May 6!!- Its Garden Season in Inuvik

Gardening season in Inuvik officially starts today with the opening of the Inuvik Greenhouse to its membership. This facility is both the community garden and the commercial greenhouse, although plant sales in the commercial greenhouse will begin at a much later date then the opening of the community plots. The Inuvik Greenhouse is definitely the hub of gardening in Inuvik but there are a lot of other garden opportunities in our community also.

 

Despite being north of the Arctic Circle there is a lot of gardening that takes place in Inuvik. we might have a very short growing season but with 24 hour sunlight for most of the summer season there is still a lot of growing that can take place.

• The Inuvik Community Greenhouse is 125 member gardens and 15 community gardens and is situated in an old, converted hockey arena. The season runs from May until September. This is the primary local for vegetable growing/production in Inuvik and is a huge part of summer time activities in the community.
• The number of raised garden beds in people's yards is increasing in Inuvik. With ideas stemming from Facebook, Pinterest and social media, homeowners are experimenting more and more with growing vegetables in their own yards. Plastic covers and cold frame ideas can greatly extend the growing season for home gardens in Inuvik. To date I have only tried growing potatoes at home but with only 1 season of trying this I have produced a great crop of potatoes. I will be expanding my potatoe boxes this year and will Blog on this soon.
• Flower beds and flower pots have always been popular in Inuvik and people take much pride in purchasing their bedding plants and creating beautiful flower gardens at home. For some this may be full sized garden beds in their yards and for others this may be a few flower pots on an apartment balcony. In my opinion this is ALL gardening.
• Small scale vegetable production at home is increasing in popularity also. This could be pots of herbs in the kitchen, tomotoe plants in pots on the balcony or lettuce in a small garden box. People are experimenting more and more with this growing.
• You still hear of people having gardens at the camps along the Mackenzie River system. These could be very old gardens full of potatoes, carrots and lettuce or might be new gardens people have made to ensure fresh produce during their time spent at camp. There is definitely a history of these garden throughout the region.

So many options for food production and growing vegetables to increase the variety, accessibility and quality of food in Inuvik. For now, my focus is on my garden plots at the Inuvik Greenhouse but once those are set up I will turn my attention to my own yard and growing opportunities.

S.