Plants that grow in colder conditions
Selecting seeds from cold climate sources such as those from northern parts of the provinces and Alaska are a good starting point for seeds. Check out the following sites for seeds.
https://bestcoolseeds.com/
https://www.heritageharvestseed.com/
www.earlysgarden.com/
www.lindenbergseeds.ca
For a listing of many Canadian seed sources, check out http://www.seeds.ca/diversity/seed-catalogue-index Many types of vegetables are great for cold climate gardening. Here are some worth trying in your own cold climate garden. (adapted from http://www.motherofahubbard.com/10-vegetables-more-cold-hardy-than-kale/)
Carrots Cold temperatures stimulate sugar accumulation in carrots, acting as a natural antifreeze that protects the roots from freeze damage. Sow carrots through the spring, giving them time to mature into fall, then harvest To keep carrots, cut off most of the tops then store them in boxes with damp sand and keep them around 0 degree. Green carrot tops are hardy to at least -8 °C, but the roots can withstand even colder temperatures. To make harvests easier, either heavily mulch carrots when really cold temperatures or place heavy straw bales over her in-ground carrots as extra protection. Varieties Scarlet Nantes and Autumn King are favored.
Spinach Although tender in your salads, spinach is actually a tough little plant. Spinach can overwinter. Spinach leaves will die back in harsh winters but new leaves emerge from plants in spring. Spinach can look rather rough in winter without some protection, however, so grow it under cover in cold frames. Savoy (deeply crinkled) types are much more cold-hardy than flat-leaf varieties, so choose varieties like Winter Bloomsdale and Tyee to see you through to spring.
Broccoli Famous for being packed with nutrients, broccoli is tasty and easy to grow. The plant is quite frost tolerant. Plant it about a month before your area's average last spring frost date. Because broccoli loves cool weather, you can also plant it in late summer for fall harvests. If you keep many of the leaves on the plant after harvesting your broccoli, the plants should produce sideshoots that will give you a second or even third crop. Try 'Packman', which bears uniform heads and matures in about 55 days.
Leeks Garlic planted in the fall are remarkably resilient to hard freezes. Leeks, a close cousin, are also champions of winter gardens. Because leeks are not sensitive to day length, like many other alliums, they will continue to grow well during the shorter days of winter if mulched and under cover. Try leek varieties Bleu de Solaise and Bandit. Note that there is considerable variation in the freezing susceptibility of leek varieties. Most leeks are very cold-tolerant but the darker, blue-green varieties are most likely to survive plunges to -18 °C.
Collards Kale is a hearty cold weather plant but try collards. Collards have incredible flavor. This large green is a staple with fried chicken or a big pot of soup beans. Collards are also superior to kale when it comes to freeze-tolerance; when Lacinato and Red Russian kale are wilted and brown, collards continue to hold. Collard variety Blue Max is a favorite, with high yields, and the greatest degree of cold-hardiness -18 °C.
Parsnips Parsnips deserve to be standard-fare on every winter dinner plate. Like carrots, parsnips accumulate sugars with fall’s first frost, and hold well in the ground throughout the entire winter. Parsnips must be planted no later than early May as they can take up to 130 days to mature. Plant parsnips in cold frames and keep covered all winter as extra insurance. Parsnips are generally tolerant to -18 °C. Try Hollow Crown, a heirloom parsnip with superior flavor. Parsnip seed quickly loses viability, and will fail to germinate if over a year old.
Lettuce Lettuce is sensitive to freezing, but can be a favorite winter food. Immature plants are generally more cold-tolerant than mature plants, and may be grown under protection and harvest it in the baby leaf stage. Cold tolerance also varies widely among lettuce varieties — generally, heat and drought-tolerant varieties are also the most cold-hardy. The easiest way to find out which varieties perform well in your garden climate is with a mixed seed packet,— sow the seeds, and see which varieties survive. In very cold climates, grow lettuce indoors. In some locations you can successfully grow lettuce in a cold frame or greenhouses. Protected this way, adolescent lettuce can survive when outdoor temperatures dip to -12 °C.
Cabbage Cabbage is most frequently planted in the spring for summer harvest. In the fall garden it’s flavor is improved by frost, and insect pest populations are generally fewer. Although some cabbage varieties are damaged by harder freezes, there are several varieties of cabbage cope well with freezing temperatures. Similar to spinach, the most cold-tolerant cabbages are savoy types with deeply crinkled leaves. Try January King or Marabel. Most brassicas like cabbage germinate well at warm soil temperatures, so early summer sowings stand a great chance of success into the fall.
Turnips Turnips lose much of their spiciness and accumulate sugar when they mature in cold weather. The crunchy and sweet Hakurei turnips are a favorite vegetable Turnips are not as cold-hardy as the other crops listed above so they need winter, make sure to give them protection. Connie also favors Hakurei, a smooth-skinned, white variety that she grows in cold frames. Although Hakurei is arguably the best turnip variety, it is also one of the least cold-tolerant, and does not survive dips below 10 °F (-12 °C) very well, even with protection, as almost the entire root rests on top of the soil. You can fix that by mulching it heavily, or by selecting a turnip variety with thicker skins and below-ground root production, like Golden Globe.
Mache and Claytonia These are fabulous salad greens. mache’s nutty flavor to spinach, which it also beats for cold hardiness. Mache, is also known as miner’s lettuce, claytonia offers a striking contrast with incredibly tender, spoon-shaped leaves. Be aware that these varieties are so well-adapted to cold, that their seeds won’t germinate well in the heat of a summer garden. Direct-sow them when soil temperatures are below 20 °C, and as low as 4 °C. They can be planted in an unheated greenhouse in the fall but they won’t be ready until spring.
Swiss Chard Chard is also remarkably cold-tolerant, surviving dips to -10 °C without protection. Green or white chards are more cold-hardy than the popular multicolored variety. Verde de Taglio for winter growing has much less of chard’s earthy flavor. Fordhook Giant. When real winter sets in, protect chard in a cold frame . Optionally, harvest all the leaves and cover the remaining chard crown with a thick layer of mulch — the plant will survive the winter, and produce new growth in the spring.
https://bestcoolseeds.com/
https://www.heritageharvestseed.com/
www.earlysgarden.com/
www.lindenbergseeds.ca
For a listing of many Canadian seed sources, check out http://www.seeds.ca/diversity/seed-catalogue-index Many types of vegetables are great for cold climate gardening. Here are some worth trying in your own cold climate garden. (adapted from http://www.motherofahubbard.com/10-vegetables-more-cold-hardy-than-kale/)
Carrots Cold temperatures stimulate sugar accumulation in carrots, acting as a natural antifreeze that protects the roots from freeze damage. Sow carrots through the spring, giving them time to mature into fall, then harvest To keep carrots, cut off most of the tops then store them in boxes with damp sand and keep them around 0 degree. Green carrot tops are hardy to at least -8 °C, but the roots can withstand even colder temperatures. To make harvests easier, either heavily mulch carrots when really cold temperatures or place heavy straw bales over her in-ground carrots as extra protection. Varieties Scarlet Nantes and Autumn King are favored.
Spinach Although tender in your salads, spinach is actually a tough little plant. Spinach can overwinter. Spinach leaves will die back in harsh winters but new leaves emerge from plants in spring. Spinach can look rather rough in winter without some protection, however, so grow it under cover in cold frames. Savoy (deeply crinkled) types are much more cold-hardy than flat-leaf varieties, so choose varieties like Winter Bloomsdale and Tyee to see you through to spring.
Broccoli Famous for being packed with nutrients, broccoli is tasty and easy to grow. The plant is quite frost tolerant. Plant it about a month before your area's average last spring frost date. Because broccoli loves cool weather, you can also plant it in late summer for fall harvests. If you keep many of the leaves on the plant after harvesting your broccoli, the plants should produce sideshoots that will give you a second or even third crop. Try 'Packman', which bears uniform heads and matures in about 55 days.
Leeks Garlic planted in the fall are remarkably resilient to hard freezes. Leeks, a close cousin, are also champions of winter gardens. Because leeks are not sensitive to day length, like many other alliums, they will continue to grow well during the shorter days of winter if mulched and under cover. Try leek varieties Bleu de Solaise and Bandit. Note that there is considerable variation in the freezing susceptibility of leek varieties. Most leeks are very cold-tolerant but the darker, blue-green varieties are most likely to survive plunges to -18 °C.
Collards Kale is a hearty cold weather plant but try collards. Collards have incredible flavor. This large green is a staple with fried chicken or a big pot of soup beans. Collards are also superior to kale when it comes to freeze-tolerance; when Lacinato and Red Russian kale are wilted and brown, collards continue to hold. Collard variety Blue Max is a favorite, with high yields, and the greatest degree of cold-hardiness -18 °C.
Parsnips Parsnips deserve to be standard-fare on every winter dinner plate. Like carrots, parsnips accumulate sugars with fall’s first frost, and hold well in the ground throughout the entire winter. Parsnips must be planted no later than early May as they can take up to 130 days to mature. Plant parsnips in cold frames and keep covered all winter as extra insurance. Parsnips are generally tolerant to -18 °C. Try Hollow Crown, a heirloom parsnip with superior flavor. Parsnip seed quickly loses viability, and will fail to germinate if over a year old.
Lettuce Lettuce is sensitive to freezing, but can be a favorite winter food. Immature plants are generally more cold-tolerant than mature plants, and may be grown under protection and harvest it in the baby leaf stage. Cold tolerance also varies widely among lettuce varieties — generally, heat and drought-tolerant varieties are also the most cold-hardy. The easiest way to find out which varieties perform well in your garden climate is with a mixed seed packet,— sow the seeds, and see which varieties survive. In very cold climates, grow lettuce indoors. In some locations you can successfully grow lettuce in a cold frame or greenhouses. Protected this way, adolescent lettuce can survive when outdoor temperatures dip to -12 °C.
Cabbage Cabbage is most frequently planted in the spring for summer harvest. In the fall garden it’s flavor is improved by frost, and insect pest populations are generally fewer. Although some cabbage varieties are damaged by harder freezes, there are several varieties of cabbage cope well with freezing temperatures. Similar to spinach, the most cold-tolerant cabbages are savoy types with deeply crinkled leaves. Try January King or Marabel. Most brassicas like cabbage germinate well at warm soil temperatures, so early summer sowings stand a great chance of success into the fall.
Turnips Turnips lose much of their spiciness and accumulate sugar when they mature in cold weather. The crunchy and sweet Hakurei turnips are a favorite vegetable Turnips are not as cold-hardy as the other crops listed above so they need winter, make sure to give them protection. Connie also favors Hakurei, a smooth-skinned, white variety that she grows in cold frames. Although Hakurei is arguably the best turnip variety, it is also one of the least cold-tolerant, and does not survive dips below 10 °F (-12 °C) very well, even with protection, as almost the entire root rests on top of the soil. You can fix that by mulching it heavily, or by selecting a turnip variety with thicker skins and below-ground root production, like Golden Globe.
Mache and Claytonia These are fabulous salad greens. mache’s nutty flavor to spinach, which it also beats for cold hardiness. Mache, is also known as miner’s lettuce, claytonia offers a striking contrast with incredibly tender, spoon-shaped leaves. Be aware that these varieties are so well-adapted to cold, that their seeds won’t germinate well in the heat of a summer garden. Direct-sow them when soil temperatures are below 20 °C, and as low as 4 °C. They can be planted in an unheated greenhouse in the fall but they won’t be ready until spring.
Swiss Chard Chard is also remarkably cold-tolerant, surviving dips to -10 °C without protection. Green or white chards are more cold-hardy than the popular multicolored variety. Verde de Taglio for winter growing has much less of chard’s earthy flavor. Fordhook Giant. When real winter sets in, protect chard in a cold frame . Optionally, harvest all the leaves and cover the remaining chard crown with a thick layer of mulch — the plant will survive the winter, and produce new growth in the spring.