Subarctic Garden Trials & Growing Experiments

This page is all about our subarctic garden trials!

Some people like to grow what will will work.  We like to trial and experiment with things, especially when they have very little information out there about cold climate performance.

Or, perhaps we’re trying to solve a consistent garden problem and we found what works!

This is a catalog of all the various experiments that we’ve conducted.  Each includes the variety grown, methods we used and the general results we received.  Our goal is to maintain this page with trials, as we perform them.

Subarctic Melon Trials

Many types of melons are quite doable in the subarctic greenhouse, especially if you’re willing to hand pollinate.  It is far more difficult to get them to work outdoors, however, and no known varieties exist.  (Yet!)

Variety:  Minnesota Midget

• Gardening Method:  Container (5 gallon bucket)
• Location:  Outdoors
• Result:  Mixed
• Status:  Needs further experimentation

The Minnesota Midget is one of the most cold-climate friendly melons out there.  It is known to perform well in the most northern reaches of the lower 48.  We had high hopes for our trial.

Our first year was a failure.  We experienced a few abrupt drops into the 30’s in late June, which killed the Minnesota midget plants.

Our second and third attempt were a bit more successful.  We experienced rather low production both years, typically getting 1-3 small melons across two plants.  The flowers are also very tiny, making pollination by hand difficult.

We are likely to continue melon trials as more varieties become available, but the Minnesota Midget hasn’t proven itself for us.

Subarctic Cucumber Trials

Cucumbers can do quite well in greenhouses in the subarctic.  Often, in good summers, they will also heavily produce outdoors

Variety:  Mexican Gherkin (Cucamelon)

• Gardening Method:  Raised beds with trellis
• Location:  Outdoors
• Result:  Failed
• Status:  Little interest in continuing trials

The logic behind trying the Mexican Gherkin was that it was a small cucumber that might produce quite prolifically.  We grew about (6) plants from seed and planted all of them.

Growth was fairly slow throughout the season, though it was generally a cool subarctic summer the year we grew them.  While both male and female flowers presented, quite prolifically, none of our cucumbers grew to any substantial size.

We believe this to be climate related and not related to pollinators.  We might consider trying them again, but have very little interest in doing so.

Subarctic Cauliflower Trials

For some reason, cauliflower threw inexplicable troubles our way.  We experienced difficulties from year to year, despite being quite capable at growing all other brassicas.

Variety:  Amazing

• Gardening Method:  Wide raised row in-ground garden
• Location:  Outdoors
• Result:  Success!
• Status:  Regular production

When we read the description for the Amazing cauliflower, we knew we had to try it.  It features both cool and warm temperature tolerance, producing well even in difficult environments.

This proved to be exactly true for us.  In a summer where practically every single gardener experienced cauliflower troubles, we walked away with the harvest of our lifetime.

Every head produced very well, offering well blanched heads of substantial size.  They were extremely tolerant of being harvested over a fairly long period of time.

In our initial year, there were no failures to speak of.  Taste is excellent and well suited to anything one would use cauliflower in.

We will continue growing this variety every year.  Based on the difficulties we’ve had in the past, this is now our go-to cauliflower variety.