Outdoor gardening in Alaska is a much shorter season than most places. We have between 100 and 120 frost free days depending on the year and the microclimate in any specific location. At my house I would lean toward about 110 days.

But, gardening doesn’t just happen outside, and it isn’t just a 110 day process. Because of our short season and our cold soil, gardening actually has to start in the house right about now!

January is the time to start planting some of the vegetables that will make their way either to my greenhouse or my garden this summer. This is very exciting for me as I love when there are green things growing either in the house or outside, or both! Probably sometime in late March or early April I will be able to move some plants out to my greenhouse, either to be planted there, or just the next step to getting them outside.

The first thing I planted almost a month ago, and won’t end up outside, but I thought I’d share because it brings me joy! Before Christmas I purchased an amaryllis bulb, they are usually on sale in December and grow well indoors. I planted it just before Christmas, and yesterday it started to bloom. These are so fun to grow, and the pop of bright red in my kitchen is absolutely beautiful.

Yesterday afternoon I began the garden and greenhouse planting.

Herbs

Rosemary and Thyme take a long time to grow, and they also grow best in the greenhouse, even after they have a good start, they like the heat. I planted 1 – 6 pack of each but will probably only need to keep 2 plants. I’ll give the other away. Each herb I plant will probably have to be planted in my house before it goes either outside or in the greenhouse.

Celery

I planted celery, sprinkling the seed powder (that’s how fine the seeds are) onto the surface of a couple of pots. As they get a little bigger, I will have to transplant them to something bigger, and then when they get moved to the greenhouse, I will plant them in their final pots they will grow in for the summer. I have only successfully grown celery once in my life, but with the greenhouse, I am excited to try again.

Onions

The last thing I planted, and the one I planted the most of is onions. I have never successfully grown onions from seed, but I have tried the past couple of years. We’ll see how this goes this year. I planted 300 onion seeds in 2 varieties (Red Wing and Patterson), 150 of each. These were planted in smaller type pots, so about 75 per pot, but will be separated and transplanted into the garden when it’s ready. I am hopeful that they will grow this year, I’ll keep you updated.

Growing a garden has become something I look forward to more and more each year. I love how much more flavor the food I grow has than what I can buy at the supermarket, especially here in Alaska. In the past I haven’t grown many herbs, but last year I did and I’m still using herbs I dried from my greenhouse. I am so surprised by how much more flavor they have than the store bought variety as well.

Gardening better, smarter, and hopefully bigger is one of my biggest goals this year.