Gardening in the wrong climate?

I thought we were off to a good start this year. Last year, we ditched the giant, unyieldy garden space for a smaller, tighter spot. I had an exceptional harvest of potatoes with the Ruth Stout method, using goat bedding.

This year, we doubled the size and added zuchini, tomatoes, and melons.

The garden was all planted a few weeks ago, which seemed reasonable for our North Idaho climate. Unfortunately, a few days ago it got down to 27F and the frost killed everything that was poking up. I'm assuming the potatoes might survive (the potatoes coming up were actually regrown from last year -- I didn't pick them all, which may have been a mistake.) I have a lot of seed potatoes planted as well, that I'm not worried about.

A lot of people in the area seemed to have the same struggle. From what we know, people less than an hour away didn't have any frost, or at least not a hard frost.

This is pretty discouraging to have a 27F frost in June. It seems like every other year, we have something like that.

It's just making me rethink if this a good location for having a productive garden. I love potatoes, but it's not the only thing I want to grow!

I know that hoop houses would work, but I'd prefer to not be dependent on them. It's a heck of a lot of plastic.

How does Wheaton Labs do it, over near Missoula? Maybe that microclimate is better than ours? Our zone 5 fruit trees died, but most of our zone 4 stuff has survived.

Is there a way to plant or arrange the garden to make it more frost tolerant? I'm okay if we can't grow tomatoes, but it'd be a real bummer to not even be able to grow zuchini!

We've been starting to think about leaving our 11 acres for a few acres closer to town, possibly in a warmer climate that might be more forgiving.

Historically, this area was just used for logging and there was very little homesteading in the area. Just a bit southwest of here, there's a lot more farming/agriculture, even at roughly the same elevation. We're in a bit of a snow and cold belt.

Thank you!

Climate has done lots of crazy stuff over the centuries. Europeans used to start their plants in a "frame" or glass house. It's just repurposed window frames on hinges that cover a raised bed. Certainly zucchinis and tomatoes could be started in these, perhaps in pots, and transplant once all danger has passed.