Coming back from my Spanish tour, i noticed some people live and grow in specially difficult areas, like mountains. i live in hills, nothing alike!
Mountaineers face short seasons, crazy frosts, hot and dry, poor soils, downpours, nutty winds and probably everything else imaginable, you hopefully are going to tell me about in the comments.
It would be good if people worldwide from these mountainous places unite and share experiences and seeds and sources. i looked for a newby member, but couldnāt find such a place yet, so decided to start a topic about it to help out.
@Laura @harvestmoonfarm @dennis , if you know of more people who grow in these areas, do like me and @ them so they get a little ping, or pm me so i can update this topic.
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I live in the Okanogan Highlands WA State. I am gardening at about 37000 ft. I am on a mountain, in a mountain valley. the top of my property is 4100f
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Hello! Iām in a valley in the Appalachian mountains at about 1000ft elevation. The farm goes up to the valley ridges at about 1500-1600ft.
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I live in a valley at an elevation of 4,500 feet. Iām not on a mountain, but I am surrounded by mountains on three sides, and my elevation is quite high. Does that count?
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Iām at about 5500 feet near the Front Range in Colorado, USA. The Rocky Mountains are close by to the west, and they have a large effect on the weather here; wild temperature swings, etc. Growing seasons are relatively short and rather erratic, and radiant cooling is very strong at night; frosts can occur even after warm days. Solar radiation is intense; even on cold days, the sun is hot. Our dry climate intensifies these effects.
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Would you argue youāre in the mountains? How do those mountains influence your climate?
Are there specifics about mountains that have to be overcome that adaptation gardening has done? Have local seed swaps for instance helped or does the regular seed market offer seeds that are geared towards inhabitants of mountainous regions?
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The mountains hugely influence our climate. From what I understand, the headwaters of our local river come from rainfall on the mountains, so we get our primary water source directly from those mountains.
The elevation has a huge impact on our gardening, too. We have very intense heat and UV radiation, so much so that most āfull sunā crops actually do much better with partial shade here.
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I farm on Mars. My valley bottom is 2100-to-2450 feet at roughly 48.1 degrees N. Iāve farmed alllllll
over the Western hemisphere and Iād put my
valley up with some of the most
inhospitable growing frost cycles imaginable. Some years light frosts every month. Some year HARD frosts every month. Some years last frost May 15th and first frost September 13th. Always a gamble. I accept I am owed nothing and until I commit to more greenhouse living I am truly gambling every season. AND, yet, my seedling pawpaw genetics have proven 10x more hearty than any so called hardy peach. I continue to search for the impossible with just as much dedication as the apple and pear and shipova. Microclimates within microclimates. I live in a sheltered āsun cupā taking the entire frost sink off the highest mountain of the US range of the inaptly named āSelkirk Mountainsā. Mount Spokane is 6 miles to Summit as the crow flies from my front porch.
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I am at an elevation of about 1100m/3500 feet. Maybe we can list some plants that are just on the edge of growing at our locations?
For example, there are oaks on our property up to about 3500 feet, but none above. Beech ends at about 4500 feet, where they are already seriously stunted.
I have a southern aspect, in general a favourable climate. But we have often rough winds, especially in spring and fall. These winds are seriously dessicating. My biggest challenge is the steepness of the land. Our farmlands are all perennial pastures and meadows. Most of them have over 50 % steepness. This means that under no circumstances is the soil to be opened and disturbed in most places. It seriously limits my garden space.
The winds and snow pressure means that mulching makes no sense.
Because of this, I am mainly interested in perennials, especially fruit trees. I make of course some exceptions for interesting annuals!
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Joseph you seem to be south and east of me. I am up in the mountains between Republic and Tonasket about 20 mils from the Canadian border.. I used to live in the Selkirk range at Metaline falls, it had great growing conditions compared to here. It sure is tough and challenging but I am making a go of it.
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The one thing Iāve learned on my farm is the distinct uniqueness of micro-climatic zones within the mountains. IF I literally lived at the 500 acre hay field and farm literally just across the street where the elk graze and the bull elk call forth with their oceanic bugles, I would likely be able to shift my āzoneā a full letter. Open exposure to the earliest morning suns. Essentially a full Southeast expanse with a nice grade to the bottom wetland. IF I lived down the road a quarter mile then up a side road to a sandy southern sloping hill within the valley my farm would likely have meaningful and actual first and last frost dates - I could annually plan for last frost by May5th-May15th and first frost by Mid to late September. This is not the case, however. as the grade on my farm travels East to West. Every morning, I receive that frosty cold stagnated air off those icy cold slopes. They then rest atop my valley floor before the morning suns bring the breath of life through the ice crystals.
Iād love to see your farm and your situation. I imagine we have parallel āissuesā we face.
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Hello mountaineers of this world. It dawned on me that you have something in common with people who grow up far north. You both need explosive growth in crops because of a short season. Any thoughts on that?
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My frost dates leave me with an even shorter window as my first frost tends to come already in August. The differences between my subarctic location on 66N and most high elevation locations tend to be 1) they have a lot more UV radiation, 2) I have much cooler days: they tend to have āwarmā to āhotā days, even if the nights are similarly ācoldā for us both, and 3) I have a lot longer days. Very generalized of course.
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Thank you for clarifying that Cathy. So if i build on what you said, could it be that the explosive growth you need in your crops to stay ahead of the frost is an important part of what the people in the mountains need. And if they have already some similar crops adapted to intense UV and ānormalā sun hours incorporating your seeds in their population would benefit theirs. Or would you think otherwise?
Yes, I think itās very possible. Both settings are rather challenging for plants.
Btw, the more I observe the more I think that āextreme cold toleranceā is very often (but not always) simply extreme environmental tolerance, (almost) whatever the challenge actually isā¦
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Carol Deppe said that in one of her books. She said sheās noticed the plants that are most cold tolerant are usually also the most heat tolerant, the most drought tolerant, etc. I personally find that extremely hopeful, because I really want all three!
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Interesting! I havenāt read her books, shame on me. Only some articles and many, many forum commens here and there..
I highly recommend you pick them up during one of those loooooooong winter days when youāre longing to be outside gardening. 
