by Glenn Taylor
Northern News Services

INUVIK (Aug 22/97) - "It's a lot of work," says Les Kutny with a smile, in between plucking weeds and preening potato plants.

In just seven years since 1990, Kutny has built what is arguably the town's most opulent garden, and this year promises a bumper crop of fruits, vegetables and dozens of varieties of flowers.

"I've always had a garden," said Kutny, who moved from Fort Smith and Hay River to Inuvik in 1990. He questions whether this one is so big, or so impressive. "Big is relative," he says of the garden.

The guest list in his garden is a long one, and a virtual who's who of vegetables and flowers. This year, he has six types of potatoes, three of peas, two beets, carrots, cauliflowers, broccoli, zucchini, and tomatoes and cucumbers in a greenhouse he also built.

In the flower department, there's pansies, petunias, clarkia, godetia, schizanthus, calendula, alyssums, nemesia, senteurea, phacelia, sweet peas, two kinds of poppies (both legal), lilacs, spirea, potentilia, geraniums, snap dragons (hey, I've heard of that one), delphiniums, columbine, forget-me-nots, gladiolus, dianthus, limnathes and scented stalks.

He also has a raspberry bush, saskatoons on the way and rhubarb ready to eat, if that's your thing.

Kutny keeps a written record of his garden every year to keep track of "what works, what doesn't." The book reminds him when plants were first seeded, when they first flowered and other details to make the process more successful in later years. Most books that give tips on "Northern" gardening consider Edmonton to be the last outpost of arctic gardening in North America.

"It's still trial and error," he said. "You never know how the weather is going to react." This year has been most favorable. With all that rain, he's only had to water the garden twice.

Don't ask him how much weeding and hoeing he's done, however. "From the time I get home until the time I got to sleep," he said, "at least 10 to 12 hours a week."

"It couldn't see any reason in growing grass," he says. "All you can do with grass is cut it. With the prices of groceries up here, that should say enough" as to why he chose gardening over grass.

"I question whether the fruits and vegetables you get in the store have the nutritional value that bodies require," said Kutny. He finds he has enough produce -- after canning and freezing -- to feed him right through to Easter.

Kutny also sells seedlings and plants to local residents eager to start their own gardens. "Some days, I'd just like to leave it and go boating," admitted Kutny. "But as long as I keep it up, there's no major burden if I just leave it for a day."