High Elevation Gardening Web Log "Blog"

Necessity, the mother of invention, dominates and guides local gardeners in overcoming our difficulties in ripening raspberries and keeping the pests at bay, forcing us to invent or discover means to change the climate in own gardens. We study gardening books, magazines, and web sites. We visit arboretums, nurseries, gardens, and farms to learn what methods have worked for our friends and neighbors, searching for ideas that we can implement in the interest of fresh garden produce and beautiful flowers.

Having grown up in Michigan eating from our family garden and local farms and orchards, I'm very passionate about eating fresh or well preserved delicious and nutritious foods.

Fifteen years ago when I moved to Flagstaff, I began to hear about the pluses and minuses of our climate. Upon settling down here and meeting my wife to be, Denise, who had a backyard suitable for meeting my gardening desires, I embarked on my gardening and farming adventures. Wanting to continue to live in Flagstaff while meeting my needs for "good, clean and fair" food, as the Slow Food motto succinctly says it, on a more consistent basis, I could only think of a few plausible strategies toward that end. Figuring out how to grow much more of my own food and sharing with other local gardeners became my first choice.

I had the good fortune of finding local gardening and landscaping mentors in Terri and Ed Dunn. Ed was doing landscaping, and Terri had a flourishing vegetable garden outside her backdoor, sharing her experiences through an earlier rendition of this monthly Daily Sun gardening column.

My desire for real food, grown in a productive and sustainable manner, was so important to me that I thought about moving back to Michigan or down to Tucson. Instead, I decided to gather my courage and change my garden climate rather than my geographical location. I got and studied, cover to cover, Square Foot Gardening. Then I learned how to compost and mulch and went to work. The book recommended constructing simple wire frames covered with plastic sheeting to protect seedlings and create a "climate change", more commonly referred to as creating a microclimate or a season extender. I found that these mini-greenhouses to do the trick.

Following are some of my suggestions for changing the climate in our gardens that have worked in my backyard garden and now on my farm, providing wholesome meals and a healthy planet. Besides building a green house or a sunroom, try these proven season extending and climate changing strategies:
• Planting on south-facing sunny sloops.
• Plant along the south or east side of a structure. A stone or block wall helps hold the sun's heat.
• Surround your plants with a solar heat sink like jugs of water, stone, old concrete, or the commercial device called Wall-O-Water.
• Cover plants with spun polyester sheeting, also called floating-row-covers sold under various name like Reemay or Agribon. Available at Flagstaff Native Plant and Seed or other local nurseries.
• On the ground use black sheeting or gravel mulch to heat the soil and suppress weeds and pests.
• Cover plants with old window and door screens, windows, shower doors, etc.
• Construct a box covered with a translucent lid or a cold frame.

We use most of these at Mountain Meadow Farm, located at the base of Mt Elden. You can learn more about the farm on a public or private-group farm tour. For details visit: www.mountainmeadowfarm.org.

Happy gardening in the New Year!
Chuck McDougal, a Master Gardener volunteer, is the owner of the Mountain Meadow Farm. Dana Prom Smith, a Master Gardener volunteer, is coordinating editor for the Master Gardener Column. He can be contacted at stpauls@npgcable.com. For more information about the Master Gardener Program, call Hattie Braun, Coordinator of the Master Gardener Program, at 774-1868 ext.17 or visit our Web Site: highelevationgardening.arizona.edu.