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Growing Tips for the Juneau Community Garden
The Juneau Community Garden is a community resource providing growing space for people in Juneau that need a place to garden. We provide 10’ X 20’ plots in the main garden for growing plants up to three feet tall and small “climbing beds” on the north edge of the garden for growing taller things like climbing beans, peas, or Jerusalem artichokes. Some plots are also maintained to benefit the garden as a whole – several ornamental beds, an herb bed, and a number of charity plots, which are planted and tended to produce food for non-profit groups, such as the Food Bank, the Glory Hole, and the Juneau Senior Center. We have an enclosed building with space for administrative stuff, bulletin boards and notices, the pump for the water system, and a room for tool storage and minor maintenance. We also have a large covered shelter that was constructed in 2003 and serves as a picnic spot and meeting area. The land is leased on a year-to-year basis from the City and Borough of Juneau. We are administered by the division of Parks and Recreation. The garden is open to the public, subject to our hours and administrative rules.
Resources: The garden now has available most of the resources you need for gardening here. We have supplies of soil components: aged manure, sand, and brewer’s grain from the Alaska Brewery. We also have a large supply of wood chips for mulching around the beds to keep down the weeds or even on the beds if you choose to. Some of the chips have composted to the point they can be used as soil amendments as well. We have tried making compost, with only limited success, but we hope to do better in the future. We have a reasonably reliable water system, based on a well and pressurized by a pump. We have acquired a range of tools – shovels, rakes, hoes, a couple of picks, manual weed whackers, etc. There are at least a half dozen sturdy wheelbarrows. We also have two small power tillers, several string trimmers for cutting back grass and weeds, and a power lawn mower. We expect you to provide your own specific soil amendments and fertilizers, as well as hand tools like trowels and hand cultivators.
Security: Because we are open to the public but have no full-time human presence, we have a number of security concerns. The garden is protected by an electrified fence that surrounds the entire garden. The gates are not electrified. The gate that continues the fence line across the entry road should be closed at all times. There is also a lockable bar gate at the entrance on Montana Creek Road which is left open during the day in the gardening season.
Recommendations: One of the best ways to get ideas and suggestions for gardening here is just walking through the garden and seeing what and how other people do it. Here are some specific suggestions: Because of the climate and the angle of the sun, we recommend that you have raised beds. This improves drainage and warms the soil. Many people have gone to the work and expense of enclosing the beds with boards, but it is easily done with rocks or just mounding the soil up. Good gardening soil should be loose and well-drained and supply good nutrition for your plants. For heavy, clayey soil, consider adding sand and the older brewer’s grain. The grain adds some nutrients, but should not be considered fertilizer. However, it adds excellent texture to the soil. Aged manure is better, and compost is excellent. We also have newer brewer’s grain, which is high in nutrients, but should be used sparingly, because it can burn tender, new plants. The frequent rainfall in Juneau tends to leach out nutrients, especially through the fall and winter, so you need to add organic matter each year. If you are in the semi-organic part of the garden, a non-organic fertilizer is a way to get a quick start, but realize that you should start now adding organic material that will be available to your plants later in the season and next year. Also, our soil tends to be acidic and you may need to add lime each year, except where growing potatoes, which like the acid. The Cooperative Extension Service provides a soil testing service. They provide an analysis of the soil and recommendations for improving the composition, the pH, and the nutrient content.
Another common practice in forming your beds is to cover your mounded soil with a layer of at least 3-mil black visquean and cut an X-shaped hole just big enough for your plant. This eliminates a lot of weeding and tends to raise the soil temperature.
To grow plants that require warmer conditions and/or drier soil, you might consider covering a portion of your plot with clear visquean supported by a wooden framework or plastic pipes bent like covered wagon staves to make a sort of greenhouse. This approach requires monitoring, so that you provide adequate ventilation and don’t cook your plants, and hand watering since they don’t get direct rain.
Some people have added wire fencing to enclose their plot. This can be decorative and, at the same time, keep out critters, which is an ongoing problem we have to address.
The conventional wisdom is that the chance of killing frost is about gone by May 8th. Potatoes can go in before that and some seeds, but tender started plants are risky before that.
What to plant: The Alaska Cooperative Extension Service has publications and handouts recommending types and varieties of ornamental plants and food crops that do well here. Also, the local nurseries stock varieties that have proven themselves here. Ask other gardeners for recommendations. If you are a beginning gardener, here are my suggestions for food crops:
Potatoes: They’re practically foolproof. You are almost guaranteed a crop, regardless of the weather. Pests don’t bother them and they require little care. Harvesting is a bit like checking your stocking Christmas morning; you don’t know for sure what’s there, try some other varieties and colors.
Root Vegetables: Carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas all have similar culture, and as long as the soil is reasonably drained and not acidic, they will do well.
Lettuce: Leaf lettuce grows quickly and likes our cool weather. Plant a short row every two weeks and you will have a continuous supply through the summer.
Kale: It loves our weather, grows easily, and doesn’t seem to attract pests. It is excellent nutritionally and you can keep harvesting the outer leaves and let it grow. Red Russian is an excellent variety here, but experiment.
Cole crops: All of the cabbage family vegetables do well here, but they are subject to root maggots and you would do well to cover them with remay (also called “floating row cover”) for the first part of the season. Always choose early varieties.
Garlic: Garlic is normally plant in the fall, but I wanted to mention it, because it grows very well here and pests don’t bother it. It is a special treat to cook with your own garlic. The hardneck varieties are recommended for their keeping qualities.
Rhubarb: Another basic in this area. If you like it, you can grow all you can use with almost no effort.
Zucchini: The summer squash usually like warmth, but under plastic they do well with our long days. If not under plastic, they have a tendency to rot at the flower end, so remove the flowers as soon as the fruit sets.
Other Resources:
UAF Cooperative Extension Service
1108 F. St, Ste. 213 (Bill Ray Center)
Juneau, AK 99801
907-796-6221
Look for Gardening in Southeast Alaska from the Juneau Garden Club. It contains a wealth of information specific to Juneau. It is now in its third edition. It is available in bookstores and all the libraries and on reserve at UAS.
--Alan Davis, Membership Coordinator
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