Gardening in the desert

QT3.14

Do you have a garden here? What do you grow? I would love to have a veggie garden but it's probably too hot.

irlndsumer

I've been growing cilantro and basil in a pot with no problem- I plan to start a garden next spring.  My Aunt has been successful growing bell peppers, jalepenos, cilantro, basil, corn and zucinni.  It's defiantely do-able, just make sure your plants are semi-shaded so they don't burn and water well.

b15chik

i'm just starting to grow things. where i'm putting my stuff, it will only be exposed to the morning sun and then the house/patio will shade it for the nasty afternoons.

Tayrusso

We have had luck with tomatoes, squash, bell peppers, lettuce, and onion. Do you compost?  That really seems to help the crappy AZ soil.

irlndsumer

Tayrusso:

That really seems to help the crappy AZ soil.

Not all AZ soil is bad- I live in Chandler where it was all once cow farms, I have the best soil, everything grows like crazy!  It way better than the soil I delt with in California.

homespunmetier

we just started a small garden....we planted yellow and red bell peppers, watermelon and planted some pumpkin seeds. for the bell peppers and watermelon, we planted in plant form and they seem to have stuck...i hope! my grandparnets love to garden and have grown nearly everything!!! i think any garden can be successful as long as it is maintained. gl.

Tayrusso

irlndsumer:

Not all AZ soil is bad- I live in Chandler where it was all once cow farms, I have the best soil, everything grows like crazy!  It way better than the soil I delt with in California.

Oh, I just meant compared to Connecticut, the soil isn't as rich/accepting.  I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

jware1985

Tayrusso:

irlndsumer:

Not all AZ soil is bad- I live in Chandler where it was all once cow farms, I have the best soil, everything grows like crazy!  It way better than the soil I delt with in California.

Oh, I just meant compared to Connecticut, the soil isn't as rich/accepting.  I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

Tay I grew up in Northern Cali and the soil there was great but in Surpirse it is alot of Clay and is really hard.... i think it might just depend on the area but i use a top soil i haven't tried cmposte yet but i was thinking of getting one of those cmposte maker things....

I have had good luck with tomatoes, peppers( cherry red peppers, banana peppers, jalapeno).  For herbs I have oregeno, sage, chive, basil and I used to have rosemary until it was taken over by black widows last year and we had to torch it before the egg sacks hatched

Tayrusso

Ah!  That is scary, those are some nasty spiders!!!

jware1985

Yea I freaked out because there were over 30 sacks and from what I understand is each sack can have like 100 spiders so i had the bug guy come out and spray it and then we took our torcher for the weeds and just torched them so there was no way they could hatch and then at the point we had to dig out the plant and get rid of it i was so bummed out because I love love love rosemary

irlndsumer

jware1985:

Tayrusso:

irlndsumer:

Not all AZ soil is bad- I live in Chandler where it was all once cow farms, I have the best soil, everything grows like crazy!  It way better than the soil I delt with in California.

Oh, I just meant compared to Connecticut, the soil isn't as rich/accepting.  I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

Tay I grew up in Northern Cali and the soil there was great but in Surpirse it is alot of Clay and is really hard.... i think it might just depend on the area but i use a top soil i haven't tried cmposte yet but i was thinking of getting one of those cmposte maker things....

I

I grew up in Nor Cal as well, but our soil was rock hard, full of granite (N. of Sacramento, in the foothills).  Tay, I wasn't offended, I just wanted to clarify how great our soil is, so not all AZ soil is bad.  We were actually shocked how good it was when we first planted anything here!

Jillian*CBK*RJK

irlndsumer:

jware1985:

Tayrusso:

irlndsumer:

Not all AZ soil is bad- I live in Chandler where it was all once cow farms, I have the best soil, everything grows like crazy!  It way better than the soil I delt with in California.

Oh, I just meant compared to Connecticut, the soil isn't as rich/accepting.  I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

 

Tay I grew up in Northern Cali and the soil there was great but in Surpirse it is alot of Clay and is really hard.... i think it might just depend on the area but i use a top soil i haven't tried cmposte yet but i was thinking of getting one of those cmposte maker things....

I

I grew up in Nor Cal as well, but our soil was rock hard, full of granite (N. of Sacramento, in the foothills).  Tay, I wasn't offended, I just wanted to clarify how great our soil is, so not all AZ soil is bad.  We were actually shocked how good it was when we first planted anything here!

 

 

 

Nothing to do with the post, where did you live? I lived in Woodland for a while, that's "home," cause my parents still live there.

jware1985

I was in Gilroy so about an hours south of San Fran and we had a lot of agricultrual growth there... Gilroy had Garlic, Morgan Hill had Mushrooms. Castroville had artichokes, Watsonville had strawberries... I think every state has their good and bad soil areas

irlndsumer

Oh, yeah- the Gilroy area is all farmland!!  I grew up in both Loomis (small town 1/2 way between Sacramento and Auburn) and Placerville.  Our house in Loomis had a 3 story tall granite hill in the backyard- you practically had to chisle the ground to plant anything!  LOL

Jillian*CBK*RJK

BIL lives in Loomis right now. Dh's parents live in Auburn. Very pretty places

jware1985

I just took CJ to my hometown last year and he was amazed of two things... first how much farm land there was and the second was that Gilroy really did smell like garlic hahaha

irlndsumer

Jillian*CBK*RJK:

BIL lives in Loomis right now. Dh's parents live in Auburn. Very pretty places

What a small world!  I loved growing up in Loomis!

bhead81

jware1985:

I just took CJ to my hometown last year and he was amazed of two things... first how much farm land there was and the second was that Gilroy really did smell like garlic hahaha

 

I have been to Gilroy several times for work and it seems like I was always there for the Garlic festival.  I love that area and all the little farms and wineries. 

*speedracer*

i'm late to this convo but i took some veggie gardening classes from the phoenix permaculture guild and they helped me SO MUCH.  it's a 4 session class, meets 4 saturdays in a row for an hour or two, each class is $10.

phoenixpermaculture.org

my tomatoes look AMAZING this year.  they looked abused in the past.  the class will help you amend your soil and determine the best microclimate/direction in your yard to put your plants, those are super important with how direct our sun is here.