Hometown Alaska: Kick start your growing season with free mentors from Anchor Gardens

Hometown, Alaska - Alaska Public Media

Used with permission from Anchor Gardens, a free mentoring service for gardeners aimed at building tighter neighborhoods and folks who know how to grow food.

Depending on where you live, the snow is finally mostly gone. The sun is back, the earth is warming, we’ve had a little rain. The seed starts on the dining room table are about to climb out of their tiny four-packs and walk to your back yard or patio. It’s time to garden.

Anchorage is abundant with garden resources, from commercial nurseries, Cooperative Extension Service, municipal composting, nonprofits like the Alaska Botanical Garden, Yarducopia (share your yard with a gardener who doesn’t have one), municipal community gardens and more.

On today’s Hometown Alaska, we’ll introduce you to a free garden mentoring service with high ambitions. It aims to build community by connecting new gardeners with “old” gardeners, right in the same neighborhood. Their goal is to have a coach or coaches in every community council district in Anchorage. So when you get home with your flat of veggie starts and flowers and don’t know where to begin, you know who to call. Or when you realize your soil needs enriching. Or when it’s time to put the garden to bed for the season.

Anchor Gardens also has a deeper mission. Its founders take Alaska’s food insecurity issues very seriously. They aim to make sure Alaskans know how to grow their own food, and how to keep their garden soil healthy.

We’ll meet a founder of Anchor Gardens, and several mentors. Your questions and comments are welcome throughout the program. Just dial us at 550-8433 to ask your garden questions. And check out our list of useful links on the page below.

Here’s to your gardening success!

HOST: Kathleen McCoy

GUESTS:

• Cindee Karns, Anchor Gardens cofounder, permaculture practitioner
• Stefanie Gorder, Anchor Garden coach, Sand Lake area
• Fred McLeary, retired service veteran, Anchor Garden coach, Russian Jack area

LINKS:

• Anchor Gardens on Facebook
• Anchor Gardens own website
• Anchor Gardens origin story web page
• Application to join Anchor Gardens web page
• Yarducopia, Anchorage-based support for organic, regenerative, neighborhood-based gardening, website

PARTICIPATE:

• Call 550-8433 (Anchorage) or 1-888-353-5752 (statewide) during the live broadcast (10-11 a.m.)
• Send e-mail to [e-mail] before, during or after the live broadcast (E-mails may be read on air).
• Post your comment or question below (Comments may be read on air).
• LIVE: Monday, May 16, 2022 at 10 a.m.
• RE-AIR: Monday, May 16, 2022 at 8 p.m.
• PODCAST: Available on this page after the program.