After ten years of organic gardening in southern california I finally got the hang of it: when to plant, what to plant and how to defend my vegetables from bugs. Now I'm moving to the San Gabriel Mountains where temperatures range from O to 90. It snows in the winter, bakes in the summer and is generally very dry. The elevation is about 7,000 feet. The soil--if you can call it that--is mostly rocks with a little bit of powdery dirt. A neighbor (who's moving) said that everytime she digs a hole to plant something, once she removes the rocks, there's not enough dirt to fill the hole.
What would be the best way to improve the soil in addition to compost? A layering method? Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the ground squirrels will eat almost anything. Does anyone out there have any experience with a dry mountain climate? Will I ever grow big fat juicy tomatoes again?

My garden space sounds a little like yours, but we're at 4000 ft. in Idaho. Our soil was pure clay but after loads of compost & a drip system we had a fabulous garden. Also, I put in a number of raised beds where I can control the soil and water, and it makes it easier to handpick the bugs. Good luck--you'll eventually have a beautiful garden.

I am In Pennsylvania--I have a sign on my greenhhouse WE ALSO GROW ROCKS and my soil is clay and limestone. A few of my gardens I just kept adding peat moss--gypsum (for the clay)--and commercial compost--every year I mulched everything thereby adding more organic matter. Since this was taking too long (I travel for a living so only garden on weekends) I built all raised gardens for my veggies (I have four 4x16-three 4x8 gardens). I had a load of topsoil (guaranteed organic) brought in and added peat moss and compost (again brought in). Every year I add my own compost and of course mulch and they were in good shape in just one year (lots of worms).

Hiya:
To start with, are you nearer to Ramona or Julian in your weather zone? If you're closer to Ramona, juicy tomatoes are within your grasp. Supplemental compost, a possible addition of purchased earthworms as an initial stock and raised beds (with some covering earlier in the year) will guarantee a bumper crop. The soil is good, if rocky.
If you're closer to Julian, you may need a greenhouse or a hoophouse to plant your tomatoes, but your brassicas (cabbage group) will be phenomenal. My grandmother lived in Julian and always had great beans, peas and brussels sprouts!

My mom lived in Ramona and always had great tomatoes and corn

Donna R