As these days stretch long, following the arctic sun into summer, I find myself necessarily acclimating to the onset of spring as well as the everchanging landscape of Covid 19. Sitting grizzly at times, I encourage myself to remember other uncomfortable experiences: my mother force-feeding me boiled brussel sprouts or my first encounter with poverty. Memories like these remind me to keep steady; that sometimes with the rough comes the grit needed to change.
An Alaskan farmer has a good 4 month growing season. They might squeeze another one or two if they invest in season extension with infrastructure like greenhouses, high-tunnels, and row cover. Though honestly, snow in August is not uncommon in Fairbanks, nor is a hard-frost in May. With this in mind, I was eager to experiment with forcing tulip bulbs to grow in crates this winter. Because tulip bulbs can be planted very close together, think egg-carton close, they are well adapted to growing in containers/ small spaces. Milk crates and bulb crates are ideal for forcing bulbs because they’re solid and easy to handle. Unfortunately, this far north is in short supply of both. After scouring my shelves, the dump, and soliciting friends I was able to find enough crates to handle 500 bulbs. Lining the crates with paper and filling each crate with moist potting soil and compost, I was able to get about 20 per milk crate and 50 per bulb crate. This is really a drop in the bucket compared to most flower farmers who typically plant them in bulk in shallow trenches in the fall. Because tulips need a mandatory chilling/ dormancy (not frozen!) period to stimulate growth, I stacked the crates in a root cellar with the temp holding steady at 35F. After 12 weeks the early varieties started sending up shoots. Crates are heavily watered and then promptly moved to a warmer greenhouse to grow on. Now they are coming in waves, beautiful tulipy waves. I feel like this is particularly fitting for these Covid times as we’re all out of our element, but like these little beauties, we’re finding ways to push through and adapt.
