Palmer is the home of world record cabbages, carrots and other vegetables grown in the Matanuska Valley's deep loamy silt. The combination of glaciers, wind, water and lots of summer sunlight give Palmer unique qualities to grow giant vegetables. Cabbage is one of Alaska's most reliable crops, because it thrives even under cold, rainy conditions. Other vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, radishes, rutabagas, turnips, potatoes, and beets are also big growers in Alaska. Spinach and lettuce mature uncommonly fast in Alaska. All of these vegetables are well adapted to cool temperatures, so they keep growing even if it gets near freeezing. Lettuce is a spring or fall crop in warmer parts of the U.S., but in the Matanuska Valley it seldom gets hot enough even in midsummer to cause unsightly tip-burn. I took
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