INTRODUCTION and INDEX

INDEX 

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INTRODUCTION

Our family has gardened on our property here in Sitka, Alaska since 1984. Sitka is located on the western shore of Baranof Island in a temperate rainforest. The forest is rooted in volcanic ash atop uneven, rocky terrain. Countless hours of soggy labor went into landscaping and developing our garden beds. Finding and growing suitable flower, fruit and vegetable varieties involved lots of trial and error. So far, the outcome of our efforts has been more than favorable. No one has been more surprised and delighted with our success than we are!

We are essentially organic gardeners. Our plants are produced with fertilizers of plant or animal origin as opposed to chemically formulated fertilizers and pesticides.


Many of the flowers, herbs and vegetables we grow need to be started indoors from seed in February, March and April. We use our own seeds as well as purchased seeds. 

We use our own soil for the starts as well as locally purchased seed starting soil.



We designed our woodstove hearth to hold lots of plant trays. The woodstove warmth promotes seed germination. 

We also use electric heat mats to germinate seeds:

 

For four to six weeks after germination, the young plants get the best natural light we can offer inside our home before they go out to our greenhouse. I think it was in 1988 that we built this south facing window especially for young, tender plants.

Plants are gradually moved out of our home and into our greenhouse for hardening off. 

Hardening off acclimates the plants to our cool days and nights. The move to the greenhouse depends on plant sensitivity, size and weather. 

                                                                                                   photo by Hope Merritt

By the end of May, most plants have been moved out of the greenhouse to the outdoor garden beds.



We have grown the bulk of our vegetables in several large garden plots each year. Crops are rotated annually in these plots.

Fruit trees, flowers and berries are grown in and around the vegetable plots as well as in separate locations including this covered garden:

Our garden soil is rich and healthy. We started each of our many plots the same way. After removing as many of the tenacious salmonberry bushes and weeds as possible, we are left with soil comprised of a little organic matter and lots of volcanic ash. So we brought in equal amounts, as much as we could get, of sand and seaweed. We have never pulled attached seaweed off of rocks. We collect the loose stuff piled up at the high tide line at the top of beaches... preferably after the annual spring herring spawn. It usually included a good spattering of herring eggs.

 

Nature provides sand in a wide variety of locations. Our main source has been pockets of sand on our own and friends' properties where rivers once ran. If you need a significant quantity, we have commercial sand and gravel businesses right here in Sitka with very fair prices. 

We try to add more loose seaweed each spring to our established garden plots. We mulch our perennials with leaves and seaweed in the fall. When any of the plots need sweetening (need a higher pH), we like to till in fine, broken shell found washed up high on some beaches.

Lime is also available commercially.



After adding spring nutrients and supplements, we rototil our vegetable plots thoroughly. 

Next, we shovel the soil into raised rows or beds. We have periodically underlined raised beds with composted fish scraps and other waste of our own... as well as from local fish processing plants. No boards or other supports are necessary.

After the starts are transplanted into the rows, each row is covered loosely with a floating row cover. This is a lightweight material that keeps out insects and pests while allowing rain and sunlight to pass through. It also causes the soil temperature to increase significantly.

In earlier years, we removed many of the floating row covers permanently by the end of July. Unfortunately, this exposed our crops to late summer pests such as hungry caterpillars and destructive aphids. This forced us to keep our floating row covers in place throughout the entire season. 


When we removed the floating row covers temporarily for weeding and harvesting, healthy plants were revealed and have been truly a joy to behold!

It seems that there are as many methods of gardening as there are gardeners!

Each gardener gathers information and acquires preferences over time.

It all comes together in a unique way. In this blog, SITKAVORES, I will be sharing the Welsh family's approach to gardening... 

and our experiences gathering food in the wild in and around Sitka. We used a Boston Whaler to get around on the ocean in our early years of wild harvesting. Eventually, we acquired a larger boat enabling us to spend as many days as we wished in any of the countless bays in the Sitka area.

Once anchored in a bay, it is a small skiff that zips us around gathering delicious wild foods from both land and sea.

                                                               photo by Hope Merritt

May all of your gardening and wild harvesting endeavors 

be successful and fulfilling!

                                                                                                                                        photo by Cory Welsh

                                                                

All SITKAVORES photos are by Florence Welsh unless otherwise noted.

You are welcome to contact Florence Welsh by email: sitkavore@gmail.com