Page last updated on 21 December 2007

Fruits and vegetables

I've learned a lot from the people in the community about how to garden in such an extreme climate. Lots of people around here maintain beautiful and productive gardens. The learning curve around here is steep, too. Either you start out in the right place or the whole season is gone.

In the past few years I've been following local advice along with the extension service veggie seed list with good luck. Along with that, I'm following the advice from that gardener in Tromso, Norway, who has his own gardening web page. He said many varieties can do well in the Arctic, but there haven't been many attempts at gardening this far north, so catalogues and books don't mention the variety for this climate.

There's a good example of that on the cabbage page. I had cabbage seed left over from Oregon (from a pack of 1989 seeds!). The seeds were January King, an overwintering variety that said something like 220 days on the packet. I grew them anyhow. The heads came out large and beautiful, and right on schedule for my garden. Hmmmmmm.

Cabbage

Kale