High Altitude Gardening

Living at a higher altitude has some benefits and detraction. Still, you should not have to abandon your gardening aspirations. High altitude gardening can be challenging, but it not an impossibility. Still, there are some special circumstances to consider. However, if the altitude reaches 7000 feet above sea level, you may have to stop and seriously reconsider your expectations. Take Colorado, for example. If you live in the Rockies, you will come across thin and rock-filled soil. The humidity will be lower, and there will be a lot of pests that will complicate your efforts. Understanding these obstacles will help you overcome them and exercise your green thumb at a higher elevation.

Once you have moved to a higher altitude, you will quickly understand how the environment is slightly different. This also means that the nature of your eventual garden will also be slightly different than what you might expect. Higher altitudes experience a different quality of sunlight as well as different air temperatures. Typically, the temperature is colder. This also means a longer winter and a shorter planting season. Many gardeners actively complain how their plot stays frozen until the middle of April. For high altitudes, this is par for the course and it should be expected. This means a fundamentally different plant selection than one might come to expect. Of course, you will not be planting citrus, but some the more difficult plants might be surprising. Any long-germinating seed would be less than suitable for the environs.

Also, the soil itself referred to as "decomposed granite." That means rough soil with a lot of hard rocks. Still, there are effective ways to compost the soil and raise some thing like potatoes, which are not nutrient intensive. The same could be said for spinach, peas and a few other types of vegetables.