Back Yard Garden in WY

Evening temperature is getting down to 40s in Wyoming and day time temperature is stagnating in 70s. Our short growing season for Wyoming is about to end.

Drew and I created three 4'x4' raised beds for vegetables this summer. We started seeds early in our basement with our indoor greenhouse. Usually we cannot transfer vegetables on the ground till June 1. Unfortunately we got very cold windy days this year and we could not transfer any vegetables on the ground till mid June. I was not too optimistic towards this year's harvests since our short growing season became even shorter because of the cold days in June.

Thank you for the raised beds and an indoor greenhouse I guess - actually our vegetables really did well! We have harvested nearly 12 Yellow Squashes, lots of Swiss Chard, 2 Banana Peppers, 1 Red Pepper (peppers don't do good in Rock Springs - we harvested none last year.), 6 Red Radishes, a handful of Green Bans, and 50 small Tomatoes! Amazingly 30% of our tomatoes turned red this year. None of our tomatoes got turn red while they were outside last year unfortunately and we had to pick them while they were still green.

Yes, it takes a lot of works to grow vegetables in Wyoming. When you look around the native land and saw only sage brushes as far as you can see, it is not a good sign. We have to make good soils and have to irrigate the garden well. Then some sorts of protections are needed against strong wind and low night time temperature. Since elevation of Rock Springs is 6200 feet, night time temperature could drop dramatically.

It is still possible to grow vegetables and flowers in Rock Springs. It may take extra cares but we think it is worth it. Cooking vegetables from your own back yard for dinner brings such a joy and a satisfaction. We will certainly do this again next year!