Is gardening losing its luster? Try these tips to rekindle your interest. – Anchorage Daily News

If I remember anything from the many unsuccessful years of trying to learn French in school, the word for what many Alaska gardeners are feeling right now is “ennui. ” This simply means you are usually not feeling the excitement of gardening. I know you did when outdoor planting began. Gardening was all-consuming in late May and into June.

I suppose this will be understandable. After all, gardening is not the only hobby that captivates the attention of Alaskans. When the salmon are running, for example, it is pretty easy for some of us to drop our hoes, so to speak and run ourselves to favorite fishing spots. And then there is the time we need to spend this time of year with visitors, showing them around and justifying our own living here.

Please don’t let the word “boredom” stay in your summer horticultural vocabulary. It is just fine in order to fish or sail or even travel, simply don’t take it out on your gardens. After all, when the silvers are not really running plus Uncle Bob and Aunt Sally are back on their tour boat, your own gardens will still be here to entertain you.

So, snap out associated with it.

Bored or not, please do not neglect to water when the yard becomes dry. You spent a bunch of time and money getting your plants into the particular ground and containers. Don’t waste all of this just because your interest level has gone down. Surely a person can spend 5 in order to 10 minutes every three days watering.

I hope readers are using mulch to reduce weeds and the frequency of sprinkling. There is always the need this particular time associated with year to pull enough of the chickweed so that your vegetables plus shorter flowers are not really overrun by the stuff. You don’t have to get it almost all. There is no easier time to pull chickweed given its size. Plus, they are within flower and bored or not, you do not want them to go to seed.

It could be you simply need some new garden scenery to revive your yardening interest. In that case, consider putting a pattern in your lawn. If you are brand new to the practice, mow circles around all your own trees or do a squiggly mow up and straight down the backyard. It doesn’t take any longer and if you pay attention, you won’t be bored but rather an artist.

Some folks like to fight off garden ennui by taking out the particular weed eater and getting a bit aggressive. The weeds, such as butter plus eggs, are usually thick upward against away buildings, fences, swing sets and garden walls. This can become pretty satisfying taking all of them down, not quite the thrill of landing a big silver, but not therefore bad at all.

Then, too, there is usually nothing such as harvesting raspberries and now they are right here. I used to think it was the pretty boring job whenever my mom made me do it with my brothers, but now that I am the boss (and they are not around in order to throw berries at me), getting a cup or even two for dessert or breakfast is definitely a real joy.

We suppose if you were so excited about starting off at the beginning of the season and now have lost that lively feeling, you could actually start plants again. A new crop associated with lettuces, short-season carrots, take peas plus even a few broccoli should make it to harvest. Just pretend it can be late Might. We have had long enough seasons lately to be able to expect to harvest these before the killing frost.

Of course, you can always get thrilled about your upcoming site visitors and “get into” making the lawn look better. Do a bit of weed eating, mow a nice pattern into the lawn and throw lower a bit of mulch to keep the weeds at bay? This is called fishing with regard to compliments on how great your own yard looks.

And if you are a real fisherman, fish parts from cleaning salmon plus halibut can make some great microbe food. We used to bury fish under rose bushes. If you are not really worried about bears, bury your “cleanings” in an unused part of a flower or vegetable garden. This is a great way to come back in order to gardening after you develop angling ennui.

Jeff’s Alaskan Garden Calendar

Ak Botanical Garden: Story time and yoga? Check out there www.alaskabg.org .

Deadheading: Taking spent flowers off vegetation usually encourages new plants to develop.

Mushrooms: ‘Tis the particular start associated with the main season. You might want to invest in the good mushroom ID book.

Butter and Eggs: They are up and setting buds. Take them out before seeds mature.