Hi! It was great to see a Nevada forum! It is according to where you live in the county whether you are in Zone 4 or Zone 3 - we're high and dry! Warm days, cool nights and a short growing season. I hope to see others with the same type climate share some gardening tips.

Hi! I am new to gardening this year, and extremely looking forward to next year's. I am so glad to finally see other people from Reno who actually garden! I too live in the North Valleys, in Stead. Maybe next year we can swap stuff?

Yea,

I'm glad to see this forum too. I've been reading it to see if there are any posters from the cooler climate areas. I'm in Truckee...and kind of in forum limbo. There are no Californians who have the same climate that I do. The mid-west, which gets cold, doesn't get the snow, and I'm not in the Rocky Mountains, so...limbo.

Glad to see there are some in Zone 4/5 here on this forum. I'm going to keep my eye on this one, I like the cottage and hillside forums too.

-S

I'm in the warmest part of Reno-Sparks, with lots of shelter from drying winds and irrigation ponds and trees nearby. It amazes me that even in the same zip code hardiness zones vary from Zone 4/5 to my own Zone 7. Heck--my own climate zone varies from 6 to 8 on one small city lot!

Lisa

Nice to see others from the area here. I live out by Spanish Springs highschool and am new to the area. I tried tomatoes last year and lost my first round to that mid june snow, and after digging those up and replanting, had some success with cherry and bush variety, but by the time the first freeze came around, I had tons of the larger varieties still green. I also did well with muskmelon in rubbermade tubs, but didn't try them in the ground. The soil here is sandy and acidic, so basically I dig deep holes and fill with storebought potting soil. I am looking for 5 gallon buckets to make self watering containers, but their hard to find. I'm cheap, I know. Trying some heirlooms this year, maybe if I prune vigorously I'll get some ripe by the october freeze. Wish me luck, any advice is welcome
Del

Try pickle buckets from port of subs or other sandwich shops. Also ask for frosting buckets from bakeries in the grocery stores or donut shops. When crispy cream was here i got a truckload.
Wall of waters seem to work for me with the frost.

Hi Nevadaman, just wanted to let you know how I got an extra month of full blossoming with my tomatoes. I have a ESW exposure so pretty much all day sun and lots of wind. I planted the tomatoes within 18" of my house foundation. So the reflected heat and heat sink I'm pretty sure helped these babies along. They bloomed well into October. You can pull up your green tomato plants, store in garage and the tomatoes will continue to ripen. Also, pick green and they will ripen if left out on the countertop.

About the soil, I wanted to speed up the composting and would toss all veggie waste into blender, gave it a buzz, and dumped directly into the existing soil. It worked well as it changed the composition of the soil and I didn't have to wait for decomposition in a compost pile. This year I am converting much of my garden into permaculture. Everything I've read impresses me as this is the way of Nature at its best.

Happy gardening!