By Stan and April Trekell
In Alaska we have to start our tomatoes or greens early when there is still inches and feet of snow on the ground and temperatures are in the teens or twenties. We have successfully grown Swiss chard, various kales, spinach and beet varieties such as Detroit reds, Chiggogia and golden. All of these including the beet greens we use in morning shakes. Many people think this sounds yucky. Personally I do not care for the taste of beets but all of these are chocked full of vitamins and nutrition for your immune system. Let me digress for a moment to tell you how we used these year round. We pattaed these in a Vitamix and pour in old-fashioned ice trays. The “cubes” are then placed in ziplock bags, placed in the freezer to be used each morning. Our morning shakes consist of 4 vegetable cubes, a handful of frozen diced beets, frozen blueberries, half of a banana, half an apple (to disguise taste of beets) chia seeds and almond milk. You can add a scoop of soy protein powder for a delicious shake.
Tomato seeds are started 6 weeks before putting in a heated greenhouse (still 25 degrees outside) and green seeds are started under the grow lights. Greens are set out in the garden when danger of frost is ended. They thrive in the cool weather. The garden soil is 1/3 sand, 1/3 soil/ peat and 1/3 compost. I use a heavy construction nylon fabric over the garden rows with X’s cut for the seedlings.
I use old siding or plywood strips to walk between rows. Some folks are opposed to using rail ties or treated wood for raised bed siding; however I lap over black visqueen to prevent contamination. Also successful with carrots, peas, broccoli and bokchoy. The vegetables grow quickly and very large due to the soil combination but also the cool climate and long daylight (20+ hours) Start your garden early and enjoy!!