Which climates and USDA zones is Growing Taste written for?

Updated

Growing Taste is written primarily for a moderate northerly climate with a somewhat short but rather warm growing season. The site states that its advice suits gardeners in USDA Zones 4 to 7, and adds that the same advice will probably be helpful even in more extreme zones.

The site's stated climate focus

According to the site's own description, the growing advice is aimed at conditions like those of a moderate northern climate — a season that is shorter than in warm southern regions but still warm enough to ripen vegetables and fruits. The site frames this as a deliberately demanding test case: what grows well under those harder conditions will "almost certainly grow well throughout most of the United States and Canada (among other places)."

What the zone range means for you

Your situation What the site says
USDA Zone 4–7 The advice "should all be good advice for you"
More extreme zones (colder or hotter) "Probably" still helpful, but not the target
Very different climates (e.g., northern Alaska vs. southern Florida) Explicitly contrasted as needing different choices

The site uses northern Alaska versus southern Florida as its example of why regional limits matter: what is appropriate in one is very different from what is appropriate in the other. That contrast is the reason the site names a specific zone band rather than claiming universal applicability.

How to decide whether to use it

  • If you garden in Zones 4–7: treat the variety recommendations and growing information as written for your conditions.
  • If you garden outside that band: the general growing information may still transfer, but variety suitability is the part most likely to need local adjustment. The site itself only claims the advice will "probably" help in more extreme zones.
  • If your main concern is flavor: the site's stated purpose is to recommend specific varieties that reliably deliver the best eating quality, not rare or unusual crops — so the zone question matters mainly for whether those varieties will ripen in your season.

One practical note from the site's own framing: it makes no claim to special gardening expertise, describing its strength as extracting useful information from the large and messy body of gardening claims. That is a reason to read its variety advice as opinionated guidance rather than institutional authority — useful, but worth checking against your own local results.