FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU/KTVF) – At the University of Alaska Fairbanks, a community garden that has been running since 2012 invites students and community members to join in the effort to grow produce.
The UAF Community Garden, run by students in the UAF Campus Community Garden Club and advised by Christi Kemper with the university’s Office of Sustainability, houses 146 garden beds, up from 42 when it started 13 years ago.
It lies along a walk path between the UAF campus and West Valley High School, and those who grow there are able to access the garden at all times, with the garden community holding one or two work parties a month.
The purpose of the garden, Kemper said, is “to give people that don’t have the space or that want to have, be part of a larger group gardening experience to be able to come here and do that,” especially students, who she said often won’t have space to garden at home.
This summer, produce being grown includes brassicas, peas, carrots and turnips.
“We also have people that will put, like, plastic over their garden beds and build little mini greenhouses so they can do tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers and those warm weather crops,” the advisor added.
Those plants, which typically prefer warm soil, sometimes have a hard time growing in the Interior, but varieties of these have adapted to the Alaskan weather.
The fate of the produce is up to the person who grew it, with most gardeners taking their food home. Others donate theirs to the Fairbanks Community Food Bank, for instance.
According to Kemper, the garden typically operates between late May and mid-September, with the season’s registration opening up during the spring.
Priority for garden beds is given to those who have used a certain garden bed before and want that space again, then members of the UAF community — including students, faculty and staff — and then registration is opened up to anyone in the Fairbanks community.
While years past have seen a waitlist, this year, Kemper said there were unreserved beds after an expansion of the space.
“I anticipate next year and in the years to come that we will probably have a waitlist again,” Kemper predicted.
Those who are interested in participating in future gardening years are encouraged to contact the UAF Campus Community Garden Club.
Garden beds are rented out at a price for community members, with students getting a discount on their first plot.
Kemper said free resources for people learning to garden are available from the university’s Cooperative Extension Service.
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