Gardening Methods

Questions about Northern Ontario?

My family and I are looking into the possibility of buying some property and relocating to Northern Ontario (more specifically the Cochrane District). I was hoping there might be someone on here that could tell me just a bit about the area… how population dense it is, what the growing season looks like [I do like to garden], other things of that nature.

I grew up on a farm in Northern Ontario. Slightly more south of Cochrane. I pretty much lived in the middle of nowhere. Here are some things to keep in mind when gardening:

Gardening
1. Make sure you have plenty of tarps or covers of some sort to cover your plants from the frost. Lets just say they get enough frost that my family built wooden frames around our planting beds and then put old windows over top of the boxes to make them like little green houses at night.
2. Start your plants early if possible. My grandfather used to start them in his house under heat lamps to get them going. Once the nice weather hit he would transfer them outside into the garden. Except for his tomato’s.
3. My grandfather grew almost everything under the sun. He really enjoyed growing things in Northern Ontario just to see if they could actually grow in Northern Ontario lol. He grew all sorts of melons, plum trees, and some other fruit bearing tree aside from his apple and cherry trees. The only downside was the deer/bears really liked them.

Other then those thins to keep in mind its fairly normal. It is beautiful up there. You actually get 4 seasons. The fall is absolutely beautiful up that way with all the leaves changing color. Thats one thing I definitely miss most about home. Just don’t see beautiful leaves like that anymore. It does get cold up that way in the winter . .not to mention you get your fair share of snow.

The towns up that way tend to have low populations. Which is not a bad thing. Makes it a very friendly environment if you don’t mind a few people knowing your business.

Hunting is big in Northern Ontario, or at least it was for most of my family. Lots of moose, partridge, deer, that sort of thing. Fishing and Ice Fishing are big things in Northern Ontario. If its something your interested its definitely the place to be.

There are plenty of things to do during the seasons if you like the outdoors. Makes for some wonderful hiking. In the winter I used to do a lot of snow mobiling, skating, snowboarding, cross country skiing, snow shoeing, that sort of thing. In the summer I did a bit of swimming, fishing, and hiking.

You definitely have to like the small town life style. Its not a bad thing. Its just there are not as many options as you would find in a city. Like groceries and that sort of stuff.

There really is not a lot to describe about it. I mean, its a small town and its in Northern Ontario. Your looking at a outdoor kind of life style. Its absolutely beautiful . .and if I didn’t live in Brisit Columbia that is exactly where I would be living =)

Here is there website for extra details: http://www.town.cochrane.on.ca/siteengine/activepage.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochrane,_Ontario

I hope all works out and you like it up that way . . it really is beautiful countryside =)

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