Gord Hannah (1:17/23) wrote to Steven Horn at 06:23 on 29 Jun 2004:

 GH>  Yes we need a bit of rain as well, the soil and forest under brush
 GH> is  very very dry and that could become very dangerous. Forest fire
 GH> hazard.

WE never did get much rain this summer and burned more hectares of forest
this summer than they did in all of Canada last year.  And Alaska has had
major forest fire problems as well. 

 GH>  I am not sure about that we have mostly a clay based soil here,
 GH> with  very little amendments done to it, our vegetable garden is in
 GH> the  community garden, which our local college has donated some
 GH> land for  it, the soil is clay based with sand mixed in and that
 GH> creates  something close to concrete.  We need peat moss, straw, 
 GH> or whatever  to provide some fiber, some cow, horse or sheep manure
 GH> would also go  a long way in helping the soil condition.  Compost
 GH> would help as well  but the compost bins we have are polluted with
 GH> dog and cat feces,  thanks to the neighbours of the college.

I've always figured that because you're south of us, you should have better
soil and I have seen the crops that farmers grow on my drives from Fort St.
John to Grimshaw and back.  But clay can be a bitch and I can see where
straw and other good stuff should help.  As for compost, I can't even get
my &^%$#{at} bin to do what it should do. :-( 

 GH> Weed control can be done with natural means just let your lawn get
 GH> longer than usual and it will choke out most weeds, except
 GH> dandelions, and those if you are inclined can be eaten, drank or
 GH> what ever.  For them industrial strength vinegar will do them in if
 GH> injected in their center. Perennial beds can be made relatively
 GH> weed free by using a mulch of either or  any combination of leaves,
 GH> straw, clean grass clippings or newspaper.

The lawn has not been a problem.  I put mulch on the perennial bed over the
winter and that helps and I'll think about putting mulch on over the summer
as well.  Most of our other beds were fine but one which had strawberries,
swiss chard and kale in it also wound up with more chickweed than I want to
see.:-(

We got a lot of zucchini though so having the hot weather was well worth it.

 GH> My wife loves Perennials as they are less work in the long haul we
 GH> have a very small amount of annuals, and intend on keeping it that
 GH> way.

Your wife's thoughts make sense to me.  However, we do like a fair number
of geraniums.

Take care,

Steven Horn (steven.horn{at}gmail.com)
Moderator, ALASKA_CHAT 
--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+