Home & garden, state by state
Everything we have worked out for Northwest Territories: what to plant and when, which varieties finish in time, the pests that actually turn up here, and the jobs that pay off month by month. We also cover the rest of the property, from lawns and soil to home care and energy, because a garden rarely stops at the vegetable bed.
The numbers first, because everything else follows from them. Measured at the weather station in Yellowknife, the last spring freeze falls around May 25 and the first fall freeze falls around September 18, 905 growing degree days in the year.
That is little accumulated warmth: tomatoes need a tunnel or a greenhouse here, whatever the frost dates suggest. Garlic does well: 39.1 weeks below 40 °F, comfortably past the six it needs to form a proper head.
Elsewhere on the property in Northwest Territories: the pests that turn up here.
Figures from Environment and Climate Change Canada. A state is not one climate: elevation, a large lake or the coast can move these dates by two weeks either way, so check your own county with the extension service before you spend money.
Northwest Territories gardeners get about 115 frost-free days at Yellowknife, so early planting indoors and fast-maturing varieties are essential for a ripe harvest.
Fourteen catalogue tomato varieties compared by days-to-maturity against Yellowknife’s mean frost dates, showing which finish safely and which run out of season.
Work out your Northwest Territories tomato transplant date by counting from Yellowknife’s average May 25 last frost and September 18 first fall frost.