GROWING FOOD AT 9,000 FEET
Our High Elevation Vegetable Garden, at just under 9,000 feet elevation*, was started in the Spring of 2017. While our focus here at HIGH COUNTRY LIVING will be growing food at HIGH ELEVATION, there will be a great deal of general gardening tips that can apply at any location.
OUR GARDEN HISTORY
To start off and get an idea of where we're coming from, please read a little of our gardening history. This photo shows our first garden in our former location.
CHOOSING THE GARDEN SITE
Our new garden was in the planning stages for several months, starting with CHOOSING THE GARDEN SITE. All of our careful planning paid off, and we've reaped the reward of a successful garden.
OUTDOOR GARDEN
Our raised beds are topped with hoops to allow protection from the intense sun or cold nights. OUTDOORS we grow the things that do well in our climate; the more tender plants grow in the GREENHOUSE.
GREENHOUSE
We can't grow everything we want to outdoors--not even in the summer months. We've added a heated GREENHOUSE to grow the most tender plants in the summer and a variety of things throughout the winter.
CLIMATE & GROWING ZONES
Mountain climates can be different from one hill or meadow to the next, and determines what we can and cannot grow. At high elevation this can be tricky, and the USDA Zones don't fit for our elevation.
THE FOOD WE GROW
We grow many vegetables, either outdoors or in the greenhouse. See WHAT GROWS AT 9,000' (and what's unsuccessful).
There are many websites and publications about high elevation/high altitude gardening or cooking which use the words “elevation” or “altitude” arbitrarily and interchangeably. Throughout this website you’ll primarily see “elevation,” NOT “altitude” to indicate our location.
ELEVATION is used more for a PLACE on earth and its relation to sea level, i.e. a city, mountaintop, a home garden.
ALTITUDE is used to indicate an OBJECT’s relation to sea level, such as an airplane.