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Gardening in Northern Wisconsin

Gardening in Northern Wisconsin - St. Clare Audio

Question

I have a question about gardening in northern Wisconsin. I’ve never lived remotely near this far north and am rather nervous about what I’ll truly be able to grow.

Gardening in Northern Wisconsin

Gardening in Northern Wisconsin - St. Clare Heirloom Seeds
With the many rivers and streams, Gardening in Northern Wisconsin can be doubly enjoyable.

Answer
Well, as far as gardening in northern Wisconsin we usually tell people to look at the “days to maturity” of each heirloom seed variety. The shorter ones will be more sure to be able to mature during the shorter season that we have here compared to more Southern climes. The things that you would have to be careful of are melons(watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, etc.), squash, pumpkins, longer season corns, etc.; things that typically take longer to mature. Here is a helpful tool to look up how long your garden season will typically be., and you can go from there in determining what you can likely grow. We haven’t grown all of what we carry, but we can successfully grow almost all the seeds we carry here.

Gardening in Northern Wisconsin - St. Clare Heirloom Seeds
When Gardening in Northern Wisconsin, amending with lots of good organic material such as compost, worm castings, etc. is very helpful.

Also, you’ll want to see what kind of soil you have, often it’s pretty sandy in northern Wisconsin. If so, amending with lots of good organic material such as compost, worm castings, etc. is very helpful. You can also use grass clippings or other cut plants to make a mulch about 6 inches deep around your plants and that will feed them naturally(a HUGE help), as well as help keep the moisture in the soil around the plants. Watering consistently is important, too. The other factor that may affect your gardening will be: are you in the woods? How much light your garden gets is important, and you may see a difference there from what you are used to where you used to live.

Heirloom Garden Seeds Collections

Our Small Family or Large Family Garden Seed Collections are a good place to start for seed varieties that should grow fine up here, if you don’t want to have to look around much. But, if you, like us, prefer more fun in choosing the varieties to grow, by all means have a look around, and just stick to the mid-length to shorter length of time varieties. We hope this helps you, and if you have any other questions about gardening in northern Wisconsin, please feel free to write us any time!

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