gardening fun

It's been a great year for gardens in southcentral Alaska. Sun, sun, and more sun, with just enough rain to keep things well watered. Just in time, our perennial beds have finally filled in, we started a rooftop vegetable garden, and I inoculated a few birch stumps with oyster mushroom mycelium this spring. Success all around!

Here are a few oyster mushrooms I'll be eating tonight, along with a rice pilaf and pink snapper. I'm stoked this worked! I was growing oyster mushrooms indoors last winter (a kit from fungi perfecti, super easy and mine produced plenty). I read that you could innoculate stumps and logs if you timed it right. We had to cut a few birch trees from our yard, so we waited two weeks (long enough for the tree's antifungal compounds to degrade, but hopefully not so long that another fungus moves in), then scored the stumps with a chainsaw and stuffed the oyster mushroom mycelium/straw mixture in. A few months later and they're starting to produce!

Here's a shot of our rooftop garden. I'm standing near the peak of our roof, looking down on our flat mudroom roof. The mudroom is around 10' by 10', and say 8-10 feet tall. Jon framed the outside of the roof like you would a wall, built 2' wide planter boxes for the sides and a patio for the center. We have a ladder up the back for access, and put in soaker hoses so that watering is as easy as turning on the hose by the driveway. The veggies are a little behind because we got them in the ground so late. By the time we built the boxes/patio and hauled up the soil it was early June, but that's ok. A good trial run for next year, and I think we'll get a few cabbages and zucchini out of it before freezeup. Bonus - no possible way our veggies can be eaten by moose! It's like they have a sixth sense, as soon as your veggies are ready to harvest it's almost guaranteed that a moose will come through and mow them down. No more free ride, moose! A great way to make use of the space, and further reducing the amount of impervious surface on our lot.

While I was up there, I snapped a shot of our backyard/pond/patio. You'll be happy to know the fish are all doing well. Have I mentioned how great it is to have a husband who does landscaping?

The gentians are in full bloom (Gentiana septemfida). They're little, but I love them. Especially how the buds have that spiraled look.