Growing A Greener Kenai

Casey Matney and Marion Nelson join Larry for tips on getting your garden ready for spring... whenever it finally arrives

It's time to get your garden tools cleaned up and ready for the season. Be sure your hand tools are disinfected to prevent any spread of disease through your plants. See if your beds can be worked or if they're still to cold and muddy. Gardening success is measured by how well your preparations are. Good Growing.

With the usual snows and cold weather we get on the central Kenai Peninsula, it's imperative we prepare our gardening beds the best we can to enhance and prepare the soil for a successful planting season.

Determine what your seeds need to enhance successful germination and then how to take care of those seedlings to ensure the most optimum viability for a prosperous garden.

Tips on starting your seeds for transplanting or direct sowing and how to care for the seedlings until ready to transplant.

The start of season 5 with a look back at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show held in Seattle from Feb 18-22, 2026

Got a gardener on your shopping list? Larry's got ideas for getting a green thumbs up!

Larry and Casey talk about what worked for your garden in 2025 and what to do for preparing for a successful garden season in 2026

* I can't show the full recipes as read on the show. If you will email me at growingagreenerkenai@kdll.org, I will send you the recipes in full. You've worked hard in the garden, too hard to let your produce not be taken care of. Here's a list of Larry's favorite recipes using much of the produce coming from his garden.

It's the time of year when gardeners are beginning to harvest crops from a summer of hard work. We all work too hard not to properly preserve our harvests to last us through the winter. Today, my friend David Rigall, a retired landscape architect, and I will discuss preserving the harvest and also discuss how indigenous peoples throughout the millennia stored their food.

No garden is complete without some experimentation and some mistakes. That's why Larry is going to try to grow Brussels sprouts again this year. Also this week, a rainy start to the summer, figuring out fertilizer, and the chase for a great tomato.

Larry gives an update on his greenhouse and tips for great growing this year

Larry shares tips for keeping plants warm and healthy in early summer days where the temperature still falls low.

Larry talks readying a space to get gardening as the weather starts to improve.

Casey Matney, PHD, and head of the University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service discusses the best options to have a successful garden in our central Kenai Peninsula growing zone 4.

Now's the time to prep for spring.

Have a gardener on your holiday list? Larry has gift ideas to make other gardeners green with envy.

Tips for storing, saving, freezing, canning, cellaring and enjoying your summer garden goodies throughout the winter.

'Tis the season to review garden's successes and failures to prep for next year

Got tomatoes? Then you've got Larry's favorite way to use tomatoes.