Varieties For Cold Climates.

[Bigmallly]

It may be too late for this year but this cold snap got me thinking about looking for frost resistant varieties of veg & I found this. I cannot get the links to work but the publication is quite interesting. I may look out for some of the varieties for next year. What are your thoughts?

http://www.cals.uidaho.edu/edcomm/pdf/BUL/BUL0863.pdf

[veggiechicken]

Interesting stuff BM and I have seeds for many of them already
By coincidence I've been thinking about buying this book
The Speedy Vegetable Garden: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Diacono, Lia Leendertz: Books that identifies the fastest maturing varieties.
So I'm going for "small is beautiful" this year - cherry tomatoes rather than beefsteaks, individual salad leaves - not lettuce, and frost hardy kales to see me through the winter in greens.

[Bigmallly]

So I'm going for "small is beautiful" this year

I may not have much say in the matter..........

[veggiechicken]

Not you silly, your veggies

[Potstubsdustbins]

Nice find BM. Did you notice when they were talking about spuds they said "when you plant the tuber pieces". Looks like they advocate spliting the seed tubers to get more crop.

Potty

[Bigmallly]

I didn't notice Potty but I've saved the pdf & will create a spreadsheet so will pick up on any notes.

[veggiechicken]

How many frost-free days are there in our growing season? The article is based on 110 days or less - which is about 4 months! I hope we have more than that

[Bigmallly]

The way things are going I'm not too sure.

[Feral007]

Haven't looked at the site yet, but I'm using our Lost seeds heirloom website to order seed from. They list the days it takes to grow certain things. I tend to go for the shorter growing cycle because of our random frosts here.
I also just chose the Snowball cabbage as it has the smallest most compact head.....since it probably won't get a chance to get large anyways.

My punkins are shot because of an early freak (but usual) frost. Pity. Last year I managed to get quite a lot of them to maturity. Even larger pity that I didn't like that sort :/

[Bren In Pots]

Thanks for that BM I've had a quick read and saved the pdf for later.

[bearded bloke]

To get you started BM,how about ......... Tomatoes For Cooler Climes 2013 - Detailed item view - Moreveg vegetable seeds most at 50p also herb and flowers

[Bigmallly]

That's handy BB as I buy from that site.

[JoeDaStudd]

No mention of Asian greens?
They love the cooler weather and most can stand a frosts once established.
Most mature in around 2 months and taste really nice, as they mature quickly you can get numerous harvests in the same time as you would normal veg.

I put some Tatsoi (think Pak Choi only prettier) and Kai Lan (Chinese broccoli, it does taste like it) in a unheated greenhouse the end of October/Early November and by January they were at eating stage.
Once it got above about 10C they bolted (you can eat the flowers so it doesn't matter too much), but who can blame them I don't think it rose above 5C the whole time they were in there over winter.

They do fall down when it comes to heat though, ideal for most people though as you can plant normal veg.

Definately worth looking into if your willing to try something new. I'm now looking at other Asian greens (Mizuna, Napa, Choy Sum and En Choy) as they were very easy to grow, grow when not much else does and cost a premium in supermarkets.

[veggiechicken]

By coincidence I've just had a mailshot from Fr@nchi seeds saying that Alpine conditions call for Alpine seeds - not seeds produced in hot countries. They produce all their own seeds in the Alps and also have a specific Alpine range Leben Alpine Seeds

[realfood]

In Scotland, the only months that are usually frost free are June, July, August and September, about 120 days. I always look out for quick growing varieties to cope with this.