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Wind
Wind will wipe out tender young plants and even newly planted 5-gallon
container shrubs in a heartbeat. Wind protection can increase temperatures
behind the wall by 30 degrees! Yes you read that right. So, if you
are in a windy area (probably 85% of the valley!) then block that
wind some way. Some inexpensive ways are the use of plastic or stacking
up straw bales or individual plants surrounded by old tires 3 or
4 high (this is really ugly but it works in an out of the way vegetable
patch). Or plan to wall in your garden with a fencing of solid boards,
concrete blocks or a stucco wall. At the minimum place your garden
on the side of your house that is away from the wind. Also, remember
the wind when hardening off the plants you have grown indoors before
planting them outside. Too much wind too soon, if it doesn’t kill
the plant will seriously stunt it. Stunted plants may not make it
here. You need good quality strong plants for this growing environment.
Animals
The only sure way to protect against animals is fencing. You can
try all kinds of remedies for keeping deer away i.e. hot pepper
spray, coyote urine or other predators’ urine (available from mail
order sources – believe it or not!) human hair etc. However, if
the deer get hungry they will try to get at your garden. Fencing
for deer must be high (seven feet or more) or wide. Supposedly deer
can jump high but not wide at the same time. Specific deer fencing
is available from many mail order sources. For a small garden area
you can literally enclose a whole area with chicken wire fencing
and take it over the top as well. Remember to bury the fencing 6
– 12 inches below ground level to keep out the little varmints like
ground squirrels and chipmunks. In addition, deer will not jump
over a fence that they cannot see through to the other side. Wood
fencing would furnish this barrier and do double duty for blocking
the wind!!
Hail
Hailstorms in the summer will happen and can literally wipe out
your garden. I am mainly referring here to vegetable gardens. For
flower gardens there are many plants and shrubs that will come back
after a hailstorm and continue to flourish. However, if you are
doing a vegetable garden and (particularly) growing tomatoes and
warm season crops then a protection of hardware cloth (screen door
screen) placed over plants will help protect from a total wipe out.
Build covers of hardware cloth particularly around the warm season
crops such as tomatoes and peppers and leave them all summer since
you never know when a hailstorm will hit. The hardware cloth will
let in water and sun but protect against most hail. This works fine
if you have an out of the way garden plot. Since my vegetables have
to be mixed in with my flowerbeds, I have tried a new theory this
year. I have planted many tomato plants (sixteen to be exact for
two people!) at various locations around the house with no protection
for hail. This way when a hailstorm comes maybe some plants will
survive and I can still have some of those wonderful home grown
tomatoes.
Short Growing
Season
Allow for the short season by planting specific short season varieties
of vegetables. Many of these varieties will set fruit at much lower
temperatures. The Siberian strains of tomatoes for example will
set fruit below 50 degrees (some even as low as 38 degrees!). Growing
your own seeds is the best way to get the varieties you will need.
I look for varieties that mature in 65 days or less. (Example, some
romaine lettuces take 90 days to mature while there are some varieties
that take 65 days!) We have approximately 100 days of growing or
frost free days from June 1 to September 10 however, no guarantees!
On June 14 of this year (2001) we had an unusual, two-inch snowfall
and many gardeners around the valley had young perennials that were
set back because of it. I am hoping for a long fall so that I may
get some bloom from these plants yet this season. Buying local grown
plants (or grown in similar climate) is necessary to insure success.
Local grown plants weather vegetables or perennials are already
acclimated to this elevation and have a jump start over plants brought
in from lower elevations. Placing boulders and stones around your
beds will add warmth to a planting bed and may help induce earlier
bloom. However, on a more positive note we do not have the bugs
and pests that plague so many gardeners elsewhere in the country.
Our dry climate, even though short, is not as conducive to bugs
and many plant diseases.
Many of the
Cole (cool season vegetables) love this growing climate such as
spinach, peas, carrots, potatoes, radishes, lettuces, beets and
Swiss chard to name a few. Many of these can be seeded directly
in the garden as early as April since they can withstand some frosts.
You can plant out tomatoes and peppers a month earlier (May 1) with
the use of wall o waters. Be sure the soil is warmed up first by
using plastic over the soil or set the wall o waters out for a week
or two before setting out the plant. Leave the wall o waters on
all season to allow steady growth with the warm soil. Raised beds
are also great since they warm up sooner in the spring than the
flat ground by as much as 15 degrees. The soil should be warmed
to 55-60 degrees before planting out tomatoes. These kinds of season
extenders will be needed for tomatoes and peppers. You can also
use tunnels, hot caps or anything that will give a more protected
growing environment. Even if you do not want to go to all the trouble
to grow tomatoes, you can still have some wonderful homegrown produce
with the cool season vegetables.
We have some
absolutely beautiful flower gardens here in the Wet Mountain Valley.
There are many flowers both annuals and perennials that grow very
well here and vegetables are grown all around the valley even at
9000 feet elevation. It is just a different growing environment
than many places around the country and we have to learn that environment.
Besides the elevation and the intensity of the sun we do not have
the rainfall that many of us are used to elsewhere in the country.
Using drought hardy plants and learning about Xeriscape is a good
idea. It’s also a good idea to join our local garden club – the
High Altitude Garden Club – the name says it all!
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