In an unpredictable climate like the High Sierra climate how do you protect your mountain vegetable garden to help it survive?

For the past two days we’ve had rain, snow, and very cold nights. For myself, in these hard economic times, I’m counting on my vegetable garden to provide vegetables and berries to cut down on my grocery bills for the growing season; not to mention the taste and health benefits of home grown produce.

You need to have safeguards in place. Following is a list of items you can purchase or make or make do with that can help save your vegetable garden in an unexpected (or not) snow, hail or rain storm, not to mention other challenges:

Pop up bed covers that exactly match the size of your raised beds. You can purchase them as insect protection, sun protection, or frost covers in different heights. I purchased mine from my favorite online catalog, Gardener’s Supply. In lieu of spending money, you can throw old towels and sheets over your garden beds to keep them warm and keep snow, hail, and frost off of them.

Small animal barriers to surround your beds. Again, mine are purchased from the above catalog, but you can improvise with DIY netting or fencing. My biggest challenge is not the wildlife so much as my neighbor’s cats who love to gleefully dig up my growing beds. Second are the squirrels who like to hide their seeds in the garden beds and dig up plants in the process.

A raised bed complete with hoop supports for the garden fabric of your choice, a catalog purchase.

Tomato halos which are a super aid to watering, insect/predator protection, and they’re red as well to further boost growth. Mine are from Gardener’s Supply, but most catalogs have versions of the same thing. Some people cut gallon milk jugs in half and use them.

Slug Magic which is safe around children and pets, and organic Captain Jack’s Dead Bug Dust for many pests - earwigs abound in this environment and eat just about everything I plant - protection is a must!

Cayenne works well to keep cats and some wildlife out of the garden - buy a bag in the bulk section of your grocery store. Escar-go by Gardens Alive (another catalog store) is pet-safe and fabulous for snails, slugs, and earwigs.

It’s a challenge growing in the High Sierra Mountain climate - many people have simply given up rather than sustain the losses; occasionally after a July hailstorm or snow, I’ve certainly had the feeling! But with proper protection, you can do fairly well at maintaining a “garden of Eden” in your mountain yard!