Why you need a greenhouse when you live in Alaska. Well, It is just plain icky & cold outside. It is June and has been rainy, windy and really cold, cold enough to start up our wood burning stove to take the chill out of the house every day since we got home in March.
Not much will grow in conditions like this…unless it is covered and kept from the elements outside. When I looked last it was only 48 degrees. This week it is suppose to maybe hit 65 degrees. Mid JUNE!
Sometimes I wonder how my vegetable garden is going to make it when there just isn’t much heat to help things grow! I have gardened most of my life and have always had a garden where we lived.
Living in Montana I thought was the biggest challenge to gardening, but after some trial and error, I was able to bring forth a great harvest, outside! So when we moved to Alaska I thought it would be a piece of cake, thinking it would be like gardening in Portland, Oregon where I grew up. You could put a stick in the ground there and it would grow!
After all, Alaska is on the West Coast right? Boy things take a long time to grow here. You can’t just plant a small tree and in 5 years have a huge wonderful mature tree! I don’t know if the difficulty with growing lies in the long hours of light (not heat) during the summer. Since it is light 10+ hours day. Or if it due to the lack of heat needed to warm the soil, but Alaska is a challenge for me.
Any other gardeners out there want to share some insight? I can grow potatoes and strawberries very well but when it comes to beets, carrots or chard…I just can’t get them to grow, even outside. I’ve had the soil tested and amended and use raised beds!
I think for now my plan will be to get a greenhouse for next year since I can’t grow green beans or corn outside, its just too cold…at least here in Homer, Alaska. Anchorage is a bit warmer but I couldn’t get corn or green beans to grow there either. I know the further interior to Fairbanks you get the easier it is to grow things…they have wonderful summer temps of 90 degrees. For now I grow my cucumbers in the windows of the master bathroom and my tomatoes in the southern windows of our living area.
** Greenhouse UPDATE:
Last year June I finally got my greenhouse. I had a wonderful harvest last year with tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, yellow straight neck squash and even sweet baking pumpkins and corn! And that was with a late start! I can hardly wait to begin the growing season this year. I am still learning much about greenhouse gardening in Alaska!
I’d love to hear your comments on gardening.
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What a stunning greenhouse! I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit jealous!
You have a beautiful garden, I am so jealous. I am going to take a shot at my green thumb this year by trying out some herbs. Here’s to a happy harvest!
Neat about your garden plans, and the use of the grow tent, keep your hands in the dirt and keep planting
I don’t know where you are in Alaska, butwhen I was in Anchorage a few years ago one September, I was astonished at how beautiful, lush and bright the flowers were – brighter than I’d seen anywhere. I was told its the amount of sun you get without the heat – perfect for plants.
I love your attitude, Colleen! I am looking forward to starting my first garden this summer… thankfully I won’t have to contend with the temperatures that you do! 🙂
Layne, you will love having a garden! I love to play in the dirt since I was a toddler and it just continues with my gardening 🙂 The food tastes so much better than even what you buy as “fresh” in the stores.