From My Garden to You

Garden Plot update - Third and final part ! So as you saw yesterday, we have just had a lot of lovely rain. I have also just finished the final part of the soil renewal at the garden plot. Luckily for me, I did it before the rain on Sunday (July 23rd 2017) AND I planted some corn, so now I am very hopeful of good and delicious things to come ! Anyway, back to the soil. Here are some photos documenting the third and final stage of the plot renewal and soil improvement. Please bear in mind that it takes 7 years, on average, to make good garden soil. So while this is a good start, it is going to be a continuous process as I go through the seasons. You saw in the previous post about this subject that I had already soaked the soil so that was ready to receive amendments. I amended the soil with steer manure and coffee grounds. You can purchase bags of manure, but at the community garden we get it in bulk. I also added some mushroom compost that I had purchased. This is fa...

Rain, Rain and more lovely rain ! Just had to write about the lovely rain we have had this past week. Those who live in Seattle may think I am slightly mad getting excited about the rain, but us desert dwellers know exactly what I am talking about. We got an inch today and another inch last week, 2" in a week folks - fantastic !!! This is a big deal when our yearly average is only 8". Anyway, the plants are very happy and I am very happy too - both for that sweet rainwater and also because I don't have to go and water anything now for a couple of days. The rain has also stimulated some of the cacti to bloom too. Here's a couple of photos.   Pink Echinopsis Cactus   I have also just planted some cactus seeds. I will keep you posted on what happens with them. This is a new thing for me, never grown cactus from seed before. I am very hopeful !!   Finally, I did go out yesterday and planted some corn. This is the absolute perfect time to g...

Tepary Bean - "The bean that laughs in the face of our desert summers" Tepary Beans are one of the most heat and drought tolerant crops in the world. They are an ancient bean ( Phaeseolus acutifolius) and very tolerant of our alkali soils and our desert heat. So I thought - got to have a go at these ! I got my seeds from Native Seed Search in Tucson and planted them last week as the monsoon season was getting underway. We then had that lovely (rather scary) thunderstorm a few days ago and my garden got an inch of rain - fantastic !! History They are a very ancient bean, having been grown  in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years. A native bean , which is one of the most nutritious desert plants and some wild varieties still do actually exist in some parts on the Sonoran Desert. It was a prehistoric food crop and was used as a dry bean. Nutritional value They are very high in protein and help control diabetes and cholesterol due to their soluble fibre....

Desert Botanical Gardens Classes I am teaching - Fall 2017 These are the descriptions on their website: Fall Vegetables Tuesday / Oct. 3 / 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. Carol Stuttard teaches you how to grow your own healthy, organic fall vegetable garden, including planning, soil preparation, varieties to plant and, most importantly, the right time to plant! Limit 30.   Introduction to Permaculture Tuesday / Oct. 17 / 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Discuss the principles of permaculture-simulating the patterns and characteristics of natural ecosystems-and how they can be applied to desert living. Topics include broad-scale site design, pattern recognition, structures, rainwater harvesting, and urban and community strategies. Instructed by Carol Stuttard. Limit 30   Pollinator Gardens Monday / Nov. 13 / 6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Attracting pollinators to your garden is both enchanting and beneficial. Disco...

Fall Desert Gardening Classes As you will have seen on my profile, I am a Maricopa County Master Gardener. Here are some upcoming Desert Institute of Gardening (DIG) Public classes that may be of interest. https://extension.arizona.edu/maricopamg Thursday Sept. 7 Introduction to Vegetable Gardening Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ,  $20    6 - 8 pm Thursday Sept. 14 Fall Vegetable Gardening Maricopa County Cooperative Extension, 4341 E. Broadway Road, Phoenix, Maricopa County, AZ, $20    6 - 8 pm        

Garden Soil renewal - Part 2 The first post about this subject was July 2nd. So here we are now on July 12th, 10 days later and I wanted to update you on further soil improvements and amendments. One of the things that the community garden provides for gardeners are wood chips. I use these for pathways and to keep the weeds down on the garden perimeters. I do not use them around my plants, however, i.e. in my vegetable beds. The reason for this, is they contain a lot of carbon and as the chips rot down , the bacteria that cause the decomposition pull the nitrogen out of the soil to help in the carbon decomposition. Thus robbing the soil of nitrogen, which is not good. Hence, I just use them on the pathways. I have, however, found a long term benefit to using the woodchips on my paths. I have been doing this for about 8 years now and consequently when I dig down under the top layers of woodchips in the pathways and investigate the soil underneath ( about 2" down), it is loose,...

AZ Style Summer Vegetable Frittata Last week in the garden I harvested squash, yellow tomatoes and some bell peppers. We are getting a bit bored of eating lots of spiralized squash salads, even though the salads have been good, so I thought I would have a go at a summer vegetable frittata - AZ style. Making a frittata on the stove top is also a way of cooking something relatively quickly, without making the kitchen too hot ( believe it or not, this is a very important consideration in AZ in the summer). The less time you have the oven on when it is 116 degrees outside, the better, trust me on this ! I use a cast iron pan which I love. Anyway here's the finished dish, which I have to say was delicious and if you would like to know what I did and how to make it, then read on.........   Ingredients 1 onion chopped ( I use my own, harvested in may) Summer vegetables of your choice - I used peppers, squash, tomatoes. You could also add a chile if...

What to do in your garden in July (apart from hoping for rain!) July is hopefully the month when we get some monsoon rains - yay ! The humidity is rising and this actually gives the plants a little bit of relief from the heat, even if it is a lot more uncomfortable outside for you and me. So what should you be doing this month ? July Checklist Watering Check for irrigation leaks. Continue watering schedule as per June, unless it we get a good monsoon soaking. Deep and less frequently is always preferred over shallow and often. Find a wonderful person to water for you if you go on vacation and if you have a battery operated irrigation timer attached to a hose bib, make sure to get them to check if the battery is working. ( I speak from experience here. There is nothing more soul destroying then coming back from vacation to a dead garden, because the battery on your timer decided that this was the week it was going to fail !). Trees This is the ti...

Hot weather - Poor potted cacti and succulents - Watering needs Well, it is going to be another hot week, here in the low desert - 113 degrees F - fantastic !! I've already been out, watered what I had to and now I am back in the air conditioning. The poor potted cacti and succulents, however, have to suffer outside in the current heat and dry conditions. Those plants that could be moved out of the harmful rays of the summer sun, have been moved, those that could not be moved have been temporarily covered in shade cloth. This was actually done in late May/early June, as it just got hot here so quickly. I am currently watering them about every 5 or 6 days, depending on the size and location of the pot. I often water the pot once, then go back and water it again, thus making sure the water has in fact gone deep into the soil and to the roots. Again, the bigger the plant, the longer it may last between watering, as the bigger plant will have a larger water storage i...

How to start a garden from bare cracked earth like this ! So... I am starting a new vegetable plot and thought I would share with you all how I am going to do this. Hopefully it will be ready for planting in the Fall when it is cooler (ha ha). I get asked this question a lot when I teach classes about soil, so I thought where better to actually show the process, than on my blog. That way you can follow what I am doing and see how the soil is slowly brought back to life during the next couple of months. I am going to show a few different way of doing this as well. Here's what I am starting with -   Garden Plot abandoned by previous gardener at the Community Garden where I garden. Weeds are mostly dead but still have to be removed.   One of the first things to do is just water the soil, I know that sounds a bit crazy, but there is no way you can dig bone dry cracked earth. The soil must be watered even before you lay anything on top.   A...