USA
May 19, 2010

The Pacific Northwest has an ideal climate for producing cool weather vegetables that can be grown throughout the fall and well into the winter. In 2009 Organic Seed Alliance, in partnership with the Food Coop of Port Townsend and WSU Jefferson County Extension, conducted cold hardy variety trials for 9 different vegetable crops, with over 120 varieties. Varieties were evaluated for their quality and marketability under the adverse weather conditions of fall and winter. While many growers in the PNW are increasingly depending on the use of plastic culture to protect crops from cold damage this set of trials were conducted without the use of any plastic or reemay covering of the crops.

Trial results are available for local growers to consider in planning their 2010 production seasons. A full report of the trial methods, results, recommendations and data is available at: http://www.seedalliance.org/Publications/

Data was collected throughout the fall and winter at all important stages of each crop’s development. A field day for local farmers was hosted by OSA in early December 2009 just as crops were going through the coldest fall weather that anyone could remember (down to 14 every night for almost a week and high temps in the upper 20s or lower 30s every day). This weather was ideal to our purposes as it definitely damaged many of the weaker plants. This selection pressure allowed us to see which varieties withstood our lowest winter temperatures. OSA recommendations for each crop type are based in part on this cold hardy data and are also based on the flavor, color, and marketability of the varieties.
 

Website: http://www.seedalliance.org

Published: May 19, 2010