new in the French Pyrenees

Hi I just wanted to say hello ! We have just been lucky to buy an old cabin, i.e. sheep shed, on a hectare plot in the middle of the French pyrenees at around 950 metres alt. Small parts are flat, however a lot of it is on a quite a steep slope ......water will be piped from a local source off property... slopes are south and west facing.........I have been practising permaculture for a long time, but never at this height and style of terrain. It was covered with hazel and ash, I have cleared around half as no light was getting onto the land and I am hoping for lots of native flowers as well. Anyone out there who would like to share or give me tips on what may grow fruit wise etc. i already have a small potager up and running to see what may grow, so far potatoes, bettroot and cabbage have done well. we do get snow regularly and I presume the last frost may not be until some time in May, the first I think came in october. anyone else out there can offer some advice please

gentian wrote:
we do get snow regularly and I presume the last frost may not be until some time in May, the first I think came in october. anyone else out there can offer some advice please

We are normally frost free by about two weeks ago.... two weeks ago we were having snow. Yesterday, I had to scrape frost from my windshield. So, it is very hard to predict end of frost. The climate is changing, here at least... but I think around the world from what reports I have heard. I was hoping to plant by now, but I have not been able. I need a cold frame I guess.... I have used old milk containers with the bottom cut off as mini greenhouses for some of my perennials that are starting... frost or not.

What I am saying, is that you will have to adapt as you go. Try to find out locally what should be happening, but don't be surprised if things happen differently this year.

I think it's a strange old year regarding weather ! what zone are you in ?

gentian wrote:
I think it's a strange old year regarding weather ! what zone are you in ?

I don't know the zone here... guess I should   but I am on the middle east side of Vancouver Island (West coast Canada). So think Pacific North West. I have heard the zones don't tell the whole story, so I haven't worried too much. I just ask my plant growing friends in the area

Normally mid Feb is planting time for many things (not tomatoes).

that's quite early ! i always had this image of canada as having a long winter.... ops:

gentian wrote:
that's quite early ! i always had this image of canada as having a long winter.... ops:

You would be thinking of "Winterpeg" (Winnipeg) and the rest of the prairies. Farther north above the arctic circle there is ice on the ground in June. I worked on Baffin Island one summer and found 12 foot high ice burgs in the bay at the end of June. The kids were wearing bathing suits in the balmy 6C heat of the summer... I had a jacket on.

The climate from Portland to about the north end of Vancouver Island is tempered a lot by the Pacific Ocean. Winnipeg has the most sunny days in Canada.... The North shore of the lower mainland (by Vancouver) probably has one fewest.

we forget in europe i think on how large canada is ! even here in france weather can be different from one area to the next. so can you grow citrus, or like me tomatoes are my limit, though i do have citrus growing in the greenhouse.