Abstract Soon after Russian fur hunters arrived in Alaska in the mid-18th century, they began gardening to supplement the limited foods they brought with them and the locally available food resources. Although published accounts of gardening become more numerous by the early 19th century, the details of such efforts in the Aleut region of southwestern Alaska remain unclear. Archaeological and ethnohistoric data from several locales in this area, especially the Korovinski site on Atka Island, indicate that gardening, particularly for potatoes, was an important subsistence enterprise during the Russian era, not only for the Russian colonial population but also for Aleuts (Unanga◯ 1 ), whose overall subsistence economy underwent profound changes following contact.