Hi Katy
Our little place on the hill is at 1,000 feet, more or less on the contour line. It faces south and has the sun pretty much from morning to night. It also benefits from a hedge that provides wind protection and was planted by the previous owners who had a plant nursery here some years ago. That was all in greenhouses / polytunnels and pots so the ground is not prepared in any way.
So, despite being high and potentially exposed, I think that this site is not too bad. It is certainly colder, windier and wetter than anywhere in the immediate vicinity that is downhill and that is most places as the River Severn and one of its tributaries run around the hill we are on.
I have been growing berry and shrub bushes, perennial vegetables including yacon, oca, mashua, earth nut
pea, dahlia, skirret, scorzonera, perennial kales, leaf beet, various onions such as tree onion, Welsh onion, shallots. Also some annuals carrots, parsnips, daikon radish, beans (runner, french, field), peas, herbs - annual and perennial, flowers like calendula, love in a mist, poppies of different types.
I can't think of anything I have tried so far that did not grow, but there will be things I'm sure. Ooh yes, I lost the caucasian spinach and one of the honeyberries and some flowering honeysuckle, but perhaps just because I didn't look after them.
The soil is clay with lots of stones and needs a lot of organic material. I only began the garden in spring of 2013.
I have planted Welsh heritage fruit
trees - trwyn mochyn
apple, Denbigh plum, damson Abergwyngregyn and cariad Cherry, plus Sunset
apple which likes Shropshire apparently (we are one mile from the border).
So far it has been a veritable jungle of growth, but we had a mild winter last year and a warm sunny (but wet) summer, so there could be lots more testing times to come.
What have you been growing?
Anni
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