It’s that time of year.

I’m guessing that if you haven’t yet placed your seed order for the upcoming gardening season, you’ve at least thought about it. Because even if you might be under piles of snow at the very moment, spring is just around the corner.

For some of us, that corner is a bit out of sight yet.

But that doesn’t really matter. It’s planning time, baby.

It’s early enough in the year that you still have some time to map out the upcoming garden. And if you live in a colder climate as I do, there are some things to consider before jumping right in and ordering every pretty thing on every glossy page of every seed catalog piled up on your kitchen table.

Just put the pen down, back away from the catalogs, and listen.

One difficult lesson I’ve had to learn myself is you can’t just grow anything and everything when you have 3 months in which to grow it. Unless you have a greenhouse or other season extenders, you have to choose wisely when selecting what to put in your cold climate garden.

1. Choose early varieties that are projected to produce within your growing season.

I cannot stress enough how important this is. If your last frost is mid-June and your first frost is early to mid-September, don’t plant a 95-day indeterminate tomato variety. Trust me, you will end up like I have with 7-foot tall gorgeous tomato plants plump full of {green} tomatoes that you have to haul inside because the frost has threatened before they’ve had the chance to ripen. It kinda takes the fun out of the months you’ve spent giving tender loving care to these prized plants when you’re cheated out of the opportunity to pluck red tomatoes from the vine.

Instead, specifically target varieties that produce more quickly and have been proven in cooler temperatures. My seed orders this season were placed through Territorial Seed Company and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and I choose items such as the 55-day Beaverlodge Series Tomato, the 66-day Early Jalapeno, the 50-day Bountiful Bush Bean, and 52-day Double Yield Cucumber. All vegetables that need warmer weather to produce, and all will be able to go from start to finish from mid-June until the end of August.

You can also choose to select varieties that originate from cool climate areas or countries. For example, I will be trying out the Tsar’s Royal Gift Tomato which originates from Russia, and the Blacktail Mountain Watermelon which was developed in Northern Idaho.

2. Take advantage of the cool weather crops.

I’m talking peas, lettuce & greens, radishes, broccoli, etc- plants that do well in or prefer the cooler weather. Plant lots of them and take advantage- there are those that live in hot climates who can’t even grow lettuce at all! These will probably be the first things you get to plant in the garden come spring while waiting for the frost danger to pass, so plant with care and do staggered plantings every two weeks to ensure a continued harvest. Once these cool climate plants have passed their peak, you can replace them with your warmer weather transplants and get the most out of your garden space.

3. Heirloom, Organic, non-GMO?

What’s the difference and what’s the big deal? Well, sadly the factory farm industry that produces our vegetables today operate on lifeless, used and abused soil that depend heavily on non-organic fertilizers as well as toxic poisons in order to grow and fight pests. The result is a product that is low in nutrients and riddled with chemicals that we in turn put into our bodies. 

Not so pretty.

Studies have shown that organically grown fruits and vegetables can boast up to 60% more antioxidants, 50% less cadmium {a metal which the CDC lists as one of the 275 most hazardous substances in the world} than non-organic produce, and of course contain significantly less chemical residue.

So, why organic seeds? If you think that simply growing your plants organically is enough, you need to know that conventional seed crops use chemical fertilizers and pesticides in their production and the end product itself is then often treated with an herbicidal coating. Long story short, those seeds are exposed to lots of gross stuff from beginning to end before being packaged up and heading to your door- er, garden.

What about GMOs? If you haven’t heard of GMOs and would like to learn all about them from a source with the time, head on over to GMO Facts. Bottom line is, look for a seed company such as Territorial Seed Company, Bakers Creek Heirloom Seed Co, or Seed Savers Exchange who offer all non-GMO seeds, taking the guesswork out of your seed order.

Why heirloom varieties? Not only are heirlooms renowned for their superior flavor, but for allowing you the opportunity to save the seeds from a desirable plant and to reproduce those exact traits. By saving seeds, you not only further carry on the life of that variety as our forefathers did with such care, but you are doing your part in resisting the dangerous undertow of the genetically-engineered, hybrid, one-size-fits-all genetically parallel seed market that we’re seeing today.

I’ve got one word for you: Irish Potato Famine.

Okay, so that was three words. But say it real fast and get scared.

Or at least commit yourself to adding a few heirloom varieties to your garden this year and read up on seed saving. You’ll feel good about doing it, I promise you.

This year, my seed lineup consists of 85% heirlooms. If you’re excited about trying out some new varieties, don’t go too crazy. Instead, try 2 or 3 (at most) varieties and from those, determine which are best suited to your garden. You can then continue with those the following year and try out one or two new varieties each season.

4. Start keeping good records.

If you haven’t yet started a garden and harvest journal…start. From recording the size of your garden, the rows, and where you planted, to what succeeded and what didn’t and everything in between, the best way to know what happened is to write it down. Then take it a step further: your harvest. How many pounds, how many quarts & pints, how much you froze, canned, and dried. Then keep track throughout the winter- how much did you use? What could you have used more of? What didn’t you use? What should you plant more or less of next year?

It’s a pretty common mistake to give in to garden fever and plant a little bit of everything rather than a lot of what you’ll actually use and a little bit of the “fun stuff” that you maybe don’t need so much of.

I know that for my family I need to grow, more than anything else, a lot of tomatoes because I can a lot of tomato-based products: spaghetti sauce, salsa, whole tomatoes, etc. I know that we eat spaghetti twice a month which means I need 2 quarts of spaghetti sauce for each month, which equates to 24 quarts needed to sustain us an entire year. Which in turn equates to needing to plant some good paste tomatoes in the garden. {This year we’re going for the Nova, an early 65-day Roma}.

I also know that we eat a lot of green beans, carrots, potatoes, and corn. So preference is offered to them as well. We need onions, sweet peppers, and jalapenos for our spaghetti sauce and salsa. In the past, approximately 4 of each type of pepper plant has provided what we need. I know this because I’ve recorded it.

Keep track to keep on top of what you really need in the garden. A lot of people desire a more self-sufficient lifestyle by way of home food production, and good records are the best way to accomplish that. Being smart and keeping your head above the garden fever fog will not only fill your pantry but save a lot of money and time spent playing around while wondering why you just can’t seem to achieve those self-reliant goals.

But that doesn’t mean that gardening shouldn’t be fun. It absolutely should be. You should be passionate about your garden, and I’m sure you are, considering you’re taking the time to read this post. However, you should be as wise as you are passionate.

Garden smarter, not harder.

Right?

It’s all in your hands now.

Happy planting 🙂

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