For would-be gardeners without a place to call their own, there are three community gardening options in the Chilkat Valley.
Mosquito Lake
The Victory Garden at Mosquito Lake is a community garden run through the Four Winds Resource Center which is housed in the former Mosquito Lake School. The collective garden runs on a model of receiving fresh produce at a volume that matches the amount of work put in to grow it.
This Upper Valley garden is being managed by Sarah Ammons this year and she can be contacted at [email protected].
Some highlights this year include a new strawberry patch and a bunch of asparagus plants that will go in soon.
Ammons said the group is always looking for volunteers and the official gardening day is Sunday from 1-3 p.m. Right now, the group is doing a bit of seed planting and transplanting, as well as getting the garden reading for planting.
Klukwan/Tlákw.aan
Klukwan’s community garden is located in front of the village office. This year it’s being managed by Lani Hotch who helped to found the garden. She has been leading efforts to grow seedlings and has a number of volunteers and helpers working on the projects this year, but is always looking for more.
“We have a need for people to contribute their kitchen waste and yard waste for our compost,” Hotch said. “We need people who are raking up leaves in the yard to bag those up and bring them down.”
Hotch said the community work days are Tuesdays and Fridays and they usually start around 10 a.m. Anyone interested in volunteering can meet them at the garden.
Highlights this year include a group of dwarf fruit trees they’ve been working on for a few years.
“We’ve got, like, 30 little apricots on our apricot tree in the hoophouse,” she said. She’s also excited about the squash varieties she had success with last year, though she planted some of those starts earlier this year and, while they’re growing fast, it’s still too cold to put them out.
Haines Community Garden
The Haines Community Garden, located on the Southeast Alaska State Fairgrounds, is a series of plots that can be rented each year.
It is being managed through a community volunteer effort this year and there are still plots available.
There’s a one time costs $15 to join and an annual plot rent that is currently about 30 cents per square foot.
Audrey Smith is tracking registrations this year and will be available after May 5 to assign plots and take payment. She can be reached at 360-320-9558.