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Old 28-12-2011, 03:47 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
harry harry is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jun 2010
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Default Request for advice on Gardening above 1000 feet

On Dec 28, 9:55*am, Dave Hill wrote:
On Dec 28, 8:32*am, harry wrote:





On Dec 28, 1:14*am, Macey660
wrote:


My son and daughter-in-law have bought a cottage in North Wales which is
1000 feet (330 metres) above sea level. The garden and grounds have not
been cultivated for 30 too 40 years. They've made a start in clearing
the ground and are now wondering what will grow at that level. They are
interested in veg. and fruit trees predominately.


Any suggestions will be appreciated.


Thanks in advance.


--
Macey660


Heh heh.
I spent 20yrs in the same situation.
You are on a hiding to nothing.
The soil will be light and sandy = dry in Summer and impoverished.
Any compost etcyou put in vanishes in a few weeks.
You will lose 6 weeks out of the growing season due to altitude.
Nights can be very cold.
Wind can be a majorproblem.
Forget about brassicas but roots do OK.
Potatos do OK, get blight resistant varieties.
A tunnel greenhouse is imperative.
You need to make preparations to collect and store irrigation water in
Winter for Summer use.


Most fruit trees are a disaster even if sheltered. *The shrubby ones
do mediocre Raspberries, gooseberries etc


Balderdash
It's North Wales.
1000ft is not that high, what's more important is it's aspect, is it
North, South, East or west facing?
It's easy to check the soil type, The majority of the soil is clay
based and wet.
Remember the rainfall is high.in a lot of North Wales.
Are there trees growing in the neighbourhood?
If there are other people living in the area, what are they growing?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


So have you lived at such altitudes? I have. So p**s off, there's a
good chap.

1000ft can be the difference between a foot of snow and nothing at
all.
It can mean a temperature five deg C lower than on the valley floor.
On exposed sites, wind chill/burn is a major factor also.
I have seen radiation frosts in June quite frequently.

On hills, in high rainfall areas, the fine particles are washed out of
soil leaving the coarse behind (ie sand).