I always said that if were to move to the UP, Marquette would be my first choice. Not the greatest for long summer gardening though. Friends in the UP have had success growing Polar Star as an early tomato. They usually collect a few plants from me as I start some early. By the time they go over the bridge they are in gallon pots! There are lots of other (although not big) early tomatoes that would produce for you.

How close you live to the Lake will greatly influence what you can grow. Have you noticed how huge the Rhodies are in town? Beautiful shrubs. I had tomatoes growing almost until Opening Day. (Nov. 15) But we live less than 2 miles away from the Lake. I believe that the Negaunee area had a killing frost in August. We have apple trees, a tart cherry tree. My iris, dahlias and other perennials did very well. Contact the MSU extension office in town and they can give you recommendations as to specific cultivars. Visit the local nurseries (not the big-box stores) and see what they're selling/recommending.
Last summer I planted Early Girl and a cherry tomato, whose name eludes me now. We didn't move into our home until mid-june and they did pretty well.

I used Meister's last year and was very pleased with their selection and quality. Is there anywhere else I should think about visiting?

Try Timbercrest early in the season. I spied "Harry Lauders Walking Stick" there last year at a reasonable price. I've been told that there is a Plant Swap in Harvey the end of May, I'm going to check that one out!.

ken

don't give up on the cantelope. i had 2 good years in a row 01 and 02 with some early type melons. stick with 70-80 day maturity. they like sun. i tried planting them between rows of corn in 2003, big mistake. didn't plant any last year because we had a baby.
zucchini should grow just about anywhere. i grow it.
tomatoes, i have tried quite a few varities the past 3 years. you should be able to grow any early or midseason variety most years. i try a few late varieties each year just to see. the past 3 years the summers haven't been very warm, and last year was a bad one for tomatoes.
water melons really suffer from cool weather. 3 years ago i got about 6 small melons. not much advice i can give you there yet. i'm still trying to figure out how to grow them here.
blueberries should do well. wild blueberies grow all over the place up here. just make sure your soil is acidic enough. ph shouldn't be much higher than 5.0
other things that grow well are potatos, various brassicas, greens, bush beans, pole beans, carrots, beets, peppers, asparagus, lots of garlic and onions, whatever we like to eat, and can grow here, we do. sure could use a little more heat this summer. a good source of gardening info will be your immediate neighbors. talk to the ones that have nice gardens. ride your bike around the hood, and check things out.
enjoy da U.P.

keith in calumet

I'm hoping to have good luck with the wall-o-waters I ordered. I'm going to plan it as follows:

April 16th - Two varieties of tomato 8 weeks before last frost.

April 30th - Same two varieties of tomato 6 weeks before last frost.

May 14th - Same two varieties of tomato 4 weeks before last frost, plus squash and peppers

June 11th - Same two varieties of tomato after last frost, plus cantelope (I've been re-convinced) and possibly watermellon.

Return starters from last year include rhubarb, strawberries, raspberries, green onions, chives.

It does help, thanks for the information!

I've got a fairly large garden and I'm thinking about raising a portion of it for my annual plantings. About 1/2 of my garden is perrineal, but the other half would be well suited for raised beds.

I didn't think about container planting, but maybe I'll give it a shot this year, I'm all about trying new ideas!