Though I'm not technically in the Rocky Mountains, I do live at an elevation of almost 9000ft in Southern New Mexico. It is a zone 7, but to me it's closer to a 5 because of the cold night temperatures we can get. I have only lived here for 9 months, but have got a pretty good idea of the climate and critters now.

Since we do get cold temps at night, and it is so heavily forested here, most people choose not to have a garden. I am one of the lucky few in my area who has half my yard in full sun all day and a flat yard. Last summer I planted in 5 gallon buckets, and had to bring them in almost every night. At the end of the year I hardly had any production. Granted, I didn't pay as close to season length as I should have.

This year, I want to give my plants a fighting chance in a garden in the ground. The only thing is that being at the elevation we're at, I have many "elements" to deal with. Not only do we deal with the cold temps, I regularly get a heard of 50+ elk that walk through my yard down the canyon. I have deer too, but nothing like the elk. The moles also run rampant in my yard. Then finally we have to deal with monsoon storms that frequently produce hail at our elevation. After I started finding out about all these things, it made it quite clear why so many people don't even bother with a garden.

I'm determined though! This farm girl needs to plant something! So, I'm here to get ideas. I have been doing lots of research on hoop/high tunnel houses. I really think that is the way to go for my area. I've been thinking of going with a wood base frame with 3/4" pvc piping and a heavy duty poly to go over the top, probably 11mil (because of the hail), not sure of the size yet, but probably 10 ft wide. Oh, I also will be doing some winter sowing to give my plants a head start. This year I also went with all hardy cold, short season seeds.

My first question is, will the elk leave them alone or try to get at the produce inside them? Has anyone in a somewhat frequent hail area used anything less than 11mil plastic? What can I do to keep out the moles? What's the best kind of venting I can use, we're consistently in the low 70's most of the summer? How close can I really plant my rows? All my vines will be grown upward. Is it better to plant in raised beds at this elevation, or can I get away without it?

So many questions, so little time...I have to stop for now, but I'm sure I'll have more questions for anyone who's willing to help me. Thank you tons!!

Melanie