Garden Plans

So we are still two months away from gardening season here. We normally can't plant until sometime in mid-May for seeds and then after Memorial Day for plants. But the sun is shining here and it is beautiful out and when I went to the grocery store today I saw that their seeds are out. Here is what I am planning to grow this year.

Wild Alaskan Strawberries-These have already wintered over in the garden. Hopefully the will come back. They are hardy so it shouldn't be a problem. Wild strawberries are much smaller, but they can also be much sweeter than the ones you get in the store. I am going to have to watch them closely though as they will take over the garden if I am not careful!

Lettuce and Spinach-I always grow lettuce in the summer...too much lettuce that I have to give it away! It grows like a weed here. I am going to try spinach this year for the first time.

Peas and Beans-Peas grow real well here. Beans are another issue. I have to grow them under black plastic. I basically mound my rows and lay black plastic down. I then cut X's in the plastic and put a seed in the dirt under each hole in the plastic. The beans grow up through the holes and the plastic warms the soil enough for the beans to produce. This year I am doing a variety that is purple (easier to see them this way...to find them and pick them), but they turn green when cooked.Carrots-We love carrots here!!! Alaska is great place to grow carrots. I can't stand the carrots in the grocery stores because they tend to be bitter. So I can't wait every year until our carrots are ready to be harvested!!! I am going to grow Scarlet Nantes (which I have grown every year since I first started gardening in 2001), a rainbow blend of carrots (we did these last year and they turned out great!), and a new type of carrot, Parisian Market, which grow like balls instead of the normal stick-like shape. I am hoping to put the Parisian Market carrots in containers to save on space in my garden.Cilantro (and maybe a few more herbs) and beets-I love cilantro so we are going to try to grow it this year since I learned how to freeze herbs for future use. I might try basil, too. In the past few years I have also done beets. I wasn't really fond of beets, but Tim loves them. I have come to enjoy them (fresh...never canned). We are going to try this variety this year...more cylindrical than regular beets.I am going to attempt to plant bell pepper plants again this year in containers. They didn't do well last year because we had a cold growing season, but I am hoping for better results. I will also do maybe two zucchini plants in very large containers. I am so excited! Now if the snow would just melt so that we can get started!