cold(er) climate farming (zone 6), tips?

[josafeen]

I am researching what works for colder winters than my current situation (and cooler summers). The area I have in mind is zone 6 (i **think**). It has winter average lows of 14 and summer highs of 79. Much of the winter there is snow on the ground, in the coldest months, it can be 5 or more feet deep. We will have snow removal equipment.
I wondered if maybe there is a thread on the topic?
Im wondering what kind of changes I will need to make for rabbits, chickens, and have been reading eliot colemans "the winter harvest handbook" to see how we might stretch out our season. I'm sure there are certain breeds of chickens that are more cold hardy than others, you know, stuff like that.
Oh, and would hoop houses work with a snow load, or is there some kind of cold frame that would (with daily snow removal if necessary)?
Thank you!

[naturelover]

It might be helpful if you were to actually specify the area you have in mind. As in what state, and what part of the state?

.

[SFM in KY]

I grew up in MT, spent most of my life in that kind of climate. We had about a 90 day growing season ... tomatoes, corn and winter squash all had to be 'short season' ... lots of garden stuff we couldn't grow. We had winter temperatures well below zero ... as much as 40 below at night sometimes ... sometimes weeks during the winter that the daytime highs did not get above freezing. I have seen snow there at the ranch every month except July and August ... and snow on the mountains in July.

Summers were dry (everything needed to be watered or very heavily mulched or both) and daytime temperatures could be in the high 80s to occasionally in the high 90s ... but nights were cool.

My grandparents and parents and I have raised cattle, horses, pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys and rabbits in that climate. Shelter from wind is necessary but actual barns/sheds are not necessarily required under most circumstances except for when young are born.

[josafeen]

good idea- south lake tahoe, california

[josafeen]

thank you sfm-- that is encouraging

[Wolf mom]

Individual livestock questions - ask on the livestock forums.

google your new areas co-operative extention service. You can also google high country gardening & it'll come up with sites.

[ronbre]

I am in zone 4/5 Michigan and would be happy to answer questions IM or email

[Danaus29]

Summer high averages around 79*F??? That's almost chilly compared to our 80*+ during most of the summer!

When is your last spring frost and first autumn frost? That helps a lot when you are determining which varieties to grow. You might need to grow short season tomatoes and grow peppers in pots so they can be moved indoors when it's cool and back out when the weather is warm. Most of your salad crops and brassicas and peas will do really well in those conditions. Many herbs will be quite happy there.

I picked up a book about cold climate gardening when we were in Alaska. It covers climates that would be much colder than yours.

[grannygardner]

This page might give you useful information.

http://www.veggieharvest.com/Vegetab...ting-calendar/

[Callieslamb]

I'm zone 6 and we get a lot warmer than that in the summer. Are you going to be in a high altitude area? I'd look up the extension service for the county you are looking at and see what they have to offer.

[country_wife]

We're zone 5 here. I just did a blog post about black plastic; you may want to consider it.

[JWK]

Originally Posted by josafeen

good idea- south lake tahoe, california

I lived in South Lake Tahoe for almost ten years. You won't have any problems with the animals you mentioned. You can also forget about it being zone 6. There is plenty of sub zero weather in Tahoe. Not as often as where ronbre is or me, but it's there.

However, more important is what goes on in the regular growing season. The lake is at 6300 ft. above sea level. Nights are always chilly, even in the middle of the summer. Growing tomatoes, peppers, etc. is almost impossible without covering. The challenge is figuring out HOW to cover them. If you use a hoop house, you have to take the covering off as soon as the day warms up enough. As you probably know, it is very sunny there and 80 - 85 degree days are typical. Then, as soon as the sun goes down, you have to get everything covered to hold in the warmth. Again, nothing remotely like any typical zone 6 type weather.

It's a good place for hydroponics because of the sun, bad soil and overall arid conditions. You will absolutely need some kind of greenhouse and figure out the temperature control.

I loved a lot of things about living there, but ultimately my desire for growing took priority. It was just too difficult for me.

I wish you luck.

[FoxyWench]

were in zone 6 but from what JWK is saying the zone 6 there is NOTHING like zone 6 in connecticut lol

the good news is your critters will do fine, as ong a they are kept dry and draft free chickens are fine, and rabbits actually do better in cooler temps.

[PulpFaction]

I think you'll find your animals will do quite well there. The rabbits, especially, prefer the cooler weather and chickens adapt amazingly well to cold winters.

My best advice is to not try to force everything you know about doing things where you live now into the new environment. Instead, let your environment dictate what you grow and what you do. Hit up other farmers in the area and find out what grows well and how to grow it. I don't know why I still torture myself trying to grow tomatoes in Alaska when we have the best carrots, potatoes, cole crops and greens in the country. :P I wouldn't advise you to follow THAT example!

[LonelyNorthwind]

What pulpfaction said.
My Alaska garden consists of several containers (mostly old skiffs) and the dirt come by very dearly since I have to "make" of my own, therefore, I only grow what I know will produce. I don't waste space on warm weather crops anymore, just salad greens, roots (carrots, beets, potatoes, onions, garlic etc.) cabbages & other cool weather crops. To get an early start I cover my dirt with black plastic and hoop everything I can with greenhouse plastic. I would recommend you not frustrate yourself by trying to grow melons, tomatoes & such.
This is part of last year's garden, red spuds, peas, krout cabbage & the skiff on the right has carrots, beets & nasturtiums. As long as I don't try to grow something that doesn't belong here, I usually get a full year's worth of the produce I manage to harvest.

[Kazahleenah]

Originally Posted by ronbre

I am in zone 4/5 Michigan and would be happy to answer questions IM or email

Ditto! I am in zone 4... also open if you have questions.

[ca2devri]

I am in zone 6 Ontario. The zone tells you the minimum winter temperature and helps when planting cold-sensitive trees and perennials. Doesn't help you much for growing annuals or field crops. You probably want to look at growing degree-days.

The difference between my location and you're proposed one (I think you said south Tahoe?) is that we have very warm summers. Although we get cold and snowy in the winter, our growing degree-days allow us to grow more things than in say Seattle where the winter is mild, but the summer isn't hot either.

I think your cooler summer is going to be the challenge and one that I'm not familiar with. I think the same will be true for those who've noted they're zone 4/5 from the north-east.

Chris

[highlands]

Originally Posted by josafeen

Oh, and would hoop houses work with a snow load, or is there some kind of cold frame that would (with daily snow removal if necessary)?

I'm in a lot colder zone (#3). There are tricks using water, south facing rock walls, wind breaks, letting the frost cold flow downhill away from gardens, raised beds, tunnels, coverings, cold frames and most of all grow plants that do well in your climate and soils. For us that's beets, turnips, pumpkins, apples, etc in particular.

For a hoop house you can see what we did here:

http://images.google.com/images?q=si...m+hoop%20house

We have a lot of different hoops. They provide great micro-climates for animals, water and plants.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

[oregon woodsmok]

Your weather is probably fairly close to mine.

I have really good luck with fruit trees. With veggies, the short season stuff and cold tolerant stuff does well. Warm season veggies have to be babied. I can get tomatoes and melons, but they take extra care.

You should have no problem with snow peas, potatoes, garlic, onions, carrots, any of the Cole crops, lettuce, radishes, asparagus, rhubarb, small berries (raspberry, blueberry, strawberry)

[josafeen]

yay! thank you all so much for the generous help! Now you have me excited about cooler weather things like peas and stuff....and maybe trying to do those most of the year instead of trying to fight for warm weather crops with the cooler summers, i bet i could keep cool weather varieties going all year long! Now soil might be another thing. We hae a lot of meadow that has tall grasses growing, backing up to forest. I dont think its too bad, but im going to really investigate now and see what kind o amendments might be needed, if any.
I always struggle with the"technical stuff", like zones, etc. , so i may have that wrong :-0