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ANCHORAGE GARDEN TIPS |
The Best Plants for my Anchorage, Alaska Garden
and What I Learned the Hard Way |
NEW IN 2007 - read step by step how to get a great garden growing,
and get your questions answered,
by visiting my blog at Gail's Anchorage garden blog |
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Anchorage gardeners face the challenges of a short growing season and cool soil. However, we have lots of daylight and few disease and insect problems. I've been gardening in Anchorage since 1983. Here are a few things I wish I had known right away:
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1) Learn what specific variety works for this area. Ask the Extension Service, knowledgeable neighbors, or take a class. I wasted a lot of time on sickly celery until my friend's mother told me about Utah 52-70.
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2) Make raised beds for your vegetables. The soil warms sooner in the spring, and you get lots more production because you can focus on improving the soil there.
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3) Plant some crabapple trees and locally grown asparagus right away, because they take years to become productive. I have one little Rescue and one Dolgo crabapple tree that keep me, my husband and another family supplied with sauce and jelly. However, young trees must be protected or moose will eat them to nubs, I am told. I have lost the name of the asparagus.
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4) Draw on a piece of paper what is in your yard now. Do the same for what you would like your yard to look like. Each year, make a new drawing showing your progress towards your goal. Some of my most enjoyable gardening moments are in February when the snow is deep, envisioning the garden of my dreams. If you don't have a plan, you will be sure to never get there!
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This page shows the plants I have found most reliable and productive. They have produced the most pleasure for the least work. To see a list of all the plants I have kept records on in my garden, with comments on most, click on my mind meld:GAIL'S GARDEN MIND MELD
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Flowers
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| Why I like it |
Common name |
Variety |
Latin name |
Company |
| Easy, spectacular basket plant with deep-colored copious blooms. |
begonia |
nonstop |
Begonia |
Burpee |
| Easy to grow in shade. Attractive leaves. |
bergenia |
red start |
Bergenia |
Thompson & Morgan |
| Very easy to grow, large clumps of white flowers with yellow centers. |
feverfew |
white wonder |
Chrysanthemum parthenium |
Shepherds |
| A spectacular bloomer for these parts although not always winter-hardy. |
gloriosa daisy |
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Rudbeckia |
Burpee |
| Reliable, good bloomer with pleasant smell. |
marigold |
lemon gem |
Tagetes signata |
Shepherd's |
| Easy grower, exotic looking blooms. |
monkey flower |
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Mimulus luteus |
Pinetree Garden |
| Carefree, heavy bloomer of delicate white sprays. Many yarrows do well here. |
yarrow |
the pearl |
Achillea |
Burpee |
Herbs |
| Easy to grow, tall majestic striking plant. |
angelica |
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Angelica archangelica |
Territorial |
| Reliable winter-hardy producer. I got them from a neighbor but I think most chives would do well here. |
chives |
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from yard |
| A vigorous perennial herb. Reputedly edible, but I just enjoy having a carefree plant that's taller than me. Birds eat the seeds. |
lovage |
wild type |
Levisticum officinale |
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| Reliable perennial green. Spicy lemon-pepper flavor, use in small amounts mixed with other greens. |
sorrel |
garden sorrel |
Rumex |
Burpee |
Vegetables |
| If you want traditional celery, this is the variety for here. |
celery |
utah 52-70 |
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Pinetree Garden |
| Very productive and easy. Stems are like celery, leaves are like parsley. |
celery |
Zwosche krul or Par-Cel |
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Chilterns |
| Easy, very productive, gorgeous colors, excellent flavor. |
chard |
bright lights |
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Shepherds |
| Reliable large harvests of excellent flavor. |
peas |
sugar snap |
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Denali |
| Good producer, scab resistant. Alaska potatoes are almost disease-free, please use only Alaska certified seed potatoes. |
potato |
scab resist |
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Me |
| Reliable large harvests of excellent flavor. |
snap pea |
sugar ann |
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Denali |
| Sungold reliably produces lots of incredibly sweet fruit outside in pots on my deck. Doesn't need a greenhouse. |
tomato |
Sungold |
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Territorial |
| Stupice reliably produce lots of sweet fruit in my greenhouse window. Outside, they are sometimes still green by frost. |
tomato |
stupice |
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Seeds Trust |
| This variety is the most reliable over the years. Zukes need a sunny year. |
zucchini |
black jack |
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Lily Miller |
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