My interest is only on common
vegetable garden crops, not grain or fodder. For example, the
Matanuska valley in Alaska is cabbage territory.

What information, exactly, are you asking? Are you asking which vegetables are
succesfully grown commercially in different places now? Are you looking for
potential diversification to crops not yet grown in a certain area? There are
many sources for the data you mentioned: for climate, my old Time Life
Encyclopedia of Gardening shows maps of USDA zones, based on average minimum
winter temperature; zones of date of first and last killing frost; and general
vegetation types (e.g., eastern hardwood, Pacific coastal forest).
Publications by Sunset magazine show more narrowly-defined zones for western
North America, based on a variety of factors. fertility, there are surely
maps of different soil types, on both local and regional scales -- might want
to try USDA for starters. For rainfall, the vegetation zone maps give a
general sense of this (e.g., prairie has less rainfall than broadleaf forest,
but more than steppe).

When you say "vegetable carden crops," do you mean a small kitchen garden, a
market garden/truck farm, or a large-scale commercial operation specializing in
one or a few vegetables? Melons, for example, are grown large scale in Arizona
and western Texas (long hot season, lots of sun, irrigation), but may be found
in small gardens just about everywhere.

Jie-san Laushi

Huodau lau, xuedau lau, hai you sanfen xue bulai
_____________________________________________
to email: eliminate redundancy

In article ,
userve (Jie-san Laushi) writes:
| My interest is only on common
| vegetable garden crops, not grain or fodder. For example, the
| Matanuska valley in Alaska is cabbage territory.
|
| What information, exactly, are you asking? Are you asking which vegetables are
| succesfully grown commercially in different places now? Are you looking for
| potential diversification to crops not yet grown in a certain area? There are
| many sources for the data you mentioned: for climate, my old Time Life
| Encyclopedia of Gardening shows maps of USDA zones, based on average minimum
| winter temperature; zones of date of first and last killing frost; and general
| vegetation types (e.g., eastern hardwood, Pacific coastal forest).
| Publications by Sunset magazine show more narrowly-defined zones for western
| North America, based on a variety of factors. fertility, there are surely
| maps of different soil types, on both local and regional scales -- might want
| to try USDA for starters. For rainfall, the vegetation zone maps give a
| general sense of this (e.g., prairie has less rainfall than broadleaf forest,
| but more than steppe).
|
| When you say "vegetable carden crops," do you mean a small kitchen garden, a
| market garden/truck farm, or a large-scale commercial operation specializing in
| one or a few vegetables? Melons, for example, are grown large scale in Arizona
| and western Texas (long hot season, lots of sun, irrigation), but may be found
| in small gardens just about everywhere.
|
| Jie-san Laushi

Thank you for the response. I see that the question was poorly asked.
Perhaps a better way to ask is: if I move to Kellogg Idaho, what garden
vegetables will I be able to grow successfully given that particular soil,
climate, rainfall, etc. What about Flagstaff, or Fargo, or Duluth? I
was hoping for a single map showing the range of crops as it varies from
place to place.

-Keith

G'day Keith,

Botany is a science, gardening is an art. :-)

Maybe you would do better asking your question in groups such as:

sci.agriculture
rec.gardens.ecosystems
rec.gardens.edible
sci.agriculture.fruit
alt.agriculture.fruit

Whatever... I'd be surprised if you found what you're after as such
(but would be bloody interested to know if you do . You're much
more likely to find stuff on "climatic zones", "soil types", etc. as
discrete maps -- you would then need to interpret them based on a
knowledge of the requirements of individual garden crops.

Of course, it's possible (I just think a bit unlikely) that you could
find what you want. Certainly the technology is available (GIS should
make this sort of stuff a breeze -- maybe add comp.infosystems.gis to
that list above) but I remain doubtful that it has been applied at the
level and for the sort of things you're interested in.

Cheers, Phred.


In article , (Keith
Michaels) wrote:
In article ,
userve (Jie-san Laushi) writes:
| My interest is only on common
| vegetable garden crops, not grain or fodder. For example, the
| Matanuska valley in Alaska is cabbage territory.
|
| What information, exactly, are you asking? Are you asking which vegetables
are
| succesfully grown commercially in different places now? Are you looking for
| potential diversification to crops not yet grown in a certain area? There
are
| many sources for the data you mentioned: for climate, my old Time Life
| Encyclopedia of Gardening shows maps of USDA zones, based on average minimum
| winter temperature; zones of date of first and last killing frost; and
general
| vegetation types (e.g., eastern hardwood, Pacific coastal forest).
| Publications by Sunset magazine show more narrowly-defined zones for western
| North America, based on a variety of factors. fertility, there are
surely
| maps of different soil types, on both local and regional scales -- might
want
| to try USDA for starters. For rainfall, the vegetation zone maps give a
| general sense of this (e.g., prairie has less rainfall than broadleaf
forest,
| but more than steppe).
|
| When you say "vegetable carden crops," do you mean a small kitchen garden, a
| market garden/truck farm, or a large-scale commercial operation specializing
in
| one or a few vegetables? Melons, for example, are grown large scale in
Arizona
| and western Texas (long hot season, lots of sun, irrigation), but may be
found
| in small gardens just about everywhere.
|
| Jie-san Laushi

Thank you for the response. I see that the question was poorly asked.
Perhaps a better way to ask is: if I move to Kellogg Idaho, what garden
vegetables will I be able to grow successfully given that particular soil,
climate, rainfall, etc. What about Flagstaff, or Fargo, or Duluth? I
was hoping for a single map showing the range of crops as it varies from
place to place.

-Keith

Cheers, Phred.

--
LID

Don't forget, by far the most common crop in the United States, and our biggest
export, is bad taste.
Iris,
Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so much
that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885

You have a map where in the US exactly that crop is grown?
["cultivated" would be the wrong word here! ;-) ]
PvR

Iris Cohen wrote

Don't forget, by far the most common crop in the United States, and our
biggest export, is bad taste.
Iris,

Central NY, Zone 5a, Sunset Zone 40
"The trouble with people is not that they don't know but that they know so
much that ain't so."
Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw), 1818-1885