Anybody growing vegetables in the Rockies?

You guys are way ahead of me. I have been gallivanting around for the past month and have done very little toward starting my garden. My potatoes arrived just before I left for my trip to Mississippi and now I had better get them out quick!
My parsley and chervil and oriental garlic chives are up and, in fact, I am already using them.
Now for the rest. I have done little or nothing so far. Oh, well. I have no travel plans for about 6 months, except for the American Iris Assoc. Convention May 1 and the DBG meeting of this forum in early may, is it the 12th? I will check.
Time for me to make up for lost time!

I bought 2 hostas from the Foxfire coop last year. They went into the garden and are peeking up their crowns. I just hope they dont unfurl their leaves until after this storm passes over us.

The peas, scallions, lettuce, radishes, and spinach are up and growing. Im going to wait another week before I pot up the tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers in bigger containers.

Some of the dahlias are in bigger containers, but I started with over 64 plants. I just dont know where to put all of them. The wind today was so bad, i couldnt put the plants out on the patio. I wont pot the rest of them until next week i guess.

Of course, since my strawberries arrived yesterday and I planted out 20 out of 50, it is snowing today. I've got juice bottles filled with water around my one "sacrificial" tomato - we'll see how it does. It did good when the temps got to 31 the other night. It's a yellow pear cherry tom and has proven to be a vigorous and unstoppable plant in the past.

Temps are warm - about 35. Snow should turn to slush to rain shortly. I guess it's going to be ugly going in to work this morning...and at least the infernal, desicating winds have stopped.

It snowed here last night and is supposed to snow off and on through Friday night. Temps are in the high 20's. Picked parsley for dinner last night. Hopefully I can start planting on Saturday.

Yea! No snow, the front passed to far south, and off work today, so I still get the 3 day weekend, and it is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow and Sunday. Guess what I will be doing?!?! I'm considering starting my squashes a week early, to give 4 weeks before planting out. Paj, should I start the winter squashes same time, or wait a few weeks to plant out Jun 1(May 15 is last frost date)? I've got butter nut & cup(bush), galeux d'eysines,conneticut pumpkin, and Baker Creek sent me the yellow scallop squash free. Looking forward to playing in the dirt! Hope ya'll get to, also. Oh yeah, half of the tom's have taken off since being potted up.

Ah, vadap,
I will be envying you today as you plant. You can start squashes indoors in the house and put them our after last frost date or plant them in the soil after last frost date. I am told by better gardeners than I that it doesn't make much difference --early start maybe canceled out by transplant shock. I usually do some of each.
But be really careful about average last frost date. One year, here in LA, we all lost our Zuchinis to frost on June 7! They can't take any frost at all. Then the whole town had to buy new seed and there wasn't enough to go around.
Sounds like you will have a wonderful selection of squash.
The storm is supposed to move out tomorrow and I hope to garden then but the temperatures are supposed to be very cold. Who wants to garden with their fingers freezing?

I've been collecting milk jugs over the winter, abt a gallon a week! I start just about everything indoors, and keep a close eye on the weather(have worked outdoors most my life, so garden/work equally affected by bad weather). Still haven't seen anything of the "cold" weather veggies I planted. Guess it got a little to cold in last weeks low 20's. May have to emergency replant, but has only been 11 full days since planted, and maybe that cold snapped delayed them? Or, maybe it outright killed the seeds? I really wanted the butters, and your recommendation of the galeux won that, the free scallops, and forgot to mention the spaghetti squash, will certainly make a full harvest this year. I'm getting excited about it.

Inch of snow here night before last... I hadn't put anything that couldn't handle it out, but it frosted tons of bulbs and fruit blossoms. I was really worried about my peonies, i have have several dozen coming up, but they came through fine.

no snow sticking, just some flurries. Looks like "the big one" passed way south of here.

Loverly weather these last few days. Babies been getting early morning and late afternoon sun. Here's a photo of some local sunbathers: various toms, lemon basil, dark opal purple basil, rosemary, strawberries (to be planted out today) and an ailing sweet potato grown from a cutting from a sweet potato from our first Thanks Giving in when we moved here to NV. It actually grew a 2" round tuber. It's much happier now that it's getting real sunshine.

Those are beautiful sun bathers, at that! I have some of my own minus the basil. But I have toms and dill and rosemary and everything in the cabbage family -- b sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli and of course cabbage. Also ornamental cabbage and kale. This weekend I am going to put my onions in. I have begun preparing their bed, hope to plant today or tomorrow. I am really behind this year. I got the watering system started last weekend, but it leaks at the faucet so I will have to get a plumber out here to fix the faucets. I got the lawnmower started -- one of the tough jobs every spring. Today I mow the lawn.
I let mint, sorrel, burnet, thyme, tarragon winter over and they are looking nice. I have tons of oriental garlic chives and parsley and chervil that wintered over. The chervil smells like licorice when you walk through it. I have been using the last 3 for a while.
Yippee, I love spring! And it has actually acted like spring for about 2 days now.

Spring has been here 4 days in a row now - with today reaching into the 80's, you migh almost want to believe our last hard frost date has past... but the AVERAGE still says "middle of May"... so I've got a few tender things out in the ground, and I'm thinking the babies might start staying out at night when the night temps are going to stay above 40*F... but still not quite ready to risk putting the main crop of toms and herbs out yet... but soon, oh so soon! I think Spring might be my favorite season.

I am already leaving my babies out at night in near freezing temperatures. They are doing fine, but they are right next to the house and don't get the low temps of the rest of the place. They seem happy. I am happy, too. I have been outdoors all day and some yesterday, but boy am I out of shape!
I have been working out at the gym all winter, but only gardening works the gardening muscles. Oh well, I will get strong before long.
Our average last freeze date is also May 15. I don't put out anything tender until then or even later, because it is an average, meaning some nights are higher and some nights are lower.
I love this part of spring, but not the winds and blowing snow of early spring. Today is heavenly.
BTW, just attended a lecture by the fruit and berries guy from our local ag research station. Our fruit trees frequently get frosted and fail to have crops. He had a list of ones that he had discovered which don't get nipped and do grow well in the high rockies. It was surprising. I will post it if anyone is interested.

I planted out a cherry and a peach last night. I'm totally interested in fruit trees that are "middle of april snow & frost resistant"! I think I lost my nectarine - she was just barely beginning to leaf out when that last cold spell, snow and 28* temps and winds came through. She looked ok for a day or two after, but then all the leaves wilted and look dead. I'm watering her as if she will live, but I'm having doubts.

I know what you mean about the gardening muscles. Forgot that even if the tractor drills the tree holes, there is still a fair amount of shovel work involved. The muscles are now protesting. 2 more trees to go this morning and tree planting is done for the year.

I've limitted my "planting too early" to one 4x8 ft bed that I can cover if need be and one half wine barrel that is close to the house and is in a little microclimate. Everthing else only stays out if the winds and the temps cooperate.

Came home yesterday afternoon from work, and ALL the squashes, pumpkin and watermelon have germinated. YEAH!! Now, all my veggies for the year are growing on. My tom's are growing by leaps and bounds, have to adjust the lights near daily to give them room. Going to cut the sod and make the new beds for them nest weekend, then another week or two to plant out. Of the veggies that I thought had frozen out a few weeks ago, only the leeks and carrots didn't germinate. Everything else is doing fine. My peach tree still has flower buds hanging on, so maybe some fruit this year? Then, probably not. Oh well, my caladiums need its shade along the back fence.

Okay, here is the results of 10 years of trials by Ron Walser of New Mexico State University at Los Lunas. These trials are the results of his work at Alcalde, NM, which is about 40 miles from Los Alamos and has a similar climate to that of most of Northern New Mexico. His goal was to find alternatives for the Red Delicious apple which the farmers here mostly grew and on which they lost a huge number of crops to frostbite. Ron trials fruit trees and berries and here is the result of his work. These will take New Mexico's cold winters and late frosts and produce good tasting fruit here.

Apples
Ginger gold -- crisp and spicy.
Gala -- extremely vigorous tree
Honeycrisp -- very cold tolerant and with an outstanding flavor.

Peaches
Contender -- yellow flesh, cold tolerant, late blooming . Flesh does not turn brown when cut. Fruits mid-season.
China Pearl -- white flesh, very cold tolerant.

Apricots --
Harglow -- also late blooming and cold tolerant.
He also likes Chinese Apricot or Sweet Pit which has a pit you can eat the pits of.

Sweet Cherries -- all self fertile. Red cherries are bing-like.
White Gold -- Similar to a Ranier but more cold tolerant, Extremely good flavor.
Stella -- been around for a while, but not as good as the two below.
Black Gold -- he raves about this one.
Lapins -- good and self polinating but Black Gold is better,

Sour Cherries
Montmorency is traditional but not good for cold.
Two new ones are Hungarian, cold tolerant and larger and sweetersweeter than Montmorency. Both are self fertile.
Balaton
Danube

Plums
Recommends only European Plums for New Mexico. Especially Italian plums. They are better eating quality than the Japanese.
Erliblue
Stanley -- a common mid-season one.
Castleton -- the latest

Black Berries -- grows only thornless
Chester, very good quality and cold tolerant
Triple Crown -- large delicious berries but not as cold tolerant.

Raspberries - Grows only everbearing.
Heritage used to be the standard but these come in 2 weeks earlier
Polana -- tastes like heritage. Matures earlier.
Caroline -- Says it is very good and cold hardy.

Strawberries -- Spring bearer.
Honeoye

For everbearing strawberries:
Everiste
Tribute

Grapes (seedless)
Himrod -- green, makes good raisins
Reliance-- red

Ron also fertilizes with New Zealand White Clover planted under trees. It produces enough nitrogen that there is no reason to provide more nitrogen.

Hope this helps. Some of these plants are rather new in US nurseries. I previously tried and tried to find out what were the best fruit trees for this climate and got virtually no guidance from nurserymen or books -- all are written for the big fruit growing areas in the East or Pacific Northwest where circumstances are different.










This message was edited Apr 29, 2007 10:51 AM

Great list Paj, and very interesting(ie, more things to study). I was just out in Paonia (my gf grandmother passed and buried in Hotchkis), and all the orchards are budding out(peach, apple, etc). Beautiful sight to top out on a rise and look across the valley surrounded by mesa's and see all the orchards. Alot of vineyards out that way, too. Finally got to see it when not winter, snowing, or dark. Absolutely beautiful, as Kenton has mentioned of the area before(only about 1-1 1/2 hr drive south -east of Clifton), and warmer to boot. Even the wild tulips in the cemetery were in full bloom. The contrast between the mesa's and everything greening up was wonderful.

Ahh, yes. I love to see the fruit trees in bloom. I am not familiar with Paonia, but sounds like I ought to take a junket there. Fruit trees and tulips are blooming here as well. I am so relieved to be rid of the intermittent snow and warm spells. So happy to see the flowers.
Do check out anything on the list that you are interested. I found them in most fruit tree nursery catalogs -- Raintree, Jung, Stark and others. What a great time of the year!

Major Announcement! I have an actual tomato on one of my madly blooming Stupice plants!!! Ta Da!

I know Donna is miles ahead of me, hat's off to her, but I am thrilled nonetheless as the tomato plant itself was a seed on March 14 or 15.

And, yes, it is a truly miniscule tomato at the moment but it will grow, and I am sure it will turn red too!

I have not been posting much as I have had a sick puppy, clients from out of town, and ongoing computer grief. But it looks like you all are planting and growing stuff, keep those pics coming!

I am only starting a few hundred seedlings (instead of 1000 plus) this year due to the shambles my gardens are in. I knew I would pay for it this spring when I had to let everything go last fall due to the book, boy howdy, was I right.

So sorry you have been sick and hope you are better soon. Maybe you have been trying to do too much beyond your book. And hope your computer is better also. I have continuing computer problems, mostly because living way out in the sticks.

glad you have a tiny tomato and we know you are right it will grow and red-up!!!!

Donna

MM way ahead of us just starting to get blooms. Well done. take your Vit C and get healthy its spring! go outside and chase deer and rabbits to get motivated. : ] Steve

Hey, I'm up to 7 wee tomatoes now! I love stupice, the early girls the same age do not even have open blossoms yet. And stupice tastes far better too.

I always am doing too much, but there is just so darn much I really want to do! I do not understand people who say they are bored.

Bern is helping me get some of the yard work done. Since bending over always gives him headaches, this is a valiant effort on his part I greatly appreciate. Usually all the garden stuff is my gig, since I actually like to do it.

Jumping in here to let you all know that I have ordered extensively from Raintree Nursery: all my fruit trees, bush & cane berries, Kiwi & other vines, plants. They are a great company to do business with, have excellent service & high-quality nursery stock. Don't know what kind of shipping charges you would incur as they are south of Seattle area, but the information they offer is quite valuable, and worth checking into.
Paj - I had to chuckle about your comment regarding what areas the majority of books are written for: I'm in the PNW & it is a foregone conclusion amongst this region's gardens that gardening books are written for the east coast. Our climate is similar to England, but can be much colder/hotter than they normally experience. It has only been recently that we have seen regional concerns addressed in gardening literature - why it has taken so long is beyond me...
MM - what did you do to get Tomatoes from seed (mid-March) to tiny fruit so fast? Do you have a greenhouse or some other type wonderful set-up? please tell......

Katye I have visited the Raintree Nursery and taken classes there on Espalier and they are an excellent nursery. You need to go down there with some friends and visit them. They have classes every weekend and are soooooo helpful and knowledgeable you can only grow with their help.

Steve - I'll do just that as soon as the Orchard & Garden fairies show up to do maintenance in my absence. But they are such cheeky fellows - always promising, but not very good at following through. In the meantime I will enjoy my orchard & veg garden chores: everything needs attention NOW - & it's only my two hands...
So nice to see the plants maturing & how everything just wants to live! The crabapple scent is deliciously heady in my yard - almost intoxicating. I have really teeny cherries already, the blueberries are all flowering, Pears are going gangbusters as are the apples. The cane berries are going to rule the world, and the Kiwi got pruned back due to rude & unruly behavior. Plums not yet flowering - hope the moles' excavation business did not do serious damage (found the tree at a 45° angle last week). Some plants sure took a hit this winter - they previously have not had to deal with such low temps on a longterm basis. I still marvel at how you all deal with the weather, so take a bow!
Anxious for dry weekends & warmer temps!
Here's Geum 'Mango Lassie', looking much happier with a bit of Sun for encouragement.

I order a lot of trees and stuff from Raintree. Their quality is good and their varieties are very interesting. I have an Orcas pear that I bought from them. It has had 1 gigantic pear so far, but it is only about 3 years old. I also have 4 pear varieties grafted on to one trunk from them. Very interesting, but only flowered for the first time this year. It is still pretty young to bear. They are the only source of Orcas pear.
Congrats, MM on your baby tomatoes. Mine are still in flats on the porch. I will be out of town from May 1-6 leaving my husband to water them. I will pray for them. Actually, my husband is terrified of messing up and does it better than I do because he knows he knows not what he does.
I am so behind on everything this year. Travel is not good for gardening, but it sure is fun!

I went to a nursery yesterday, and I always get ticked off that their stuff is always so far ahead of mine, despite the fact that I know they are forcing things in greenhouses to look pretty for the unknowing. Then I got back to their herbs and tomatoes. I was so HAPPY, because mine looked 100x's better than any of their stock. Mine tom's are already a foot tall, with nice, thick trunks, and were only planted 6 weeks ago. I know they are ready to go out, but I don't even have the new beds made yet(todays project-after I get to few others, like moving the sod I cut yesterday). So question, and sorry I have no pics,but: I have a 16x5 bed made with railroad ties along the back fence and kinda in the corner, I want to use 2x10s to make the new raised beds. Your opinions on 2 8x5 with 4' between(yes it will overlap to one side) horizontal to the original, or 3 6x4 with 4' between running perpindicular. Either will suffice my needs, just asthetics I guess, and can't make up my mind.

Vadap, which beds will be easier to maintain? As a short person I find 5 feet across too wide, even reaching to the middle from both sides. Easier is better from my point of view.

Glad your tomatoes are doing so well. Isn't it gratifying to have tomato plants of the kinds you want that are in better shape than what is available at the nurseries?

I had 24 stupice tomatoes before the first tomato appeared on an early girl. They were all seeds March 14 or 15, so they are same age plants. I now have about 28 tomatoes and will quit counting. It is time to stand there impatiently tapping my foot waiting for them to get bigger and red.

Except I don't have time to do that. Will try to post pics today, but way busy, will see how it goes.

Katye, I like the geum, have not grown those.

Paj, how are you plants faring, you should be back now?
e

Now I know people in my state garden but I have seen no one on this forum-anyone from Idaho out there? Wish the weather would decide to be spring or winter-very tired of covering and uncovering all my plants. Have tomatoes in blossom-so lucky to have the walls of water. In our case, I think the old saying of 'KNEE HIGH CORN BY THE FOURTH OF JULY" will be a reality this year.
Would like information on the best variety of tomatoes to grow in this zone.

Yes there are several out there. They haven't been on this site but I have seen them in Composting and trees. I forget their names. Do a search on Daves search site.

Yes, I have been back since May 6 and am trying to get started on all the garden duties I have neglected while traveling here and there.
I have replaced two non-producing fruit trees with apple trees I learned were better suited to our locale -- they bloom late and produce a crop before the end of the season -- they are Honeycrisp and Ginger Gold. In 5 years I will tell you if I got good advice. One of the apples was the third one in that spot. They just wouldn't bear because their blossoms froze in our late frosts.
I have very few vegetables planted so far -- just some brussels sprouts and some garlic. I have lots of other plants to put in, but I have been on doing landscaping lately. We will get what we get. Both needed to be done. It is just now time to put in squash and tomatoes here. I confess to having purchased my tomato plants, but I too have Stupice and some other wonderful heirlooms well suited to our area.
I guess going to the AIS convention in Oklahoma City made me realize I have miserably failed to keep up with landscaping and flowers, so I have been planting some of the seemingly endless number of ornamentals i have waiting in line to be planted. It has taken some time away from my veggies, but I will get with it soon. I am typically late.
Vadap, I am totally impressed with what you have managed to accomplish so far in your garden.
MM, I made my raised beds only 3 feet across because somewhere I read an article saying that 3 ft. was all the author could handle comfortably -- I expect it was in a magazine, one of the Tauton Press ones.

I am so far behind on my garden it is not funny. I have 31 tomato plants in the ground in the hoophouse and a row of peas that is doing well. Other than that, everything else is on its own so far! A lot of iris are blooming for the first time this year, thank goodness they do fine left to their own devices.

I planted far fewer seedlings than usual and they all need to get planted out, plus the ones I bought. My outdoor gardens are in severe disarray. I actually am going to till the big rectangle, which I generally never do, because it is so weedy.

I just have had too much to do and have not been feeling too well so I am running at low speed while spring is at full gallop. Oh well, it is what it is this year.

Paj, I think you will really enjoy your raised beds.

Paja, thanks for the compliment, but things are a continuing work in progress. I know that I have taken on way to much at once, but am somehow, just barely behind(vs being completly inundated). I just planted all my veg plants: beefsteak, brandywine, souix, and reisentraube tomatoes, bush buttercup, butternut, spag. squash, galeux deysines, yellow scallop, crook neck and zuchinnis squashes, cuc's, sugar baby watermelon, conn. pumpkin(out front under the silver maple), and okra(see how it goes here). All my greens are still plugging away, and will hopefully get some shade from the maters as they grow. All my perennials and annuals are way behind though.

Mulch, good to see you. Hope you get to feeling well soon. Hopefully some good, sunny, warm weather gets you up and running again.

vdap, I thought that "work in progress" and "behind" was the state of all gardeners! I'm a zone ahead of you and I think you are a bit ahead of me in the planting out scheme! I guess I better get in gear!

Last year I mostly worked on my veggies, fruit trees and irises. Then I went and met up with those of you who attended the first DBG event. I bought lots, right revclaus?, of ornamental plants. I have been planting them ever since. Believe it or not I still have about 4 plants from that sale that have not yet made it into the ground. And I got lots of ideas from DBG and from you fellow gardeners. I have been planting plants with itsy bitsy leaves and flowers as I learned from Kenton, Loamy Lady, and DBG. They look very nice and are growing. I have added other flowers to my garden and had a few more nice ones jump into my cart at the nursery.
So far I have mostly planted flowers and not much in the way of veggies, but I have the plants and am now working on them as well. I have 4 brussels sprouts and a row of garlic and some lettuce so far. Its either beauty or food. Maybe in a few years I will have finished my landscaping and will get back to full time veggie gardening, except for maintenence on the landscape.
It's al a lot of fun though.

How are all the Rocky mountain Gardens coming along? My peas have flowers on them, my carrots are about 4" tall,my garlic and onions are growing. My cucumbers popped through the dirt today after planting them about six days ago. I'm waiting for other veggies to pop through any day.

a week ago I planted some more carrots, a few different kinds of squash and zuchinni, pole beans and bush beans.

I also planted tomatoes and peppers and 5 different kinds of sunflowers, 3 of them edible some are 2 and 3 feet tall already.

I 'm getting excited now that I'm seeing some growth. DM

I am really embarrassed to admit that I have only a small portion of my garden planted -- some garlic, some tomatoes and some brussels sprouts. I am unusually behind this year because I took 3 trips this spring, all of which were fun, but didn't help the gardening situation.
In addition, my interest in flowers and trees has been revived, largely by the first trip the Rocky Mt. Gardeners forum took to DBG. But in the edible garden category, I have replaced two non-bearing fruit trees with ones more suitable for our area. They will also contribute nicely to the landscape.
So stay tuned. The vegetable garden is coming.

Wow, Dig, I've barely started. By the pic below, you can see I grow just a few to please me.. I use raised beds to keep my dog out.

I started my tomato and cukes under grow lights and finally planted them outdoors the middle of May. About a week later, I planted some spinach, leaf lettuce, baby beets, baby carrots and green onions. My cukes fizzled out, so I picked up some from a garden center. They are a dwarf variety that can be grown up a support, which I'll add later.

I always prefer to grow cherry tomatoes. This year I have 3 red cherry and 1 yellow and two green peppers.

Paj, last summer we were so busy out of town alot, that I didn't plant anything because I knew it would not be taken care of. So I told everyone that this is my year for a garden again.

I planted the peas and first batch of carrots in April. I also have some volunteer squash that I left where it is and it is doing great. I started many tomatoe plants and sunflowers in the greenhouse. I bought 4 tomatoe plants just in case. Mine look alot healthier so far than the store bought ones. I still have six in the greenhouse that I'm going to plant today.

Florae, you are not behind at all. This is the time most people in my area start planting. My sister just planted her garden yesterday.

I have bees in the garden that are so busy happily doing their work. It seems like I have way more bees than last year. DM