Category: Southcentral Alaska

What Your Plant Hardiness Zone Won’t Tell You About Your Garden’s Climate

 

Although we can’t predict the weather, by learning more about past weather we can make a more educated guess about the future. By understanding your garden’s microclimate, you’ll be able to choose plants that will thrive in your particular neck of the woods.

Many gardeners rely on the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for a quick and dirty way to decide what to plant based on their “zone”. Zones are also a favorite qualifier of some nurseries and seed companies. There are two main reasons I encourage you to look beyond your zone and more closely at your garden’s microclimate. For one, your zone–is based only on the “average annual extreme minimum temperature.’ For another–it is outdated. It’s developed from data from 1976 to 2005.

A map of Alaska indicating USDA Plant Hardiness Zones by color variation. Much of Northern and central Alaska consists of growing zones 1a to 2b, with coastal regions 2b to 4a and Southeast Alaska contains zones ranging from 4a to 7b.
Alaska USDA Plant Hardiness Zones.
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Homer is Passionate About Local Food–and Those Who Produce it

 

In spring of 2018 I had the happy excuse to visit five farms in Homer–to film high tunnels and season extension techniques for a YouTube series called, In the Alaska Garden with Heidi Rader. While I was there, I kind of fell in love with those farmers. Their passion, tenacity, and creativity was infectious and rekindled my own dream of being a farmer I discovered they’re innovating in lots more ways than high tunnels. I say farmers but they all also identify strongly with the term “market gardener”–a term that describes farmers who grow food predominately for direct markets using mostly low-tech, hand tools on small acreage. They are voracious readers, watchers of YouTube videos, and sharers of ideas. Some of their favorite authors and vloggers include Eliot Coleman (The Four Season Farm), Ben Hartman (The Lean Farm), Curtis Stone (The Urban Farmer), and Jean-Martin Fortier (The Market Gardener).

Heidi Rader stands with Katie Restino while she demonstrates how to cut greens with her Quick Cut Greens Harvester. The harvester is powered by a cordless drill.

Carey Restino demonstrates how to cut greens with her Quick Cut Greens Harvester. The harvester is powered by a cordless drill. Photo by Jeff Faye.

My first stop was Homer Hilltop Farm where Carey Restino has carved out a farm that winds through forest and devil’s club on Diamond Ridge. Carey exuded energy as she showed me her high tunnels and hoop houses that have helped her dramatically extend her season in a microclimate that is cooler than Homer proper due to its higher elevation. She had an impressive lineup of the latest, low-tech tools designed for market gardeners including a six-row seeder, a Quick Cut Greens Harvester, and a soil tilther to name a few. Continue reading