A great idea Beca...I hope you get some responses.
Zone 5-8, up to 7,200 ft elevation. Some things that won't grow in the valleys should grow well up there. And it will be interesting to hear of others trying to grow things that others would dismiss as impossible.

This was mentioned before to the gardenweb by many growers and so far nothing has or probably will be done.

When I had moved to Nevada in 2006...I noticed there wasn't a forum for it....so I asked GW about it & kept posting asking others in the state to ask for one. Nevada finally got a forum. So it can be done "if" we all continue to keep posting asking for it to happen.

GW: please give us a central/Northern Az. forum!!!

beca

Great idea. I know I'd check in here a lot more often if we had our own local forum.

Dave

This post was edited by Centurion_ on Mon, Jan 21, 13 at 22:39

Bringing this post back to the top :):)

I don't think the admins read every post. Why don't you try to contact them through the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page, and send them a link to this thread? ;-) I generally am able to get their attention when I use that method.

Well I did as you asked marymcp and contacted GW about adding a new forum for us. We'll see what happens.

I'm in the Valley, and as a devout xeric gardener, post largely in the succulent forum, but I do have an idea for you, that may get more traction. How about a high desert forum, inclusive of northern AZ, all of NM, as well as much of NV and UT? Does NM have a forum here? I don't even know, but if does, expand/rename that forum into High Desert Forum. That would give you a larger community of like-minded gardeners than just N. AZ.

This post was edited by GermanStar on Wed, Jan 23, 13 at 12:39

I just checked, and there is no NM forum, but there is a Utah Forum, and it's a very sleepy place. That IMHO, would be the forum to expand/rename to High Desert Forum.

Hey GermanStar you are so right!!!!!!! I love that idea about a High Desert Forum!! It would help most of us living in areas like that. I was also looking around to see if there was a forum in NM too (nope)...weird. I wonder why not? I am going to check out the Utah one after this....maybe other states too and do a posting to check out others thoughts? Maybe someone will join in with us??? I did hear back from GW saying "as they build new message boards they'll take my suggestion into consideration." I will send a new email asking about the High Desert Forum instead of just No. Az. Thanks

As sleepy as the Utah forum is, I can't imagine they would resist or "take under consideration" a request to rename and thus expand it. It's dead weight right now, and you'd be offering to breathe life into it. Make a good case with a comprehensive public letter here and in other forums like the Utah and Nevada forums, asking other members to endorse the idea before passing it onto the brass by directing them to the actual thread(s) with the letter and endorsements. Needless to say, the more the merrier. I think it would be a great addition that fills a real void here.

Don't be too hasty to assume that this would actually be a good idea. A good forum really needs a LOT of traffic, both from regulars, and from people surfing around (like me on the Arizona forum).

Judging from the only moderate amount of traffic on this forum, I would predict a VERY SLOW forum if you made it specific to C/N Arizona, the less populated part of the state.

For some background... The only regional forum that applies to NM is the Southwest Forum, which is utterly dismal these days. In the past I have received some nice replies to posts, but very few posts ever generate much of interest anymore, and get very few replies. Maybe the problem is that it is too general? Or maybe there is too much overlap? (because of the Arizona, Utah, Colorado forums, etc..).

In any event, having a forum with a focus that is pertinent to your location/interests is only half the battle -- it has to generate enough interesting conversations on an ongoing basis.

Hence the High Desert Forum suggestion... The Utah forum has had two posts this year. In general, I agree, this place would benefit from consolidation, rather than further division. For example, we have Southwest Forum, Succulent Forum, Arizona Forum and Xeric Gardening Forum, all with substantial overlap, yet none adequately address the unique high desert environment, IMHO. Why a Utah forum, Arizona forum, Nevada forum, and Southwest forum? We might all be better served by High Desert and Low Desert.

Yeah GermanStar, I'm starting to see your point... Where I live is not technically the High Desert, but close enough I guess.

Still wish I had a forum specific to growing food in the arid high elevation climate, but would it be any better than or see a quarter of the traffic of a combination of the regional forums and the topical forums like the Vegetables, Fruit and Orchards, or Composting?

I too would be interested in a forum addressing food growing in the arid high elevation climate. I am at 7000 feet in Parks, Az and dealing with rocky acidic soil and forest creatures. In Phoenix, I have city aklaline soil so there is a world of difference in what I do in either garden.

I think you got some good points, so in my opinion someone needs to write up a proposal about making a high desert forum and a low desert forum, by�getting�rid of the Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Southwest forums. But before you do that you need to go on those forums and post in them and ask what their opinions are. and after you have all of that information send it to the garden web admin, and hopefully they will take all of that into consideration and build us a forum off what we want.

Yeah for some interest on this posting!!!!!! I really think GW needs to rebuild two desert forums: a high desert forum and a low desert forum.
Two totally different forums for two different gardening desert locations. It would take care of the many other forums and I personally think everyone would be interested. Soo let's keep posting and talking here.
I will post to the other forums and see what they think.

OK...I have made postings to the other forums about this idea. We shall see where it leads us...if you want me to ask any other forums-let me know.

Putting this post back to the top.

I'd love a Northern Arizona forum. I'm having a terrible time trying to figure out what works here. My biggest issue is mice eating my garden. I've gone thru 5 large boxes of D-con in the last week and a half. We also have to haul our water and catch rainwater for our garden.

I hate to use D-con. So I just picked up a Molemaz Sonic spike at Home Depot. It's a solor powered contraption that emits a sound like a litttle rodent critter in distress. Costs 30 bucks. It's supposed to scare away other rodents, primarily moles and gophers, but also rats and ground squirrils and probably mice too.

Will it work? Who knows? And I may yet have to resort to a more lethal option It's just that, with D-Con, other critters who eat the dead and dying mice/rats/squirrels/gophers will probably also die. And I hate that.

As far as a forum for the High Desert. GREAT Idea.