Du gardeners - a question

[HEyHEY]

I live about a 45 minute drive from a family cabin...so I'm up here a lot. In town I inhabit an apartment building.

So, I was thinking of trying a vegi garden up here. The climate is dry, but not too warm because the alt is 6,500 feet.

Could it work? What would work?

[Dookus]

1. depends...

how often are you up there?

You could probably rig an irrigation system to water it while you're gone. There are timers available for such things. But that would be necessary - you couldn't just water on the weekends.

[HEyHEY]

3. usually twice a week - plus my folks come up too

[supernova]

2. Soaker hoses on timers

might work best. that way the plants would get water while you're in town during the week.

Is it shady or full sun?

[HEyHEY]

4. Shady there's trees

sparse though - it's kinda a high desert sorta place

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. You could do vegetables that don't require more than

a couple times of watering a week..tomato plants and peppers mostly..especially if it isn't too hot. Things like cucumbers, lettuce and melons would be tough. Herbs would be relatively easy since it sounds as though it is cool enough for them to remain moist.

[HEyHEY]

6. mmm peppers - herbs...garlic?

I wish I had spent my pro gardener days with vegis not flowers

[JayS]

10. There is one herb that does well without regular watering...

...but it tends to attract lots of law enforcement types with big guns. :)

[BiggJawn]

7. Check the Maturity Dates for what you want to plant...

And check to see when First Frost date is for the cabin. If the veggies can grow to maturity before Jack Frost bites 'em, go for it.

[supernova]

8. If you want to do watermelons and canteloupes

they require a lot of moisture up front, then dryness the rest of the time to bring out the sugars so they're sweet when they're ripe.

[mitchtv]

9. good luck it sounds pretty wild

get lots of chicken wire. Deer(6' high chicken wire) and rabbits will decimate a country garden= try the herbs . the garlic/onion family might be ok.

[Deb]

11. You may want to try cool weather vegetables

like peas, spinach, lettuce and radishes. Some plants won't make it w/o warm soil for transplanting, I've had problems with putting in tomatoes too early here in Upstate NY. A raised bed may help you with the warmth.

[ironflange]

12. Try these

Leaf lettuce - should do well in a cooler area

Carrots - go with the round-ended ones (Nantes)

Potatoes - need lots of water, but you can't beat freshly dug red taters, chopped and boiled with the skins on, butter and chives on top

Chives ;)

[HEyHEY]

15. boiled red spuds rule!

[necso]

13. If shady and cool,

I would look at turnips, beets, swish chard, stuff like that. While the root part might not grow large, the leaves are all edible. (They also handle hot pretty well.) In my experience spinach, mustard greens and other cold weather greens bolt when it gets warm. You can plant them early and if it doesn't warm up too soon, they might grow to good size. In ten years I have had one good crop of spinach.

Onions for greens and garlic might work too. Other "bulb" type veggies are possiblities.

You also have to know your local diseases. Up here we get a mildew or something that wipes out peas and some other plants.

I have a fence (hardcloth) around and under my garden and still have problems with birds. I had a major problem with squirrels until I cut the hardcloth on the top of the side supports to points and this finally stopped them.

Raised beds are best and starting your plants inside is good too, but be careful to "harden" the plants when you move them outside.

With sun you can do a lot, but with shade it is tough to grow much. Even stuff that will grow, will take much longer (2x, 3x or more). At 4 months last year my carrots were maybe half the size of those baby carrots that you get in the store.

I am just about ready to give up on my garden (too shady)... or move it to a neighbor's sunny yard, where I have been growing tomatoes for the few months that they do well.

Depending on how hot and dry it gets, you might have to water even hardy plants more than twice a week and still more when they are small.

With soil prep (yearly), building the beds and fencing, weeding, watering and feeding, my garden has been a lot more work than it has proven worth. But it is nice to have a garden.

[HEyHEY]

14. Thanks

I will be tryin gfor herbs too

[necso]

18. It is a trial and error process.

It takes a few years to figure things out, and what works one year won't work the next. I plant things that I know will grow, try others and stick with a few like spinach that rarely do anything good.

Using protected pots in especially sunny spots will allow you to grow small quantities of veggies that won't make it in your main garden.

But remember that the local critters are there full time. Also if you can find a local resident who knows the area, this can be a great help. Most up here don't bother with gardens, but a few take it seriously, greenhouses and all.

[donco6]

16. IMO - no.

Here in Denver at 5,280 ft, you have to water DAILY to get anything to take. You might be able to skip a few days once established, but two weeks?? NO WAY.

[politicat]

17. Start saving plastic bottles, sez the hi altitude gardener.

I live at about 5500, in a high desert climate.

Best way to water when you're not there to turn it on is to fill bottles with water and upend them near the plant. Most garden stores sell a little thingy that goes in the ground and screws into the bottle. I use two liter soda bottles and 5 gal water bottles for the bigger beds.

Then you're watering the roots directly.

Tomatoes and peppers are drought tolerant - to an extent. Boom and bust watering in tomatoes causes Blossom end rot, and thus your tomatoes look like hell. Peppers won't fruit well if it's too dry. Use short growing season varieties, google for "siberian tomatoes" to find the seeds and plants I use with great success.

Green leafies like lettuce need LOTS of water - they can die in 48 hours if they don't have enough water. Same with spinach.

Zucchini and crook neck and patty pan do okay. Just pick small. Same with winter squash. (not the picking on the winter squash.)

root veggies like radishes and carrots need cool weather and frequent water and thinning.

Have you thought about just getting a community garden plot? I find that works really well for me.

Politicat

[HEyHEY]

19. Nah, I'm all about the challenge!

thanks!

[yardwork]

20. One more thought - the soil

If the area you're thinking about gardening has thin soil and is under trees, the soil might not be very nutritious for plants. Amend it with lots of organic stuff - start a compost pile, or beg borrow or steal compost. That will also help keep the moisture in the ground.

If you have a lot of tree roots, especially greedy tree roots like pines, try raised beds. They'll dry out faster, though, so you'll need to do the irrigation.

Herbs love poor soil so they might be a good crop to start this year!

[Eureka]

21. How about those water crystals?

They hold 400 times their wieght in water (or thereabouts) so you can give them a good soak and they'll keep watering the plants for easy a week. I used them once, but got too excited and ended up with huge mounds of rubbery gel and no plants. The directions on the pack seem about right.