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

grammas- what a beautiful garden!!

One note on chickens. Go for a pea combed variety like a Wyandotte. Large combs tend to freeze off in cold weather.

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Libertarindependent

I am in zone seven in NY, which is just a little warmer then you. One bit of advice I would give you from my experience is, that timing is everything, there is very little time for delays and mistakes because the season is so short.

Start seedlings indoors if you can and start them a little earlier then might be recomended on the package because once that warm weather comes you want to transplant a decent size plant into the ground.

LOL Tinknal!
I'm in zone 2/3 so to me zone 6 is downright tropical! I have some regular combed roos that have managed to keep their points even through -40

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Then yer pampering them!

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Flaming Xtian
I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi


Libertarindependent

Josefeen, I am in a volcanic area and so are you. I don't know what your soil is like, but my best guess is that you have volcanic soils. My soil here grows plants like magic.

I do add compost and manure and for a few things I have to adjust soil pH. I add sulfur for my blueberries and feed an acid plant food. The asparagus needed to have dolomitic lime added. Everything else likes the natural pH.

You will need a pH test because of the pine forest. It's cheap and then you will know if you need to add something to adjust pH.

I add bone meal and Epsom salts when I plant the veggies (tiny amount). I've got drip lines to irrigate. It saves time and doesn't waste water.

Zone 4 Eastern Ontario, Canada here. We raise Chanteclere chickens with no heat/light and they do fine (laying slows down in winter, but never stops entirely).

we have pea combed chickens, (and some rose combs) and have to say theyve gone through winter here in ct zone 6 no probem, we got alot of snow ths year (feet at a time once a week for the enitire winter lol) and our coop isnt insulated, and they were allowed outside during the day we didnt do ANYTHING additional to protect the combs and havent lost any...

I'm guilty as accused.....I give them a regular light bulb to keep them laying and plug in the heat lamp on nights below -25.
I have a loft and keep all the chickens in the same coop in winter so the extra body heat helps keep the coop warm at night. In the daytime they are outside...
So Josafeen don't worry about your chickens if you give them a place to roost that's free of drafts and someplace to go outside and scratch around in something to cover the snow. I think a hoop house would be perfect if you watch to be sure the snow is sliding off. Snow makes a perfect insulation too if it's banked around a structure.

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A wise person speaks when they have something to say but a fool speaks just to say something