Garden Seed Selection Tips For Cold Climates

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Selecting garden seeds was something I never used to give much thought to. I would pick out seed packs of vegetables and fruits I grew up eating or thought “it would be fun to grow this.” After several years of failed attempts at growing corn and melons in the cold climate of Montana, I realized that some produce just does not grow as well in our area. I started chatting with my good friend who is an organic farmer to learn the ropes of proper seed selection. Here are a few tips I have learned:

garden seed selection tips for cold climates

1. Decide what produce to plant. Make a list of all the produce you eat throughout the year. Rank your list in order of the produce you eat the most to the least. Once I did this I realized that we eat a lot of green beans, onions and spinach but were not growing enough to feed us most of the year. Last summer we had a very hearty crop of kale and a small crop of spinach. While we like kale and froze a lot to mix into quiche, lasagna and soups it is not something we eat as often as spinach. Because spinach is more versatile for us and something I mix into our smoothies on a regular basis, I’ve been having to spend money buying it at the store all winter long. This coming garden season, we will be planting a much larger crop of spinach and a smaller crop of kale.

2. Find out your growing zone and average growing season. Here’s the USDA Plant Hardiness Growing Zone map that you can type your zip code in to easily find out your growing zone. We live in Zone 5b. Remember earlier I mentioned I haven’t been successful growing corn and melons out here? It’s because we live in a cold climate with such a short growing season. Select seeds that have a shorter day to germination and harvest time if you live in a cold region. This information can be found written on the seed pack. Some seed packs will even state on the package which growing zones they do well in.

3. Decide if you want heirloom or hybrid seeds.I used to think that hybrids meant they were GMOs (genetically modified organisms) but my organic farmer friend quickly cleared that one up for me. Hybrid seed does NOT mean it was genetically modified. According to the Johnny’s Selected Seeds website:
  • A hybrid seed is “The offspring of a cross between two or more varieties, usually of the same species”
  • An heirloom seed is “An old variety that owes its present availability to the seed-saving efforts of amateurs”

So basically if you want to raise produce that you can save seeds and plant them next year, you need to make sure you only plant heirloom varieties. The challenge of growing in a cold climate is that many of the plants that produce in shorter growing seasons have been bred this way meaning they are hybrids so new plants will not grow from their seeds.

4. Assess your growing space. If you have a small space to garden, you will want to pick seeds for plants that vine such as pole beans instead of bush beans. Many vine plants like zucchini, pumpkin and cucumber can be trained to grow up trellises to maximize the space in your garden. If you plan to have some container gardens, select varieties of plants that are listed as varieties that grow well in container gardens.
5. Find a seed catalog that fits your growing zone. My farmer friend shared with me that she and a lot of local farmers prefer the Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalog because they are based out of Maine which has a similar growing zone to us. They sell a wide variety of heirloom and hybrid seed varieties that grow well in cold climates with short growing seasons. Another popular seed company sold locally is Irish Eyes Garden Seeds based out of Washington. We’ve used these seeds for a number of years because they are sold at the local hardware store we frequent and also grow well in a cold climate.

Do you have any seed selection tips to share?

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Comments

  2. says

    I found it useful to call the county extension agent to get the average first and last frost dates of our area. We are actually in a zone 3, not a zone 4 like most of the catalogs say. That means we can grow far less, but we aren’t wasting money or time on things that have little chance of growing successfully. :)

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  4. says

    I’ve already ordered and received my (organic) seeds, I picked what I like to eat and I’m crossing my fingers it all grows here!

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  6. says

    These are some really great tips for any climate! I wish ours was cooler :( The last two summers in a row we’ve had two weeks of temps over 110. Nothing really does well in heat like that. I’m hopeful this year will be better.

    Thank you for sharing this post at the HomeAcre Hop!

    We’d love to see you again tomorrow morning: http://blackfoxhomestead.com/the-homeacre-hop/

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  9. says

    love this post! it’s difficult for novice gardeners (myself included) to determine what we want to grow. most posts say “grow what you want to eat!” - unfortunately, geographical location is very important here so we need to learn what we CAN grow and what we need to either do without or rely on farmers for. very interesting!

    i don’t have a post to share, but it would do us all well to check into who owns our seeds. Literally. A lot of “happy” seed companies sell seeds that are actually owned by Monsanto as a parent company. Here is a very valuable post on that from the Healthy Home Economist:

    http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/the-four-steps-required-to-keep-monsanto-out-of-your-garden/

    thank you so much for sharing with us at the Wednesday Fresh Foods Link Up! I hope to see you again this week with more seasonal & real food posts! xo, kristy

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  10. says

    I love beets! I haven’t grown those before but will be trying my hand at them this year. I am looking for heirloom seeds for most of my veggies.

    Thanks for the tips! Stopped by from Simply Natural Saturday!

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