I am considering relocating from southern Minnesota to the northern part of the state and I am wondering how such a move will affect my gardening and chicken raising. In particular, I would like to know if I will be able to produce decent crops of warm season vegetables such as sweet corn, tomatoes, winter squash, and dry beans. I am currently gardening on prairie soil in Zone 4. Also, will I be able to continue raising chickens and bees?

Can any of you from northern MN help me out?

Thanks.

-- Douglas G. Newman (namwen64@juno.com), September 12, 2000

Answers

I'm pretty far north in MN and we raise good gardens. We plant earlier varieties and most years the canning tomatoes are ripened in the house but there are challenges gardening anywhere. This is zone 3 but we have many zone 4 plantings because we always have snow to protect them.There are areas that do get frost June and August as well as areas that have a somewhat longer season than we do so it is important to find out about such micro-climates when choosing a property. Chickens are fine although keeping water unfrozen can be a nuisance. There are people who keep bees but I don't know if they do something to protect them in winter. Hope this helps. Up North in MN is a great place to live! Alma

-- Alma Miller (almamiller@webtv.net), September 13, 2000.