Gardening

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, March 2019; written by Lisa Pearson.

As evidenced by the strong turnout for our recent gardening mini-conference, there is a great deal of local interest in gardening, beekeeping, and all things agricultural. This makes perfect sense, really. We live in the middle of a lush rainforest that’s constantly encroaching into places where we don’t want things to grow. Surely, we should be able to grow things intentionally here, even taking into account our daylight, precipitation, and soil pH.

In order to make things easier – and more enjoyable – for people who would like to try their hand at growing, the Ketchikan Public Library has a range of materials available to help. Foremost of these is our Seed Library. With over 245 varieties of vegetable, herb, flower, and fruit seeds, the Seed Library is a perfect way to experiment with new plants. To “check out” the seeds, simply stop by the front desk for directions. The seeds are free, you don’t need a library card to use the Seed Library, and we are always willing to accept donations of leftover seeds from the current year.

For seasonally-appropriate inspiration, you can thumb through some of our gardening and agricultural magazines. Journals such as “Fine Gardening” and “Country Gardens” are full of beautiful photos and landscaping ideas perfect for flower gardeners. For those interested in organic, sustainable food production we have “Heirloom Gardener” and “Edible Alaska”, which also contains a lot of great information about foraging and seafood in Alaska. If you are looking to raise poultry and small livestock, build your own greenhouse, raised beds or tomato cages, or any other homesteading project, you can pick up “Backyard Poultry” magazine or “Self-Reliance”.

Some people are more visual learners and enjoy watching experts share their secrets (hence the popularity of cooking shows). We have several videos that cover a variety of topics, including gardening preparation and maintenance, seed starting, pruning and lawn care. If you are seeking in-depth explanations, I recommend the Great Courses videos: “Food Gardening for Everyone”, “Make Your Trees and Shrubs Thrive”, and “Container Gardening Tips and Techniques”. These videos are presented by horticulturalist Melinda Myers, and come with guidebooks.

With over 350 gardening books on the shelves, the library collection covers topics ranging from the Alaska master gardener handbook to Zen gardens. We even have a book on how to grow cactus. Keeping our special climate considerations in mind, we try to focus on Pacific Northwest gardening, shade gardening, small space & container gardening, and cool climate vegetable gardening. Don’t have a lawn? Check out “Beautiful no-mow yards: 50 amazing lawn alternatives” by Evelyn Hadden. Wondering what varieties of flowers and vegetables will do best here in Ketchikan? “Gardening in Southeast Alaska” by the Juneau Garden Club is the best guide for local growers. “Color in rain country: growing flowers in Southeastern Alaska” by Bridgit Smith is another excellent source.

My personal favorite of all our gardening books is “High-value veggies” by Mel Bartholomew. Gardening can be a lot of work, and this book takes a clinical approach to planting. Are the varieties you’re planting worth the time, space, and soil you’re investing? Bartholomew breaks down the most popular types of produce to look at yield per foot, the cost of growing per pound, retail value, and the return on investment. The numbers may have to be tweaked to accurately reflect Ketchikan’s high retail costs and low water costs (really, how often do we irrigate here?), but the overall picture remains true and gives busy gardeners a good idea of how to get the most bang for their agricultural buck.

So whether you are a first-time gardener or a seasoned hand looking for exotic varieties and landscape challenges to tackle, the Ketchikan Public Library has the resources to help.