Hi, At the moment I'm in Alberta, 3 hours north of Calgary, and I've been asked to do some gardening work. (I know it's not BC, but I've used this forum in the past and it has been excellent, so I'm hoping someone can help me!) I'm a little unsure how to proceed, as my background is Mediterranean gardening, but basically, I need to make some vegetable patches, outside. I'm thinking of terracing a patch of land that gets good, constant sun throughout the day, or making raised beds which could be covered, as we're still getting chilly nights and frosty mornings. The specific area is Nordegg, if that helps. Really, I just need some advice on how to grow vegetables outside in a mountain climate. Thanks!
Depending upon how cool it is at night in your area it might still be a little cool for some plants - my mother is in zone 2, outside of 100 Mile House BC and she can only grow things in her greenhouse right now where she has many seedlings started; mostly squash, cabbage and kale, which will be going out very soon (once the summer heat moves in these plants quickly catch up and mature before the cooler autumn temperatures arrive) Root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, turnips ('frost' turnips only take 40 days to mature), beets and radishes usually do good in cooler areas, as well as most leafy greens. And don't forget that tomatoes can be grown in pots if need be. Asparagus is a perennial even in zone 2 but you would have to wait several years before getting any sort of crop. But whatever you grow, you'll want things with a short maturation time (watch what type of squash as some take 100+ days and will probably not mature in time) If you are planting now but think the nights might be too cool, you might want to consider using ground cloth or garden cloches/row covers to protect the young plants at night. These can also increase the day temps and help with growing. I would recommend checking with your local garden center to see what they are carrying; if they have it there's a very good chance it will have the time and the tolerance for the area to mature in time.
