Zone 3-5 garden conditions & successes in Eastern Washington

25% of us in the NW reside in pockets East of the Cascades where dryer, colder, hotter and windier conditions are reality. Gardening is challenging anywhere but success in gardening here is far removed from Zone 6-9 where most on this forum live. For the DG members in the more extreme zones discussions around Zone 3-5 gardening are relevant since we're not knowingly going to plant zone 6-7-8-9 plants except by mistake. I'd like those in my Zone 3-5 to contribute herein to keep topics mostly relevant. I'm not envious of anyone in higher zones ..... just don't have much interest in learning about plants that I'll not utilize as long as I'm in zone 3-5. When I can relate to a week of mornings of -19 f degrees in mid-winter to 109 f degree days in early July and 25 more days over 99 f degrees others elsewhere can appreciate the differences. Last March 2006 we had a windy night and woke up to see our garage off the foundation. Winds just up the hill about a mile from our home were clocked at 95+ MPH. We had at least 75 MPH all around us for a few hours. My fencing .... all 1500 feet .... was blown down or bent over .... the nylon zip ties connecting the welded wire to the posts broke and the tumbleweeds were lined up along the fenceline like sheep in a corner of a pasture. My experiences are extreme for the valley because were on 21 acres of farmland. We don't have neighboring homes all around to shield us from anything. Townsfolk nearby can and do assume they are in Zones 5-6. Some are correct and they can make conditions such that Zone 6 plants will do well. All it takes is effort and planning and elevated gardens with insulation and mulching. Please contribute here with posts on successful endeavors in zone 3-5. Thanks, Kelly

I may have to amend this to be more like 20% of the population. Due to the later spring here few on this board from this side of the Cascade mountain are even thinking of gardening. When the morning temps are hovering around 20 f degrees ....... thoughts of gardening are probably still a long ways off for most here. I am home all day long and surrounded by our gardens so I'm getting reminded moreso than most.

A number of members from eastern Washington post on the Rocky Mountain forum instead of PNW (or in addition to). Check it out.

pardlinium, I appreciate the suggestion. What I'm hoping for is that there will be a several people from Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon who can collude to form a thread dedicated to our sub-climate. Granted we have some things in common with the Rocky Mountains but I checked out that forum and the majority of folks are from Montana, Idaho and Wyoming and Colorado. I used to live in 2 of those states aso I have some in common but there ought to be enough people in our region to make this forum helpful and interesting to those who are isolated here. It has to just awesome to have the flexibility in choosing plants when you live in the Willamette Valley. We really have to choose zone 2-3-4 plants in order to be assured they're going to live here for more than a few years. Like I mentioned when there are -20 f winter mornings and many 100 f summers days it makes gardening here significantly different and more challenging than what you enjoy.

Check with rutholive (Donna) - a highly successful gardener in Tonasket (Omak area). She is an amazing lady.

Murmur, I was able to reach Donna. She is everything and more than amazing. I wish I knew half what she knows about gardening. Hey everyone in Eastern Washington who are visitors to Daves Garden.. speak up.

I'm so glad you and Donna have connected - she's an incredible person (not to mention outstanding gardener!). But sorry, I'm from Western Washington!!!

Hi, I'm from West of the mountains as well, but I was visiting a person on the other side of the hills a few years ago and was interested by some of the techniques she used in her vegetable garden. One of the things she did was to place a barrier of hay bales around her beds to protect plants from wind burn.

mauryhillfarm, We tried our 1st vegetable garden last spring/summer. The rabbits and the squirrels ate more vegetables than I did. My neighbor gives away his dried up top bales of straw any time I ask ..... and I don't enjoy asking of course. He has 2 hay stacks the size of 2 story homes. I can't keep the shovel tailed squirrels out of my garden without sitting there all day long with a bb rifle. The cotton tailed rabbits visit our garden at night and they've shed a whole new light on the Beatrice Potter book I loved so much as a child. We tried rat traps for the squirrels and they work okay but I feel bad when we find rabbits wobbling around the yard seeing stars because they couldn't resist the lettuce in the rat traps.