To pull off a successful outdoor grow you have to really calculate your seasons and always have a backup plan if something goes wrong with the weather or your location. Two summers ago I attempted my first outdoor grow in Anchorage. The trick to getting your plants to bud is to start them inside early enough in the spring so that by the time it is warm enough to move them outside you already have a plant that is ready to veg. Then you can just let them veg outside for 3 months in 18-24 hour days. Thats the easy part. To get my plants to bud- outdoors- i simply moved them into a shady-as-fuck spruce forrest. Spruce forrests are perfect because they block out sunlight while keeping in heat. If you decide to grow outdoors up here my advice to you is-

have a backup grow room to use if your location is not satisfactory
beware of animals- find ways to keep them away

reasons to grow in alaska- plants grow fucking huge in the sunlight
safer than inside
cheaper than inside