Wondering if you can get by using some of last year’s seeds? For lettuce, parsnip, and parsley, the answer is ‘no’. Other seeds have a better longevity. Check out the below chart that was produced by Colorado State University Extension:
Summer 2014 Kick-Off Meeting
Time to think about gardening for this coming summer! Our kick-off meeting will be on April 10 at 5pm! More details in the poster below.
The sign-up form for the garden is at http://tinyurl.com/2014UAFGardenForm.
Seed Starting Schedules
Schedules courtesy of Holm Town Nursery
And a couple charts with optimal temperatures and duration for germination (from http://cultivatorscorner.com)
UAF Campus Community Garden in the Newsminer
Hot Springs Gardening of Yore
There are several hot springs around Alaska and most have been used at one time or another for gardening. The ground around the springs usually stays frost-free year-around and the warm water was used for irrigation.
One example is Pilgram Hot Springs (originally called Kruszgamepa Hot Springs) which is located on the left bank of the Pilgrim River some 60 road miles north of Nome. In the days of gold mining on the Seward Peninsula (1989-1918), the property was a recreation center for miners attracted by its spa baths, saloon, dance hall and roadhouse. A fairly large area around the hot springs is free of permafrost and was used for gardening/agriculture starting in the 1890’s. First the produce fed the miners in and around Nome. Then the roadhouse and saloon burned down in 1908 and the property was giving to Father Lafortune who turned the ranch into a mission and orphanage around the time of the 1918 influenza epidemic. Now the farm and gardens of the mission helped to make it, in large part, self-supporting.
Photo credit: Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, Nome, Alaska, Accession # McLain 399
Cabbage patch, Hot Springs, Alaska, near Nome. Time Period: 1896 to 1913, Photo credit: AMRC-b65-18-74, Fred Henton Collection.
Three men in a potato patch in Pilgrim Hot Springs, Alaska. 1907. Photo credit: UAF-1973-203-30, Cordelia L. M. Noble Collection.
Photo credit: Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, Nome, Alaska, Accession # McLain 395
Photo credit: Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, Nome, Alaska, Accession # McLain 394
Photo credit: Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum, Nome, Alaska, Accession # McLain 390
Gardening was conducted around other hot springs in Alaska as well. The below images are from Manley Hot Springs from around the same era.
Wheat field, Manley Hotsprings, Alaska. Photo credit: AMRC-b01-41-159, O.D. Goetze Collection.
Potato field, Manley Hot Springs, Alaska. Photo credit: AMRC-b01-41-160, O.D. Goetze Collection.
Corn field, Hot Springs, Alaska. Photo credit: UAF-1989-166-602-neg nitrate, Albert Johnson Photograph Collection, 1905-1917.
Corn needs warmer soil temperatures than we currently have in Alaska (outside of the hot springs areas that is) but according to work done by Nicole Swenson for her master’s project the soil temperatures in Alaska are predicted to rise. She used SNAP projected air temperature data in a modified soil thermal flux model and projected soil temperatures to the end of the century. So corn might become a viable crop in these latitudes in the not so distant future.
And below is an image from an interior view of a greenhouse in the Tanana Valley (if you look closely you can see a squash with “Caro Hot Springs” carved onto its surface):
Vegetables, Tanana Valley, Alaska.
Photo credit: Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277.
Things are growing in the garden
Despite the non-existent spring this year, the summer has been fabulous for growing things. Lots of zucchini, of course, but also strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, herbs and lot of other things. Check out the latest pictures from the UAF Community Garden:
(click to go to the photo album on our Facebook page)
Weekend Work Party
Lots of gardeners came out last weekend and helped to get the garden ready for the summer. We now have 102 garden plots and there are 11 plots that are still unreserved (so if you still want a plot, make your reservations now). We also extended the fence and installed the water tanks.
(click to go to the photo album on our Facebook page)
The soil was obtained from Great Northwest and is a 70/30 gardening mix (70% peat and 30% sand). All that is left for the gardeners to do is add some organic compost to the mix. It takes about 2-20 lb bags of composted manure per gardening plot (one option is composted steer manure from Lowe’s for $2.50/bag, another is compost from the Wastewater Treatment Plant for $20 a truck load). Adding compost helps the growth of the plants and retain soil moisture (cutting down on watering requirements). To determine which manure is best, the soil can be tested with a soil testing kit or by dropping off a soil sample for testing at the Fairbanks Soil and Water Conservation District (FSWCD).
The Fairbanks SWCD publishes a poster with all the relevant soils in the Fairbanks area (To download the large format .pdf just click on the picture below):
The resource page for Alaska soils at the UAF Cooperative Extension Service is located here, and the page at the Fairbanks SWCD is located here.
