Sorry, i just typed for 10 minutes and lost the whole post. Hopefully some of this will be useful, but if you've grown for even one season, you may already know a lot of it. I can’t stress enough: ask
locals what works best in your area.
Short form:
Ask locals, like at a co-op or feed store, what cover crops will replenish the soil with minimum work from you (probably some perennial that fixes nitrogen).
Ask locals, like neighbors, what varieties they find grow well in your Zone 3, probably short, growing season. (And when they tell you what variety of peas, lettuce, spinach, broccoli and snap beans they grow, but never mention tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, you'll know that tomatoes, peppers and eggplants can't be set out until weather and soil and warm, and they are a challenge in cold climates.
If anyone offers to start some seeds for you (give away some of their seedlings), find favors you can do in return, like offer them space in your greenhouse. Maybe find out something they liked, buy a BIG pkt of that seed from Hazzards or other wholesaler, and split it with them.
http://www.hazzardsgreenhouse....
Starting seeds indoors or in a greenhouse and planting out PLANTS as soon as it is warm enough gives you a big head start in a short growing season. Since you have a greenhouse, you might not need to cover rows of soil with plastic in spring to get an early start (like a hoop tunnel or tent of plastic film). But that does get the soil warm and dry faster, and protects seedlings that you have set out from night-time frosts and wind.
A raised bed will warm up (and dry out) faster in spring. They don't even really need walls (stones, wood or concrete paving stones stood on end). You can just shovel 8-12" of soil from the walkways between beds, onto the tops of beds, and let the edges slope some. If soil is exhausted, that also gives roots twice as much soil to grow into. But if you have dry climate, they dry out faster.
MAYBE you can draw deer away from your vegetables by providing them other things to eat first. Cover crops are a start, and there are "Brassica mixes" for creating food plots for deer. I think mostly hunters do that as a legal form of baiting, but it could also serve as a tarp crop. Maybe don’t stress that to your neighbors, unless you invite them to hunt on your land during deer season! A tall, tall fence for your garden is the only sure cure for deer.
Here are some cold-climate and extra-early tomato varieties for when you're ambitious:
Glacier - ultra-early, cold-tolerant, SEMI-DET
Stupice - ultra-early, cold-tolerant, compact DET
EXTRA-EARLY & COLD-TOLERANT:
Oregon Spring - extra-early, very cold-tolerant, "plant 4 wks before last frost & protect only when there's frost"
Manitoba - extra-early, cold-tolerant, 3'-4' DET, "Canadian for colder climates"
Matina - extra-early, INDET, "dependable even in cold/wet summers"
Sub-Artic Plenty - extra-early, "Canadian", DET
Northern Delight - ultra-early, "for the Far North", 2' DET
Beaverlodge series - ultra-early, compact DET, containers
Sophie's Choice: Heirloom from Edmonton, Canada, introduced by Carolyn Male in 1997.
Extra early, flavorful. 2' DET vines suited to containers. 6-12 ounce globes red-orange outside and deep red flesh.
Strong disease resistance. Not heat-tolerant or drought-tolerant. Best production in cooler climates.
EXTRA-EARLY:
Early Cascade - (hybrid but seems pretty true) - early, short-summer, PNW, "reliable: sets fruit in any climate"
Early Wonder - extra-early, 3'-4' SEMI-DET, med red globe
Early Wonder - extra-early, SEMI-INDET
Siletz - extra-early, reliable, DET,
Sungold F1 - extra-early, 4'-8' INDET, containers, sweet orange cherry with 'tropical' flavor
Ildi - extra-early, yellow grape pear, 8'-10' INDET
Gold Nugget - extra-early, 2-3' DET, bland yellow cherry
EARLY:
Yellow Plum - early, productive even in cold, 4'-6' INDET, yellow cherry
Bloody Butcher - early, cool climate, 4'-6'
Maskabec - early, 18"-36" DET, 4-6 oz. red globe
Golden Rave (hybrid) - early, gold Roma plum6'-8' INDET
Husky Cherry Red - early, semi-DET or dwarf INDET
Sub Artic Cherry - early, DET, pink, "developed in Alberta for short seasons"
Early Cascade - early, short summer, red-orange
LESS EARLY:
Marmande - semi-early, cool climate, med-large red beefsteak type, full flavor
Santa Cherry / Santa Sweets - mid-season, tolerates cool summers, 4'-8' INDET
Morden Yellow - mid-late, Canadian for colder climates, 2'-3' DET, med yellow globe
Early Girl (hybrid) - semi-early, med red globe, flavorful
