You don’t need a garden to find great things to eat growing in Alaska

We often complain that there isn’t enough variety in what we can grow in Alaska gardens. Maybe it’s time for you to supplement with more wild stuff. There is so much all around us.

Take the all too familiar rosebay willowherb, aka chamerion angustifolium. All parts of these plants are edible. What? Rosebay willowherb? Ah, I am just playing with you. This is the British name for fireweed.

I don’t know about Britons, but Alaskans often freak out when they see the first of these vibrant flowers, always at the bottom of a stem filled all the way up to its tip with more flower buds. They take over open areas; yes, Fireweed Lane was once surrounded by these plants.

Anyhow, the cause of our panic is capsulized in the ditty “When fireweed turns to cotton, summer will soon be forgotten.” Ah, but deeply interpreted, the count is supposed to begin when the top flower turns to cotton and even then, we are supposed to get six weeks before snow. (We have a way to go.)

Ah, but back to the point: The plant is edible. Fireweed shoots taste best when young, but you can make a fine fireweed jelly or jam once the plant flowers. Just ask the tourists who buy the stuff from Fourth Avenue shops.

We already know dandelions can be eaten. I like to dip the flowers and part of the stem into tempura batter. And I keep hearing about dandelion tea. I’ve learned to like the plant, but not that much.

How about hedysarum alpinum? Also known as alpine sweetvetch or more commonly wild potato, they are a food source for northern Indigenous people. Their flowers look like the ubiquitous blue vetch everyone complains about, but have a distinctly pink hue. I’ve seen these plants flower along several bike trails and in open fields next to our roads. The plants can grow 2 feet tall.

Beware! The seeds of hedysarum alpinum are poisonous. You may know that Christopher McCandless, the guy in Jon Krakauer’s best-selling book “Into The Wild,” is thought by some to have ingested the seeds, leading to his death. It is their tubers that can be eaten. They are best harvested after the first frost, and some communities warm the ground and dig them in the winter.

Birch sap makes syrup, as you know. This is a springtime venture. However, birch twigs can make tea any time of the year. Birch bark can be dried and pulverized, then used as a spice for baking. And, if you see football size, black moldy growths on yours, look up chaga tea. It is all the rage these days.

The flowers of streptopus amplexifolius, commonly called watermelon berry or twisted stalk flower berry and wild cucumber berry, are now forming fruits. There is one fruit, about twice the size of a blueberry, at the base of each leaf. They taste like watered-down watermelon. Eat them raw, but be warned that they have lots of little seeds that can get stuck between your teeth. Or use them as you would other berries to make jams and jellies or for baking.

My point, obviously, is that you don’t need a garden to find things to eat in Alaska. There are lots more things to eat. Best of all, there are some really terrific guides specifically written for Alaska foraging. Check out some here.

Listen to the “Teaming with Microbes” podcast with Jeff and Jonathan White:

Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar:

Alaska Botanical Garden. Visit, Visit. Visit. Join. Check out all the activities and what is blooming in the garden at www.alaskabg.org.

Deadhead: If you want your annuals to continue flowering at their best, remove spent blossoms so the plant doesn’t set seeds, but rather produces more flowers.