how far north can gardens grow?

[longrider]

Just how far north is it practical to get a growing season out of the ground. and how long is the season. does corn, carrots, taters and various bush beans grow there?

my intentions are to move into the bush west of Fairbanks. it is possible that i may go somewhere else but i need to do some more homework.

[theouthousegang]

Longrider, corn is pretty much a lower 48er crop, enjoy it while you've got it down there! The soil stays to cool for to long into the growing season for reliable germination and our growing season is very short. We have grown it, but it's never gotten to a harvestable size, they always looked like those pickled minature corns you can buy at the store! Beans are pretty much hit or miss at best, some years the season is conducive to growing them others not. Recently we have had better production by using short season bush bean varieties and covering the soil each fall with a new layer of black, soil cover fabric which captures and holds the suns heat earlier and longer through the growing season. Even so we only got enough beans for about 2 quarts out of the canner last year. Now carrots and "taters" are another story altogether! Carrots do exceptionally well just about anywhere you plant them up here (just about), potatoes also do well, depending on where and how you plant them, ours are grown in raised beds in full sun. If you employ the stackable box method, you can almost double your production from each plant. Peas have always been a good producer for us as well, we always have abundant peas! We have also had good production from Cabbage, spinach, brocholli, califlower, zuchinni, turnips, parsnips, lettuce, and beets. We have had very limited sucess with cucumbers, and some varieties of cherry tomatoes. Using cold frames and or a greenhouse would help expand your options for vegetable varieties as well. I would suggest getting some books on the subject of gardening in Alaska. Two books that we have found to contain a wealth of information are: The Alaska Gardeners Handbook, written by Lenore Hedla and published by High North Press and Alaska's Farms and Gardens compiled and published by The Alaska Geographic Society. I guess when its all said and done though, your only going to know what does best at your particular location by good old trial and error. (Hey, its worked for us so far, I have a high production cherry tree to prove it too!)

[longrider]

well sed, thank you very much! i will check out those references soon.