Hello Emily,
I am new as well to Colorado (originally from Pennsylvania). 2 years ago I moved to the state and was overwhelmed with the drastic difference in growing conditions. I lived in the Denver metro area for about a year and then moved to the high plains of Eastern Colorado in Wray. I can share with you some basic's I have gathered.
-A good book that provided me some basic knowledge of what I was getting myself into before moving here is The Colorado Gardener's Companion by Jodi Torpey. Although it focuses on gardening more than permaculture, it is a valuable resource in identifying things such as: growing challenges, pests, soil info, native plants, demonstration garden locations to visit, extension service office locations etc.
- Last year I learned the hard way that irrigation is essential for seed germination. As a previous post mentioned, the hot sun combined with the dry winds is enough to keep from having a good stand.
-I take pride in my tomato plants. They love Colorado. In the east I had issues with getting my tomato plants through a full season before blight would take over. However, in the high plains climate, these plants thrive!
-Figure out fencing or else rabbits and other critters will steal your young seedlings when you're not looking.
-When transplanting my vegetables into the ground I create rows that are concave in order to trap rain/irrigation water where I want it to go.
-For hail protection, you can look into a hoop house type design that has netting on it instead of plastic. Unfortunately, my garden is too big to do this to every plant but I can zero in on certain ones that I think need the most protection.
- A cool windbreak idea could be using pole beans and their trellis to create a green wall.
- I have been growing all my plants closer together to shade the soil in order to preserve moisture and keeping better control over weed control.
Like I said earlier, I am still new to the state. But these are some of my early observations. I liked the idea someone posted about creating snow drifts to collect water and will be incorporating this strategy. I look forward to reading further responses in this thread!
