I understand the sentiment, Glib. I'm a low-input gardener myself. However... I speak as a gardener who is, at this very moment, growing short-season varieties of tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers and corn out in the open, in our native soil - something you're saying is impossible. I don't own a greenhouse. I don't use row covers. I don't use high or low tunnels. The only things I have outside are some cold frames for transitioning starts in the spring. I have a handful of ordinary 4' fluorescents that I use to start a handful of things indoors, but most of my crops are still direct-sown. Just because you "don't see tomatoes ripening in 50F temperatures" doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It does. They do. The original poster knows exactly what they're doing asking about the best varieties for cold, northern climates. The varieties we grow *are* indeed different. You can't keep making such grand assumptions. You don't garden here. That said, maybe I shouldn't have responded either, given that I don't garden in Iceland. (Slimy_Okra is right - our summers at least have *some* heat to them for a little while.) How many GardenWebers do, though? Which reminds me... thanks for chiming in, tigrikt. Good stuff to know! I think florauk has great advice... "You might look at seed catalogues from the UK with cultivars suited to N. Scotland." Lots of life-long gardeners over in the UK if my extended family is anything to judge by. :) I'm sure their cold-hardy varieties would be better suited for you than even ours here in Canada. All the best!

Sorry to hear about the loss of the garden. they do love that soil we put in don't they!! Just so you know I have had success with corn meal, you put some corn meal down in the garden next to their hills (specifically corn gluten) this should kill the ants in a short time took me a month or two, i just avoided them as best i could. The meal has to be dry so if it gets wet wait till dry again add some more. Supposedly they feed it to the queen and the gluten expands she cannot digest and cannot eat anymore.. I have also heard this is a wives tell, but my ants are gone so... a hand full of corn meal is cheap, and fire ants are not nice! Just be aware corn gluten inhibits seed germination, plan accordingly, it will have to break down.

I grow the Adapazari Squash,a Turkish variety. We also use as edible landscaping.I usually get one large Squash per plant. My largest this year was 54Lbs. You can read about it on the Garden Web Heirloom Forum. Jim

Thank you. Dickinson isn't the right shape either. That and Amish Pie are both acorn-shaped. This was a semi-flattened globe -- not as flat as a cheese pumpkin but not tall enough to be a sphere. As soon as I get some fruit set I'll post pictures and, of course, I'll post the photos of the mature ones. I was hoping that those rather striking-looking leaves would ring a bell for someone, but its very hard to find photos of the leaves for any variety so I can compare plants. It seems to be a recognized variety among farmers in western North Carolina but according to the woman in charge of the garden department at the local farm supply place its impossible to get seed commercially. She had one among the ornamental squash last fall and could not find seed to offer after a number of customers wanted it.