When Larry Opperman was in the first grade, he threw navy beans into his backyard and watched them grow. In the third grade, he started his own garden — “I’ve been gardening one way or another ever since.”
Gardening takes a lot of different forms, Opperman said at a coffee shop last month. In the different places he’s grown everything from large gardens to a handful of pots on a porch.
“Gardening is different to a lot of people, but it’s one of those things where you can just lose your mind in what you’re doing,” he said. “It’s cool to see, from a little tiny seed, that thing come up. You take care of it. It’s good for the soul.”
Some people garden to save money or to become more involved with the production of their food. Others do it to relax — Opperman said he favors a glass of wine sipped in his greenhouse under the patter of falling rain.
For the last few years, Opperman has been working to share his love of gardening and help people get into the soil themselves — via a show broadcast during the summers on local public radio station KDLL 91.9 FM titled “Growing a Greener Kenai.”
The show runs the first and third Saturday of each month, starting for the coming season on April 5. Each episode runs for an hour from 11 a.m. to noon without any interruptions, and archived episodes can also be heard at kdll.org or on podcast services under “Growing a Greener Kenai.” The season will conclude in September, with a couple of specials during the winter months.
In “Growing a Greener Kenai,” Opperman says he works to share tips and discussion around gardening in the central Kenai Peninsula. The differences in microclimates mean that the gardening experience would be different almost anywhere in the state.
“It would be a different program if I was doing the program in Palmer,” he said.
The central Kenai Peninsula has a “zone 4a and 4b” climate, Opperman said, in reference to the plant hardiness zone categorization maintained by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The scale runs from 1 to 13, with the lower numbers reflecting colder climes less accommodating to some plants. In Kenai and Soldotna, Opperman said, people can find success growing plants like radishes, lettuce, beets, turnips, carrots, broccoli and celery.
It helps, Opperman said, for a gardener to grow something they’re actually interested in eating.
“If you hate broccoli, don’t grow broccoli.”
Last month, Opperman hosted a special February episode, “Sewing the seeds of a good summer,” where he laid out plans to pick seeds, test soil and strategies for hitting the ground running this season. When the show returns to the airwaves next month, it’ll be time to get to work.
“It’s going to be ‘OK, folks, this is where you should be’,” he said. “Hopefully you’ve got your seeds in hand and you’ve got a plan for your garden.”
Over the coming months, Opperman will continue the discussion about growing things locally, featuring updates on his garden and discussions with other experts from the local area and beyond. Last year, Opperman said he featured Bobbie Jackson of Jackson Gardens, who has “forgotten more than I probably will ever know when it comes to gardening.”
He’ll discuss when the best time is to start planting different crops — some plants should be started from seed inside before going outside at the right time. As the season unfolds, he’ll get into composting, harvesting and preserving.
The goal of the show, he said, is to help people get into gardening and to find success in growing things — “everybody can learn something from gardening.”
It doesn’t take much to get started, Opperman said. “You’d be surprised how much food will grow in a four-by-four box.” Just soil and seeds can get someone started at gardening.
Beyond just the radio show, Opperman said there are many resources available to help local folks get their gardens off the ground. There are documents and information available from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension office on Kalifornsky Beach Road. The Central Peninsula Garden Club is an active local group sharing advice both on Facebook and at monthly meetings — there’s a roundtable session with a wide array of presenters scheduled for this month’s meeting on March 15 at Kenai Peninsula College starting at 1 p.m.
The Facebook group, Opperman said, is a tremendous resource — “ask a question and a bunch of gardeners will actually give you some advice.”
More information and archived episodes of “Growing a Greener Kenai” can be found at kdll.org/show/growing-a-greener-kenai. It can also be found by visiting kdll.org and clicking “Programs” then finding “Growing A Greener Kenai” on the alphabetized list.
Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.
Larry Opperman, host of “Growing a Greener Kenai” radio show on local public radio station KDLL 91.9 FM, shows off a carrot. (Photo provided)
“Growing a Greener Kenai” airs during the summers on local public radio station KDLL 91.9 FM.
Larry Opperman, host of “Growing a Greener Kenai” radio show on local public radio station KDLL 91.9 FM, shows off a cabbage. (Photo provided)
