What are your vest veggies for long cool days & short seasons?

11 years ago

Hi, I'm Joyce, and I've just realized there is a far north forum as well as the northern gardening forum on GW. And I notice that this forum seems to be pretty active too!

Here on the Michigan UP's Keweenaw Peninsula, we are a solid zone 5, despite the fact that if you look at the zone map we are squarely in the middle of what is otherwise a zone 3 (with a little border of zone 4 on the southern edge of Lake Superior). The reason we're a zone 5 is that we have a more temperate climate due to the lake effect. We're a little cooler in the summer, but warmer in the winter and also typically have a very heavy snow cover that allows for zone 5 (and sometimes even higher zone) plants to survive and even thrive.

But, we do have very short summers, with long somewhat cool days. And this makes gardening a whole lot different then it was in the Nebraska zone 5 area where I grew up.

2012 will be my 5th summer in this area. Our flower gardens thrive! My husband and I both love ornamental plants and flowers. We have a small yard that we've filled to overflowing with early spring flowers, hosta, lupines, iris, peonies, hollyhocks, roses, and to a lesser degree a wide variety of companion plants. We also have a camp in the woods where we've planted native flowers, plus a ton of the more 'deer-resistant' perennials.

Strawberries do great too!

But veggie gardening is tougher. Every year, we have great looking tomato plants that are just starting to produce when that first frost hits. Same for peppers. Our onions have been small. Our potatoes are small. We haven't had great luck with anything except peas. So, I'm looking for advice on varieties. Some things, it's a little late for just now locating for this year (although typical last frost date is June 1st so maybe it's really not all that late after all). We do have some tomatoes planted, along with peas, radish, cucumbers, zucchini, and cabbage. But we might still plant other varieties. And there are a lot of things we haven't planted yet.

I'm looking for varieties that will do well and produce well in long cool days and a short season. We like all kinds of veggies, so don't be hesitant to mention things that I didn't list above. What are your best varieties?

And thanks to everyone who makes suggestions!

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Comments (7)

jel48
Original Author
11 years ago
That title should be what are your BEST veggies... :-)
Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
11 years ago
Although not as humid up here in the FAR north, I certainly can relate to short, cool seasons. In addition to your list I would and do grow every color of carrot I can find, bush beans (both dry and snap),turnip, spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, bok choy and any other leafy greens I may find. I have started growing a few Asian vegies (more leaves) in the past couple of years.

You might try some of the short season varieties of corn if you want a bit of a challenge. Many are early maturing, short season hybrids. Seed available in many Canadian seed catalogues.

If it is worth mentioning, cherry tomatoes grow like crazy up here. Less time to mature and they are super sweet. I have many but a few favorites. Easily started from seed in April. :)

Ginny
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Phyl If you're talking about a really small garden, you may have to re-think how much you can plant. In particular, I'm thinking of squash. I've never seen a small squash plant, and most require at least 2 feet of horizontal space and usually more. On the plus side about squash though is that they're are usually extremely productive, particularly zucchini, and you may not need more than one plant if there are only two of you (and company) for summertime eating. You can, however, grow a lot of vegetables that don't take up enormous amounts of space, and include a couple of pepper and tomato plants. Vegetables whose growth is mostly vertical or short season (like lettuce) are what I'd go with. But mostly, enjoy what you do! You'll have time to correct mistakes next year and learn more about how to handle what you do plant.
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Sherry, Well, I think you can plant them and have limited success. Onions have to be in the ground and achieve a certain amount of growth before bulbing is induced. Since bulbing is induced by a combination of daylength and temperature, it is going to happen when the daylength-temperature combo is achieved, whether the onions have been in the ground for one week, one month, or whatever. So, that is why we have to plant onions so very early--to get maximum growth before initiation of the bulbing process begins. Most onions needs to be in the ground a minimum of 90 to 100 days before bulb initiation starts in order to size up fully, and some need 100 to 120 days. Short day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength (hours of sunlight) reaches about 10-12 hours in combination with the right temperature. Intermediate day-length onions need 12-14 hours days to bulb up. Long day-length onions will begin to bulb up once the daylength is 14-16 hours and the temperature is right, which is why the long daylength onions are not grown in our part of the county. (Our daylength here maxes out around 14 hours.) So, if the onions go into the ground late, they will grow and they still will bulb up once bulb initiation occurs. They'll just be smaller when bulb initiation occurs, thus, they will be smaller at maturity than onions that were planted earlier. One reason that short day-length and intermediate day-length onions planted in the southern third of the country get bigger than those EXACT same varieties grown in the upper 2/3s of the country is that our weather allows us to plant the onions up to 5 months prior to bulb initiation, and the northern states' colder weather does not allow them to plant until approx. 75 days before bulb initiation. So, if you plant late this year, you'll get onions that are "northern-sized" instead of "southern-sized", but you'll still get onions! If you don't mind knowing you'll get smaller onions, go ahead and go for it. It would be a good learning experience if you've never grown onions before. Some commonly-sold short day-length onions are TX 1015Y (aka Texas Sweet or Texas Supersweet), Yellow Granex, White Bermuda, Southern Belle Red and Contessa. Some commonly-sold intermediate day-length onions are Candy, Stockton Sweet Red and Superstar. Some commonly sold long day-length onions (and these should NOT be sold in our region) include Borrettana Cippolini, Red Torpedo Tropea, Ailsa Craig (there's also a tomato by this name), Copra, Big Daddy, Red Burgermaster, Red Zeppelin, Walla Walla, Yellow Sweet Spanish and Ringmaster. I've already planted my main crop of onions, but I do continue planting onions in various spots around the garden as companion plants, and I will, probably through mid-to-late April. Of course, I don't care if those companion-planted onions bulb up or not. Sometimes I leave the companion plant onions in the ground until the following year, and let them bloom in the spring. Their tiny flowers attract a TON of tiny pollinators and beneficial insects, and are quite attractive as well. Dawn
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I think it probably wouldn't hurt and might help in her climate. I probably wouldn't use one here because we have so much sunlight, even on cold days, that plants inside these little plastic houses tend to roast on sunny days. Since she lives in a sunlight-challenged area, I doubt her plants will roast on the occasional sunny day. However, to ensure they don't roast, if I were using one and were leaving for the day, I'd unzip the door to vent the little growhouse/greenhouse in order to avoid a heat buildup if the sun amazingly comes out from behind the clouds. The great issue in Seattle isn't the length of the growing season, as you've noticed, but rather the lack of heat units or heating degree days. They stay above freezing a long time but don't have a lot of real heat, and tomatoes need a steady supply of heat in order to produce well and in order to produce tomatoes with good flavor. Beefsteak might not have been the best variety for her to pick. It can take a very long time to fruit and flower. If I were in Seattle, I'd likely choose something with a shorter DTM. Dr. James Baggett and other plant breeders at Oregon State University have bred tomatoes specifically for that climate that she might like to try in some future year. Bell peppers are more tolerant of cooler temperatures and won't suffer from the heat there the way they can here. If I were trying to grow tomatoes and peppers there, I'd have them in containers and place them on a concrete slab, if possible as they might pick up a little more heat that way. A concrete slab with a south-facing or west-facing wall would be even better as there likely would be more heat gain from sunlight (when they have it) reflecting from the wall and the slab up onto the plant. Also, the slab would heat up during the day and release the heat at night when might keep her plants a few degrees warmer. That's important in terms of fertilization. Territorial Seed Company is based in Oregon and specializes in plants for the kind of conditions they have there in the Pacific Northwest. I'm going to link their website below. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Territorial Seed Company
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bluegoat_gw
11 years ago
Potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, beets, carrots, parsnips, peas, beans, zuchini, squash, onions, garlic (in the fall), ...
jel48
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks for the suggestions on types of vegetables. What I'm especially interested in though are the varieties that you have good luck with. What variety of onions? (I know there are long season versus short season onions available)... what variety of tomatoes (if any) do well for you? Favorite variety of potato or cabbage or...

Ginny, I'd noticed other summers that the cherry tomatoes did seem to do better then the other types. I do know there are early tomato varieties. 'Early Girl' comes to mind, but I've never cared for that particular variety. Maybe other early tomatoes are better.
don555
11 years ago
You should check out Vesey's seeds, they specialize in seeds for short seasons and do ship to the U.S.:
http://www.veseys.com/us/en/?link=switch-locale

As for onions, assuming you can start your own seedlings (I start them under lights at end of Feb/early March), then Talon is the variety I swear by (long storage, we ate the last of the 2011 crop in late April this year and they were still in pretty good condition). If that won't work for you, then Norland is even earlier, though by March or April it isn't storing so well...
Here's some Talon onions I grew (the coin in the pic is the Cdn $2 coin, a bit over an inch in diameter):
Slimy_Okra
11 years ago
Tomatoes - try the "Sub Arctic" range of determinate varieties for regular size fruit. Even a standard indeterminate variety should work if it is a cherry tomato and you find transplants.

Have you considered rigging up a hoophouse with greenhouse plastic? If your main problem is DAYTIME temperatures being too cool, a hoophouse will work wonders for bringing your warm season crops to maturity. I assume that because of the lake, your nights are relatively warm (50-55?), which the hoophouse will bump up by a couple of degrees as well.

Other veggies that people have mentioned are also great for your climate - beets, chard, any brassica (use row cover to keep pests off), spinach, potatoes, peas, beans.
Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden
11 years ago
There are many tomatoes in the sub arctic hybrids, as Okra was saying. I am a tomato freak and have just received some 'more' seeds in that series. I can certainly send you some seeds for next year. I will send you my list via email if you like. I like the pink varieties and some of the yellow and orange novelty types.

IME, tomatoes are most fussy about where they grow and how they are cared for in a cool, short season climate. They are built for comfort. :)

Ginny

What are your vest veggies for long cool days & short seasons?

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jel48
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What are your vest veggies for long cool days & short seasons?

Comments (7)

jel48Original Author

Ginny McLean_Petite_Garden

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