Red Planet by Robert A Heinlein.
From Wikipedia:
Beecher, the unscrupulous colonial administrator of Mars... has secretly planned to prevent the annual migration of the colonists (to avoid 12 months of severe winter weather) in order to save money.
The boys set out to skate the thousands of miles on the frozen Martian canals to their homes. During the trip, Frank gets sick. On the third night, they are forced to take shelter inside a giant Martian cabbage-plant (nearly suffocating when it folds up at night)