Description

Growing Tomatoes in Alaska Plants & Sets Included

May 12, 2027 at 6:30 PM
The Valley Annex | 247 S Alaska Street, Palmer, Alaska

Take home 3 established one-gallon winter tomato plants, 20 shallot sets, and 20 onion sets with your class.

10-Year Anniversary Bonus: Every in-person class purchase includes our Permaculture Design Course recording FREE!

Tomatoes are one of the crops Alaska gardeners want to grow most and one of the crops our climate can make incredibly challenging.

Our summers are short. Our nights are cool. Soil takes time to warm. Frost can come late in spring and early in fall. And just when our tomato plants are finally loaded with fruit, we can find ourselves racing the weather to get those tomatoes to ripen.

So let’s talk about how to actually grow tomatoes in Alaska.

This brand-new Seeds & Soil class brings together nearly a decade of growing experience, variety trials, season-extension techniques, permaculture design, and everything we have learned about getting tomatoes from a tiny plant to a successful Alaska harvest.

And this isn’t just a class.

You’re going home with the plants.

Every registration includes 3 established one-gallon winter tomato plants, 20 shallot sets, and 20 onion sets so you can take what you learn in class and put it directly into practice at home.

Growing Tomatoes in Alaska

Growing tomatoes successfully here requires us to understand the plant and then work with our climate instead of pretending we’re gardening somewhere else.

We’ll talk about when tomatoes are actually ready to go outside, soil temperature, nighttime temperatures, hardening off, transplanting, fertility, watering, pruning, airflow, pollination, fruit development, ripening, and protecting plants as temperatures change.

We’ll also cover one of the biggest questions Alaska gardeners have:

Do tomatoes need a greenhouse?

We’ll talk about growing tomatoes in greenhouses, high tunnels and protected outdoor spaces, as well as ways to use microclimates and season extension if you don’t have a traditional greenhouse.

You’ll learn how to recognize what your tomato plants need throughout the season and how to avoid some of the most common problems that keep Alaska gardeners from getting the harvest they hoped for.

Why Winter Tomatoes?

The three tomato plants included with this class aren’t ordinary tomato starts.

We’re growing winter, or storage, tomato varieties.

These varieties are particularly exciting for Alaska because they allow us to think beyond simply getting tomatoes ripe before the end of summer.

Winter tomatoes are grown with storage in mind, allowing the harvest to continue providing food well beyond our short outdoor growing season.

We’ll talk about how winter tomatoes differ from typical garden tomatoes, how to grow them, when to harvest them, how maturity affects storage, and what happens after they come out of the garden.

You’ll leave class with three established one-gallon winter tomato plants ready for the next stage of the growing season.

Interplanting Your Tomatoes

We’re also going to look at tomatoes through a permaculture lens.

Your registration includes 20 onion sets and 20 shallot sets that we’ll use to teach interplanting and more efficient garden design.

Instead of automatically separating every vegetable into its own row, we’ll look at how tomatoes, onions, and shallots can share growing space while occupying different areas of the garden and following different growth and harvest timelines.

We’ll talk about spacing, root competition, airflow, soil coverage, succession, plant diversity, and how to make better use of valuable growing space without simply overcrowding the bed.

You’ll receive a planting plan showing you how to interplant your tomatoes, onions, and shallots so you can recreate the design at home.

What You’ll Learn

During class, we’ll cover the tomato growing season from transplant to harvest, including:

• Choosing tomato varieties for Alaska
• Understanding determinate and indeterminate tomatoes
• Hardening off tomato plants correctly
• When tomatoes can safely go outside
• Soil and nighttime temperatures
• Proper transplanting and planting depth
• Greenhouse versus outdoor tomato growing
• Using microclimates and season extension
• Tomato spacing and airflow
• Watering and feeding throughout the season
• Pruning and plant management
• Supporting and trellising tomato plants
• Pollination and fruit set
• Common tomato growing problems
• Ripening tomatoes in Alaska’s short season
• Harvesting winter tomatoes for storage
• Interplanting tomatoes with onions and shallots
• Preparing your garden for the end of the season

The goal is for you to leave understanding the entire tomato growing process, not just how to put a tomato plant in the ground.

Everything You’ll Take Home

Your registration includes:

3 established one-gallon winter tomato plants

20 shallot sets

20 onion sets

Live Alaska-specific tomato growing instruction

FREE Permaculture Design Course recording

You’ll leave with the plants, the plan, and the knowledge to grow them.

Celebrating 10 Years of Seeds & Soil

This year marks 10 years of Seeds & Soil, and I am incredibly grateful for every gardener who has taken one of our classes, planted our seeds, followed our farm, and supported an Alaska seed company.

To celebrate, every in-person class purchase includes our Permaculture Design Course recording FREE.

If you don’t have a greenhouse, I especially encourage you to watch it.

Permaculture teaches us to look at our entire property sun exposure, wind, water, heat retention, structures, soil, and naturally occurring microclimates and use those conditions to our advantage.

That becomes incredibly valuable when we’re trying to grow heat-loving crops like tomatoes in Alaska.

Class Details

Date: May 12, 2027
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: The Valley Annex
247 S Alaska Street, Palmer, Alaska

Class size is limited to maintain an intimate learning environment and meet our rental requirements. Advance registration is required.

Please do not bring additional guests. We have a set number of attendees permitted under our rental agreement.

Alaska Tomato Growing FAQs

Do I need a greenhouse to grow tomatoes in Alaska?

Not necessarily. A greenhouse can provide excellent growing conditions for tomatoes, but protected outdoor spaces, season extension, and warm microclimates can also be used successfully. We’ll discuss your options during class, and your registration includes our Permaculture Design Course recording to help you identify the best growing areas on your property.

When can I put my tomato plants outside?

The calendar alone shouldn’t make that decision. Tomatoes are warm-season plants, and cold soil and low nighttime temperatures can significantly slow their growth. We’ll teach you what conditions to watch for and how to protect plants during Alaska’s unpredictable spring weather.

Why are onions and shallots included?

We’re using onions and shallots to introduce interplanting and permaculture garden design. Rather than dedicating your growing area exclusively to tomatoes, we’ll explore how crops with different growth habits and harvest timelines can share garden space effectively.

What are winter tomatoes?

Winter tomatoes are varieties selected for their storage characteristics. Rather than requiring every fruit to fully ripen on the plant during our short summer, they give us another way to extend the usefulness of our tomato harvest beyond the traditional growing season.

Are the tomato plants already started?

Yes. Each student will receive three established winter tomato plants grown in one-gallon containers. You will not be starting tomato seeds during this class.

Is this class appropriate for beginners?

Absolutely. Whether you’ve never successfully grown a tomato or you’ve been growing them for years and want to improve your results, this class will walk through the complete process with an emphasis on the challenges we face specifically in Alaska.

Let’s Grow Tomatoes in Alaska

Tomatoes aren’t the easiest crop we can grow here.

That’s exactly why they’re worth learning how to grow well.

With the right varieties, good timing, thoughtful placement, season extension, and an understanding of what the plants actually need, we can grow incredible tomatoes—even with an Alaska summer.

Come learn how, and take your tomato garden home with you.

If you are unable to attend the live class, access to our tomato online self paced class will be provided and seeds included with the class, along with the sets will be mailed to you. We are unable to mail tomato plants but may be able to arrange a pickup in downtown Palmer. This is the class you will be registered in if you are unable to make the live event: https://seedsandsoilorganics.com/product/alaska-growing-tomato-gardening/