The calendar may say April, but I can still have a foot of snow or more covering my garden and our big Spring thaw can take longer than usual in some years. Sadly, my property seems to be the last place for the snow to melt in this area. It is still too early to move any plants out to my greenhouse. The nights are still too cold with lows in the single digits when it is clear. The cost for propane to run my greenhouse heater is not economical until it warms up in May and the nights are much shorter. My greenhouse is plenty warm as long as the sun is shining, but cools off very quickly as soon as it gets dark. I am still keeping busy starting seeds and transplanting seedlings. My growing rack is about full and I will be moving some flats around to make room for more germination trays.
Starting seeds indoors is required to get a jump on our short season. I have been using the Parks Bio Dome germination trays for several years now and they seem to work very well for me with nearly 100% germination and no damping off problems. I have been transplanting my seedlings when they have true leaves into small pots filled with a soil-less potting mix. And I continue to use bottom watering by filling the flats instead of watering from above. I believe this also helps prevent problems as the foliage stays dry.
I have been using a lighting fixture that I found at my local Home Depot. It was a 4 bulb shop light with 4 Phillips 32 watt T8 6500 degree daylight florescent bulbs at 2750 Lumens each for a total output of 11,000 Lumens. I have since replace the florescent bulbs with LED bulbs to save on my power costs. I now use all LED grow lights. This seems to be working well for starting seedlings that will be moved to my greenhouse or outdoors. It is very easy to use my shelves and lights to grow small cherry tomatoes or salad greens indoors during our long Alaska winters.
The clear sunny days are nice and it is only a matter of time before we can get out and start playing in the dirt again. There is only a short window of time we can get our gardens in, so you can't put it off, or it will be too late for this year. Adding new beds, or building garden structures is usually a 2 year project as the time it takes to get the work done usually means you won't be planting that area until next summer. It takes more planning ahead to garden in Alaska and you are restricted by the short season, but it can be successful if you look at the larger picture of what you are trying to accomplish.