I have my Dad to thank for my love of digging in the dirt and watching things grow. When I was a little girl we lived in a garden apartment and there was room outside for planting. Dad just loved to garden and we would go to the nursery on the weekends, pick out plants and come home and get them in the
ground where nobody had ever planted things before…and they thrived.
Gardening at 7000′ is a lot different than gardening at sea level where you don’t have the challenging weather conditions that we have on the plains…wind, hail, gully washers, dryness and sometimes snow. Gardening here can be problematic, but it is what makes it all the much sweeter when you have success.
When we bought our ranch it came with 2 greenhouse structures and a raised bed, none of which were ready to be used. I wanted to be able to plant enough veggies not only to
sell but also for our personal consumption. I purchased a wide variety of heirloom seeds from
Annie’s Heirloom Seeds … Tomatoes, lettuce, squash, radishes and more. Depending on how things go this year, we may be able to start or join an existing CSA next year.
The large greenhouse structure needed the most time consuming and physically tough preparation (for Hubby that is) to make it ready for planting. It is is 53’x37′ and had not been used for many years and was filled with weeds, grass and the occasional poo pile.
Hubby and his mondo tiller, along with a lot of sweat and hard work, toiled for several days tilling up the soil and adding lots and lots of compost to make it ready for planting. We were also blessed to have my 21 year old stepson add his help as well. The end result was three 3′ raised beds.
Here hubby is raking the beds smooth while Randy, one of our goats, supervises.
The raised beds are ready for the next step.
The first row of black plastic is laid over the irrigation T Tape. This was quite a job as it was just the 2 of us and there was a good stiff breeze blowing…a breeze for us on the plains is a strong wind anywhere else :).
Holes have been cut in the plastic to receive the tomato starts and Hubby connects the first row of irrigation tape.
The tomatoes being hardened off prior to planting. I started them in the basement under lights weeks ago.
22 heirloom tomatoes are in the ground. A little later than I would have liked, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate when you are at 7000′ feet.
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The raised bed didn’t need anywhere near the work as the big green house…A little tilling with my handy weed whacker that has a tiller attachment, some raking and I was ready to plant.
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A Here I have planted onion and scallion sets and under the row strings I have a different lettuce varieties.
Lettuce, scallions, and onions about 6 weeks after sowing
Russet potatoes in the trench
Two months later
The lean to greenhouse needed some tilling and plastic hardware cloth all around to keep out the chickens and cats.
Work continues on all the gardens as some veggies get harvested and new ones get planted in their places. The large greenhouse now has 65 tomato plants and many other varieties of veggies and herbs
I will post an update in the next few weeks with pictures of the plants progress.
Happy trails to you all, until we meet again
Diana at Rolling E Ranch
Hubby and his mondo tiller, along with a lot of sweat and hard work, toiled for several days tilling up the soil and adding lots and lots of compost to make it ready for planting. We were also blessed to have my 21 year old stepson add his help as well. The end result was three 3′ raised beds.
Here hubby is raking the beds smooth while Randy, one of our goats, supervises.
A Here I have planted onion and scallion sets and under the row strings I have a different lettuce varieties.
