. Thanks so much to our hosts Lani Strong, Doris Peck, Bonnie Sears, Mardell Gunn, and Mandy Ramsey.