Jeff Lowenfels

I will soon hit the 50-year mark of writing this column. I know. It seems like yesterday that I told Kay Fanning I could and would give the ADN a garden column.

This is the time of year when color bleeds into the scenery. Days are warmer, though definitely not warm enough! You can now see a red hue among the tree limbs as buds develop.

Let me jump around a bit this week (not that I don't always jump around in these columns!).

Lawn poisons, as you know, are not allowed hereabouts. As a consequence we have fields of dandelions, with so many more developing every year.

It can be used for stand-alone interest, to blend in with some of the plant features in your yard, or to provide texture for your garden beds.

To make compost, you need a pile that is at least 3 feet cubed and composed of brown and green yard wastes. This pile does not have to be in the sun as it has nothing to do with heating the pile, since it is microbial activity in the pile that creates and maintains the heat.

Housed in the SEED Lab at the Anchorage Museum, the library has available augers, tillers, pruners, shovels and much more.

Heat waves impact different hobbies in different ways. When it comes to gardening in Alaska, the hose you might only need at the start of the season, all of a sudden becomes a full-time gardening tool.

My uncle was extremely hard of hearing. You had to really speak in a loud voice even when he had his hearing aids in. He also got most of his exercise walking.

There is probably lots of cow parsnip all over the Lower 48 states, but I don't remember ever seeing it while living there. You can't miss it here, that is for sure.