I've been gardening at high altitude since 1990 and have learned a lot about what to do and not to do and what works and what doesn't. I share some of my experiences and conclusions in the following tips and techniques:
Assess Your Conditions You need to be realistic about your high altitude gardening conditions. Here's what I learned about where I live and what you may want to consider also.
Choosing a Vegi Garden Site Put your vegetable garden in full sun? On a hillside? Where? I found a lot of conflicting information about where to place my vegetable garden. These are my conclusions that you may want to consider when choosing the location of your high altitude vegetable garden.
Lowering the Soil pH Our soil is the opposite of most soils in the US - it's alkaline - and most vegetables prefer acidic soil pH. This section tells how to add acidity to your soil.
Vegetables for High Altitude What vegetables should you consider for your garden? Long season vegetables such as corn and tomatoes don't fare too well up here. These are the vegetables that I have grown.
Short-season Seed Sources High altitude gardeners cannot plant just any vegetable variety; our growing season is much shorter then flat landers and we need to consider how long to maturity for every vegetable. I buy seeds from these sources that have short season varieties.
Sowing Seeds Indoors With our short growing season, we must start many vegetables and flowers indoors or in a greenhouse. I share some of my experiences starting seeds indoors in this section.
Composting With our dry climate, is it possible to compost? Yes, and here's what I do.
Watering on a Steep Slope Water sure has a tendency to flow downhill, quickly. So, how do you water newly planted trees or other plants on a very steep hill without wasting most of the water? This is how I do it.
Placing Rocks in a Garden I found much conflicting and incorrect advice about how to construct a rock garden. I observed our natural environment and came up with some conclusions pertinent to our high altitude.
Determine a Right Angle You want the steps you're constructing be square. How do you do this on a steep slope, out in a field, without having surveyor equipment? My husband sshowed me a way to use only stakes, string, and a measuring tape.
Christmas Tree Dilemma Should you buy a potted Christmas tree to plant outdoors after the holidays? This is my conclusion on how well this would work up here at altitude.
Do you have a tip that would help other high altitude gardeners? Have your experiences been different than mine? Do you have something to add to one of my tips or techniques? Send me your tip or comment here.