What do you know about Sandpoint?

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by wildberries61

Now would that be greenhouse? Does it frost there in Aug. or at least known too.

Average frost dates May 18 - Sept 16, 120 days.
http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/sandpoint/w...m#BonnerCounty

Essentially no chance of frost in August, unless you're way up in the hills.

Yes, you can grow early-ripening varieties of tomatoes, if you start them indoors in flats and have a sunny southern exposure and water. If you can till in a few inches of manure and a little phosphate, they'll do a lot better the next year.

[wildberries61]

Rodfarlee,
Thanks you also, gave in some good info on Moscow in another thread. Looks like its leaning more towards Moscow sounds like it might be easire to garden in that area . The travel is not too far to ski resorts from there.
Do you know much about Silver Mtn Ski Resort as far where it rates ?

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by wildberries61

Rodfarlee,
Thanks you also, gave in some good info on Moscow in another thread. Looks like its leaning more towards Moscow sounds like it might be easire to garden in that area . The travel is not too far to ski resorts from there.
Do you know much about Silver Mtn Ski Resort as far where it rates ?

Silver Mountain is quite a big place since they opened the new Wardner mountain slopes, doubling the number of runs. The neat thing is the gondola from right in town, which is a spectacular ride and makes it very accessible. But it does have a shorter season of deep powder conditions than higher mountains (Sun Valley, Utah, etc). It is about a 90 minute drive from Moscow, but it is a gorgeous trip on the White Pine scenic byway, past the lakes, and through the farms on Harrison Flats.

My sister has served on ski patrol there for 20 years. If you want the full scoop, PM me for her e-mail address.

As to whether gardening in Moscow is better than Sandpoint... Moscow may have a bit longer season, but tends to have heavy clay soils and less rain. Water is an issue (city water is from deep wells and is moderately hard). So the more organic amendments one can till in, the better.

In both Sandpoint and Moscow areas, soils really vary between hillsides and valleys. So choosing the right site can make a big difference. Moscow's hills have hard caliche clay at or near the surface. People do make these hilltops work, but it can take years of toil to build up the soil.

Moscow, with all the university activities, certainly has much more to offer year-round than Sandpoint. I feel fortunate indeed to have grown up there.

[wildberries61]

RodFarlee,
Did you attend high school there? I am guessing you did since you mentioned you were raised there. Do you find the high schools to have enough money to run the school and have they cut back on classes offered.

We are having a real problem here in Valley county we have a lot of people who are coming here to buy second homes and do not want to support our schools, because either they don't live here full time or don't have children. The state doesn't want to give us money they say the town is considered a tourist town an the revenue we get should support the schools.

Well, its alittle hard when our roads are being torn up by all the traffic and big rigs and peolple coming here are not supporting the towns they buy it before they get here our small businesses are finding it even hard to stay open. So, when it comes to pleasing the rich our schools are getting left behind.

We have been looking on the out skirts of Moscow towards Viola or Troy trying to stay close enough to Moscow so that my son can attend the Moscow High School. We like the country and being able to get away from it all is nice. I thank you for all your information on Moscow and Sandpoint it has been very helpful.

[RodFarlee]

Originally Posted by wildberries61

RodFarlee,
Did you attend high school there [Moscow]? I am guessing you did since you mentioned you were raised there. Do you find the high schools to have enough money to run the school and have they cut back on classes offered.

I did, however that was some years ago. I can only offer anecdotal information. There are complaints that funding has limited the number of advanced placement (college prep) classes, and the offerings in vocational and technical courses. The Moscow High School building itself is getting rather old, and there is talk of needing to replace it. One school levy vote did fail a few years ago, but subsequent levies have passed, and per-pupil funding is above the state average. Standardized test results are also consistantly near the best in the state.

[Idaho]

Frost is uncommon in August, though I have seen it snow on the 4th of July.
(melting as soon as it hits the ground, of course)

[brokencrayola]

Hi, We live outside of Sandpoint. I lived in Sandpoint for many years before we moved out of town. There are no bad areas of town and little crime. The costs of housing and property taxes have risen a lot the past couple of years. Most of the jobs in the area would not be considered high wages. We get a lot of people move here from CA as well as other states that sell their houses and move here. They find that they cannot make the kind of money they used to. Many have trouble dealing with the long winters. We get our first frost anywhere from Sept. to into Oct. The weather starts getting pretty cold by the end of Sept. We get our first snow anywhere from late Oct.-mid-Dec. (although it is still cold). Snow level varies from year to year. Some years we get a lot of snow, some almost now and some years we get snow, then it rains, gets icy, melts all the way or part way and snows again. We begin getting rain in March or April and it rains a lot until early July. Our summer is basically early July to early-mid-Sept. There is a Super Walmart, Safeway, Yokes, and many small specialty shops, but not a lot of shopping. There is more shopping an hour away in Coeur d' Alene or 2 hrs. away in Spokane or Spokane Valley. We have the ski mountain Schweitzer here. The summers bring lots of tourists and motor homes. Schools are so-so as far as meeting the childs educational needs. Lake Pend Orielle provides things to do in the summer. Like most any town or city, there are good and bad.