I garden
in the montane zone at 8,400’ in SW Colorado.
In the 10+ years
I have lived there, our last frost has been late May or early June and our
first frost is at the end of September or mid-October. Our summer daytime temperatures are in the
70’s, with very few days in the 80’s.
Night time temperatures are 50-60⁰ F.
Needless to say, I grow a lot of things under covers. The covers provide both shade and warmth.
They also help discourage critters and insects.
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| My raised beds. |
My soil
is loamy with a pH of about 7. However,
this ‘ideal’ soil is also about 50% rock and very difficult to dig! So, I grow in raised beds. The soil I got to fill my raised beds was not
as good as my native soil and I have been amending my beds with organic matter
almost every year before I plant.
I have
about 250 square feet of space to grow in my raised beds and I grow tomatoes in
5- gallon buckets on my deck, which is a warmer microclimate. I use a 4-year crop rotation by family. I water using rainwater and well water. Mulch and row cover fabric help conserve
water.
This year
I grew several varieties of bush green beans, carrots, onions, leeks, Chinese
pink celery, kale, cabbages, a cauliflower, broccoli, peas, potatoes, short-season
tomatoes and some flowers for pollination and herbs. I only grow enough for fresh eating and a little
to preserve for later.
Like many
of you, our spring was cold with late snow storms. Our summer/fall was very dry but the
temperatures were not overly hot.
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| Chinese Pink celery |
I planted
everything “on time” this year because I don’t have time to lose in our short
season. The weekend I planted I didn’t
have my compost screen and I didn’t want to wait another week, so I planted
without amending the soil. I believe that not amending my soil, as well as the cool spring, slowed the growth of
almost everything I planted. I ended up
fertilizing more than usual, but still crop growth was less than normal. I learned that amending my soil every year is important for crop growth.
My
best success was the bed of bush snap beans. It is a 15’ x 3.5’ cold-frame style raised bed, covered with a
product called diobetalon.
I grew
several varieties of bush beans: ‘Tanya’s Pink Pod’ (started producing earliest);
“Calima’ beans were long, straight and slender; the ‘OS Blues’ were ‘ok’ and an
unnamed variety I got in an Instagram seed swap were my favorite. I harvested 16 pounds of beans over 6
weeks!
I also
grew a 12 pound, 12 ounce ‘New Brunswick’ cabbage! Sorry-- I forgot to take a photo!
I was
excited to try Chinese pink celery. It
has pink stalks and is supposed to be easier to grow than “European”
celery. Even though I planted it several
weeks earlier than recommended, it withstood late frosts. However, it went to seed early.
I planted 'Shiraz Tall Top,' ‘Kamuolini’ and ‘Crapaudine’ beets for the second year but
in a different bed than last year. Deer
grazed them twice and the beets got powdery mildew (a first). They were smaller than normal.
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| Tomatoes on my deck, covered for early frost protection. |
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| Green Zebra tomato |
I grew
several varieties of tomatoes in buckets on my deck. I had lots of blight (also a first) but got
an okay harvest. The ‘White Currant’
tomatoes were small, creamy yellow SWEET and delicious! My husband liked the tangy ‘Green Zebra.'
There
were a few times I was pretty discouraged this past year and wondered if it was worth the time and water to try to grow some of our own food. However, I feel I learned some things this year and I’m
already planning for next year!
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