Humongous Vegetables
This summer, I visited Alaska. The Alaskan State Fair was in the news at the time. The state fair in
Palmer, Alaska began on August 23rd and lasted until September 3rd. In Alaska, like in many states, the
State Fairs have contests for the largest vegetables. But, what surprised me was just how big those
Alaskan vegetables grew.
Now Alaska is colder than where I live and the growing season seems to be shorter since the winter is
beginning right now. How could they grow such big vegetables?
I did a little research. Anchorage is one of the most southern cities in Alaska and it is 58o north of the
equator = latitude. Juneau, also a southern city, is at 61o latitude. Barrow, Alaska is one of the most
northern cities in Alaska at 71o latitude. Barrow is above the Arctic Circle.
Anchorage’s growing season is from the middle of May to near the end of September. Before May 17th and
after September 23rd there are usually killing frosts. So the growing season for Anchorage is from May 17th
through September 23rd.
1. How many days are in the growing season of Anchorage.
Hint
 There are 31 days in May,
 30 days in June,
 31 days in July, and
 31 days in August.
2. The State fair where these two vegetables were entered was in Palmer. Palmer, Alaska is one of
the most fertile areas of Alaska and is known for the tremendous vegetables that are produced
there. But, Palmer is at almost 62o latitude. Palmer is 42 miles northeast of Anchorage and its
growing season this year was only from June 4, 2012 to August 26, 2012. How long is the growing
season in Palmer?
3. How does Palmer’s growing season compare with the length of growing seasons listed below?
Here are some other cities that are known for their great crops.
City
State
Average earliest frostAverage first killing
free date
frost date
Palmer
AK
June 4
Aug 26
Sacramento
CA
Feb. 10
Dec. 4
Tampa
FLA
Jan 28
Jan 3
Savana
GA
Mar 1
Nov 25
Topeka
KA
Apr 19
Oct 11
Boise
ID
May 10
Oct 6
Cedar Rapids
IO
Apr 25
Oct 6
Lawton
OK
Mar 29
Nov 7
Spokane
WA
May 2
Oct 23
Length of
growing season
296 days
338 days
268 days
174 days
147 days
163 days
223 days
153 days
Alaska's Growing Season
In general, Alaska has a very short growing season, only 105 days, on average. However, the Alaskan
growing season does not have dark nights—the Arctic is tilted toward the sun and plants grow in almost 24
hours of sunlight. In a growing season months shorter than the rest of the country, Alaska’s gardeners grow
some of the largest produce—75-pound cabbages, 100-pound kale and 1,000-pound pumpkins. Isn’t that
far out!
Average monthly daylight hours
CITY
Anchorage
Barrow
Fairbanks
Juneau
Nome
Jan.
5:39
0:00
4:00
6:30
4:11
Feb.
7:46
4:05
6:55
8:15
7:00
Mar.
10:24
9:20
10:07
10:34
10:08
Apr.
13:22
14:13
13:35
13:13
13:35
May
16:52
19:44
17:01
15:43
16:57
June
18:43
24:00
20:33
17:48
21:21
July
19:11
24:00
21:25
18:10
22:09
Aug.
17:07
24:00
18:11
16:30
18:05
Sept.
14:16
14:45
14:39
14:01
14:36
Oct.
11:26
11:03
11:19
11:30
11:20
Nov.
8:32
5:52
7:51
8:55
7:56
Dec.
6:08
0:00
4:43
6:53
4:51
4. Palmer is only 42 miles northeast of Anchorage. Calculate the total number of daylight hours in the
growing season of Palmer (on average). Anchorage’s total daily sunlight hours should be pretty
close to Palmer’s total daylight hours for the season.
5. If pumpkins in Palmer can grow to be 1,000 pounds then how many pounds are they growing per
hour?
a. Per 24 hours?
b. How can you use your answer to the pumpkin problem to determine how much the 100pound Kale grows per hour?
6. I’ve found the average number of daylight hours for each month in Tampa Florida. Calculate (or get
a close estimate of) how many daylight hours a vegetable might receive in Tampa Florida during
their growing season.
Average monthly daylight hours in Tampa, FLA
CITY
Tampa
Jan.
10:35
Feb.
11:13
Mar.
12:01
Apr.
12:51
May
13:33
June
13:53
July
13:42
Aug.
13:06
Sept.
12:17
Oct.
11:27
Nov.
10:44
Dec.
10:23
7. Draw some conclusions about the growing seasons in Florida and Alaska and hypothesize why the
vegetables might grow to be so big.
Sources: http://www.gadling.com/2007/07/16/giant-mutant-like-vegetables-at-alaska-state-fair/
http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-united-states
http://education.nationalgeographic.com/education/encyclopedia/growing-season/?ar_a=1&ar_r=3
http://www.absak.com/library/average-annual-insolation-alaska
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