As the light returns to us, Alaska is once again seeing
consistent temperatures above freezing. While we may see a Chinook in December that
pops the temperature up to 50F for a few hours, we don’t see any true progress
towards summer until late March and early April. Spring equinox brings the promise of more
sunshine than night – and the slow disappearance of the many feet of snow on
our landscape. Even though things are
still white, our thoughts turn to summer gardens, hikes into the hills, and salmon
tugging at our lines.
When most of the country is already planting their gardens,
we still look outside to see frozen ground and morning frost. Here in the Interior, our typical last frost
is the 1st of June - though I have had plants nipped or killed by
frost in every month of the summer. Our
first hard frost in the fall is around August 25th. Consequently, the interior gardening
season barely reaches 90 days. Our soils
remain cold all summer. I have dug post hole
on June 15th and hit frozen dirt at three foot. In many cases, our gardens have to literally
grow on ice. The only saving grace for
Alaskan gardeners is that the 23 hours of daily sunshine we will see by the
Summer Solstice allows plants to grow virtually all day. Nonetheless, Alaskans still have to employ
many tricks to coax plants in fruiting before frosts strike. Starting seeds indoors is essential.
I already have Spring fever.
My first seeds go into flats today.
Most everyone I know is busy planting rows and rows of flats for
seedlings to be placed under lights, in warm southern windows, and anywhere
else they can get them to grow. Commercial
greenhouses are humming with activity, filled with customers seeking a brief
tropical oasis from the cold air outside even though they have little to sell. Because we have so little sunshine in winter
and heating costs are so high, most people shut their greenhouses down in
September. Once there is enough light
and solar gain to provide a large fraction of the heat, owners slowly starting
reopening them in about March or April. In
recent years, with increased heating costs, many owners significantly delay
opening their greenhouses in spite of their customers, starting seeds in tiny
flats under lights in a corner of their shop.
Only later are these small seeds are transplanted into their larger pots. These tiny bits of green serve only to tease
those of us ready for summer.
Still, in spite of the cold, the promise of rebirth strikes
our landscape as strongly as it does our southern neighbors. One of my favorite Easter pilgrimages is to
drive high up in the mountains. Here,
the brief instances of warmth have polished the snow and ice into sculptures. Frozen waterfalls glisten, hidden before by
snow and night, reflecting deep blue at their core. Ice becomes crystalline, taking on new and
unexpected forms just before it disappears for the year.
For those of us who hunker inside all winter, we find a
freedom that has been absent. Temperatures around freezing are short sleeve
weather for those of us accustomed to thirty below. As a
southern transplant, I still find it odd to see people wearing shorts and flip
flops while there is still snow on the ground.
Bicycles, sport cars, and motorcycles make their first appearances. People cook steaks on their grills, with beer
iced in snowdrifts a few feet away. In
Fairbanks, the first geese and swans to arrive always make
front page news. While Alaskans brave the winter, in truth, we
live for our glorious and brief summer. As snow turns to slush and mud, we wait impatiently
for the season to follow.
