So what's a mountain girl to do when the rest of the world starts digging and planting?
- Plan to sync with nature! At my altitude, only cool-season crops are viable. We really have to cooperate with nature up here, because warm-season crops just don't grow. At all. So as much as I'd like to have corn and watermelons, I'll be sticking to mainly greens, beans, and roots.
- Extend, extend, extend! To ensure that everything has time to mature in our approximately 90-day growing season, most veggie gardeners up here use season-extenders of some sort so they can get seeds/seedlings out earlier and harvest a little later. This is my first year to try a season extender, and it won't be fancy - it'll be homemade covers for my square-foot gardens.
- Plant indoors (maybe). Planting seeds indoors to transplant into the garden helps get things going a little early, too. Unfortunately, the bulk of my produce is root vegetables, some of which are notoriously picky about being transfered. So we'll see.
- Protect! Like many of you, we have deer, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks (and the occasional marauding St. Bernard), so I'll be amping up my garden-protection this year.
- Live vicariously through others! What are you doing in the garden this spring? I would loooove to enjoy your green, blooming outdoors while my surroundings lay dormant! Would you leave a comment with a link to your garden posts? I would love to read them!
This post is shared at Fresh, Clean and Pure Friday at la bella vita., as well as Simplicity Saturday at Cottage Homestead
Thanks for stopping by my blog. We have a lot of interests in common, but I think I would go crazy at 9000 feet all winter! What kind of trees can you grow? Fruits, nuts, pinecones? :)
ReplyDeleteI am sad for you that you can grow only beans and roots and greens. No tomatoes?!? :( I think tomatoes are the reason most of us get into gardening in the first place. We currently have a small lime tree in a pot in our living room; I wonder if anything like that would work for you. Or maybe you don't get enough sun . . . we are in the mountains, too, but only at 1,600 feet, so we have had good luck with our gardening efforts (just started a few years ago -- actually my hubby is the gardener, not me, but I get to have fun playing with all the produce). Here's a link to my end-of-the-summer wrap-up poast for 2010: http://queenofthecastlerecipes.blogspot.com/2010/09/summer-food-wrap-up.html
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to have found you; it looks like you have a really fun blog here :)
Tamlynn, we don't have any trees right now because we're renting, but I think a few really hardy types grow here!
ReplyDeleteLynn, no tomatoes is right! It's a bummer! I'm thinking about experimenting with a greenhouse-type cover for part of the garden so I can try some this year! The lime tree sounds like such good idea - I've never even heard of that! Thanks for stopping by!
WOW! Danielle I never even thought about the difference in planting seasons. I found this post very interesting and you have a challenge to say the least when it comes to gardening! Sounds like you have some great ideas to make it happen though. I visited Colorado once when I was 11, our family took a vacation to visit my penpal in California. We went to Pikes Peak, I remember thinking just how gorgeous Colorado was!!! :)
ReplyDeleteWe're at about 200 ft... but still many good tips!
ReplyDeleteMarie, I'm glad you have fond memories of Colorado - the Pikes Peak area is one of the prettiest, I think.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, I guess the high-altitude part isn't very applicable for you! But I'm glad you enjoyed the post!
oh man.. you have many gardening challenges! lol.. sheesh. I won't 'complain' about the rainy wet PNW any more! ;)
ReplyDeleteMy mom and I lived for a year in Cripple Creek. It would have been in the early 70's and I would have been a small girl, but I remember the donkeys and lots of snow. I have some fond memories of our time there for sure. Colorado is beautiful.
Hoveland Family, I think we all have unique challenges, no matter what our climate is like!
ReplyDeleteCripple Creek is such a beautiful area! I don't know if there are many donkeys there now, but definitely lots of snow! Thanks for stopping by!