Creating a garden in a cold new place

November 13, 2026

"Mike offers advice to a gardener moving from an ideal climate to to place where summers don’t get warm."

Season extension for less severe situations

Q. Lois, moving to upstate New York, writes:

“I have followed your advice for many seasons, thank you, and have successfully maintained raised beds on a property in Georgetown, Delaware for more than 20 years. It has been a learn-from-mistakes progression as I was a real novice.

And since I am still nowhere near an expert, I have a few questions about new beds I am about to start building in Upstate New York, specifically just outside a town called Stamford. The weather, the soil and the terrain are highly different there: it’s still cool in late spring, it’s very rocky, the soil is red, and I’m told that most of what I have is shale.

I think raised beds are perfect for this terrain. I plan on one or two beds, 4 ft x 8 ft x 12-18" high (I have already purchased the corner posts from Gurneys). My goal is to have everything ready this fall for planting in the Spring

I am planning on using your suggested mixture for the soil content in the beds (40-40-20). One question about the topsoil: Since we just built, we have a large pile of soil left over. I was going to screen it for rocks and such, but I’m wondering if I should buy new topsoil instead? The soil seems healthy by the looks of the wildflowers that were growing out of it. I also assume that screening will omit as many of the weed seeds as possible, so should I use a finer screen?

And since weeds are the bane of any organic grower, should I put landscape fabric down as a first layer underneath and surrounding the beds? Could that hurt or help and is it a waste of dollars? Should I use shredded leaves instead?

This area's growing season begins later than I was accustomed to in Delaware. Other than following the recommendations for my new Zone, do you have any advice to share that might help?”

 

A. I have lots—but first, thanks for the corner post plug; my associates at Gurney’s will appreciate your customer feedback on them after they’re in place!

Now--before we begin to describe the depth of woe that defines your new reality (i.e., “you’re going to need a warmer coat”), a primer on raised beds that answers a few of your questions:

 

I recommend that the area on which raised beds will be built be scalped, levelled, and covered with a single layer of THICK cardboard—the kind that refrigerators are shipped in. You can usually pick some up at a big appliance store; maybe buy a new dishwasher while you’re there. The cardboard should cover the entire area; that’s the beds and the walking lanes in between. And those lanes in between the beds MUST be at least two feet wide. That’s ‘must’; and believe me, you will thank me later. Then fill those beds with the soil mix you refer to: 40% high-quality screened topsoil, 40% compost and 20% perlite (little white balls made of popped volcanic rock that improve drainage AND store water for release during dry times [no; those little white balls in the soil of purchased plants are not any kind of plastic or foam]). Bonus: a huge bag of perlite only weighs a couple of pounds!

Note: Too much perlite is never enough.

The carboard will disintegrate over the course of a season, allowing you to grow deeper rooted plants. But before it does, it will prevent any unwanted plants from entering your beds from below.

Now the bad news. You’re moving from a climate that Wikipedia calls “sub-tropical and humid” in USDA growing zone 7b, with a frost-free season of 170 to 200 days, and around 46 inches of rain {quote} “that is fairly well-distributed throughout the year”. Your new place is in USDA growing zone 5b (it was judged an even colder 5a in 2012; at least your new location--and the locations of many others--are moving up warmer in the frost Zone map).

Your last hard frost in the Spring could (actually, will) be in June (that’s the last frost, not the time to safely plant tomatoes and such outdoors), and your first frost in the Fall is expected to land around Labor Day. But the worst part is that your average temps won’t get out of the seventies in the summer.

I hate to say it, but you had a gardening paradise in Delaware. You did not move to a gardening paradise, and are now challenged with a difficult endeavor.

I compare your upcoming adventure to that of the gardeners who invited me to speak in Erie PA many moons ago. They had moved there to have lots of land that didn’t cost them a lot; but they had left behind gardens that could grow tomatoes and peppers outside during the summer without assistance.

They had become ingenious at beating the climate. A large percentage had real, sturdy greenhouses. Spring in Erie is painfully slow to arrive, and muddy. (Thankfully, I was loaned a pair of wellies to protect my Frye English riding boots.) I expect your experience will be the same.

You also make me think of a fabulous trip I took courtesy of the Southeast Alaska Master Gardeners in the nineties. My daughter (eight years old at the time) and I flew into Juneau, where the event was held, but at the urging of the group, had reserved a cabin for three (because that got us a small in-cabin bathroom) on the Alaska Marine Highway for the journey back to the lower 48.

The Highway is a large fleet of ferries that we were told were no frills when we booked the tickets. Ours turned out to be anything but; great food in the cafeteria, movies every night, and a large main deck that was all glass so we could enjoy the amazing scenery on both sides as we sailed through the inside passage on our six-day trip back to Bellingham Washington on the good ship Matunuska.

We saw bazillions of bald eagles—always roosting in the massive trees high above the ravens. And a sea of whirlpools of all shapes and sizes that took a good twenty minutes to sail thru. And baby humpbacks playing next to the ships.

We found that gardeners in Juneau could grow cabbages the size of a compact car and lettuce that never bolted from heat, but needed greenhouses to grow the traditional plants of summer. One had built a greenhouse up against a South facing wall of her home. It had a full-size door, but didn’t need glass on the house side. That wall intensified the daytime heat and sun and also provided a bit of stored heat to the greenhouse at night.

Now: One of the reasons/slash/benefits/requirements of raised beds is avoidance of your existing soil. I might not waste my time trying to screen what you describe. My guess is that your existing, unscreened clay would be better used to throw pottery. Perhaps it could be used to make a base under your raised beds, as tamped down clay would form an almost impervious barrier against weed seeds. (Be sure to poke deep holes in it to allow for drainage.)

(Oh, and even the tightest screening would not exclude weed seeds. And the effort to try would redefine the words tedious and exhausting.) A bit of explanation: “screened” topsoil refers to soil that has been pushed through metal screening. With bulk soil providers, the openings in the mesh are generally fairly large, and designed only to exclude large objects like rocks, soda cans, hypodermic needles (yes; they are unfortunately found very often) and the like.

In home settings, the tighter mesh (much smaller openings) can be called hardware cloth (despite being steel) or ‘welded wire’ fencing when the holes are fairly large. These products are much stronger and stiffer than chicken wire and are sold in rolls or already stapled onto screening frames for immediate use.

Be aware that hardware cloth comes in a dizzying array of mesh sizes (the openings you push the soil through) and gauges (the relative strength of the metal). Counter to what ya’d think, lower gauge material is stronger and thicker, while higher number indicate weaker metal. Go figure.

“Fine” openings range from one eighth to one half of an inch; that’s too small for most home soil applications and patience, but perfect for gardeners to use as protective devices to exclude rodents and such. “Medium” has squares that are one by one inch up to two and two; it’s a good screening size for home gardeners who are working with decent soil. (Again, I’m guessing your pile is not good soil, but if some of it can fit through a medium-size screen you might have to use it if your local topsoil options are even worse.)

The openings in “Large” sheets are four by four inches to six by six and are used in industrial settings, mainly when concrete is poured. Most bulk ‘topsoil’ that’s for sale has been removed from areas where homes or other buildings are about to be constructed; and, the bulk soil business being of necessity local, will be composed of soil obtained locally. In your case that might be the same sort of soil I just told you not to use.

So—what do you do in a region where it never hits eighty in the summer? Like my friends in Southeast Alaska, who, unlike the iciness of the mainland above, live on fertile islands that enjoy a mild climate but no heat, you must improvise and adapt.

To grow the crops of summer you’ll need either a true greenhouse, on which you should spend as much as possible; a good one will be expensive but will add value to the property. Or go with a true hoop house, which probably won’t.

I’m talking about a walk-in hoop house with a full-sized door, an automatic vent in the ceiling, a ceiling of stretched plastic and a strong foundation. They’re not cheap, especially if you hire people to set it up correctly, which you pretty much have to. I have helped raise many hoop houses, and every time, I was one of a minyan (that’s M A N Y A N; not the cute little yellow guys).

Yes, it took ten of us. At least. “Pull!”

Inside the hoop house is where you would prepare your raised beds, each of which would also have removable season-extending covers for the worst of winter. (That means lettuce and spinach and such all year long, not tomatoes in January. Oh, and be sure you can shovel or snow blow your way to the door. Sorry.)

Hey—you wouldn’t have to shovel if the back door of the house opens into the greenhouse. Just sayin’….

Following up on that thought, can a room on the South facing side of the house be adapted/renovated into a conservatory/solarium/lean-to greenhouse? You’d dramatically lower winter costs over a true greenhouse or hoop house, and can grow what you want in large containers. Just follow the seasons; plants know when its summer.

Otherwise, you indicated a depth of twelve to eighteen inches for your beds. Let’s make it eighteen and fill the bottom of the beds with a layer of rotting wood from the wild areas you have nearby—a technique called Hügelkultur that has worked well for me in both beds and large containers. (Always buy the bigger container.)

Then visit your local garden centers and test their bulk topsoil. Take home a five-gallon bucket of their best and use the soil to fill two medium-size containers. Leave one just soil, but plant fresh new seeds in the other (bean seeds are the best for this test) and water them daily for a week.

If lots of plants appear in the un-planted plot, pass on the soil; it is full of weed seeds. (A few weeds are acceptable.) If no plants appear in the planted pot do not use that soil, no matter how desperate you are; it contains massive herbicide residues.

If plants appear but they are pale and weak, that soil still contains herbicides. If the plants are nice and green, you’re in luck. As long as the soil has no off smells (NEVER buy stinky soil!), you can try it. Have the smallest possible load dropped off, or carry away enough five-gallon buckets to fuel your needs.

And finally (ha! If you believe that…) we get back to the 40/40/20 mix: 40% screened non-stinky topsoil, 40% high-quality compost and 20% perlite.

You’ll find high-quality bagged compost for sale at better, family-owned independent garden centers—and perhaps good bulk compost in Delaware that you can move along with the rest of your stuff. (Yes, you’ll be crossing state lines with the intent to commit horticulture. If you’re busted, tell them I told you to do so on my behalf; at my age, ‘life in prison’ just means free food and medical care.)

You can find HUGE bags of perlite for sale at many outlets. Your new local State Extension office will tell you where—and maybe direct you to reliable bulk soil and compost providers. Speaking of compost, your new location has lots of deciduous trees, whose shredded leaves alone make good compost; and mixed with, say, a five-gallon bucket of spent grounds from a local coffee shop, make GREAT compost. And yes, for the skiilidionith time, those leaves must be shredded or they’ll mat down into a nasty, stinky, moldy tarp.

Leaf blowers that also shred are widely available and the leaves are only here now. Look for rechargeable, non-corded, non-gasoline machines with the highest ‘mulching ratio’ listed on the box. Twelve is decent; twenty is great.

In conclusion (stop laughing out there!), you face a difficult path and a completely new reality. As I tell all new gardeners (and those in a new USDA Zone), breathe deeply and go slow. You are facing a short summer season with temps that will not exceed the seventies. But you can succeed.

Find local gardening groups and converse with their members; they’ll be of great help. And ask them if your local Extension office is organic-friendly (sadly, all are not). If the answer is yes, you have another helping hand at the ready, especially in the shape of graduates of their Master Gardener program.

And remember, slow, informed, and steady wins the race.

 

Well, that sure was a somewhat depressing but hopefully encouraging look at growing the plants of summer in a summer-free zone, now wasn’t it?