The Winter Garden

I made a few additions to the Garden this month.... Added a few complementary herbs such as Basil, Parsley, Tarragon, Garlic Chives, Oregano, Lemon Balm and Thyme. They seem to be enjoying their new home. Which is a good thing.

However, one thing I didn’t take into consideration during the month of December was the very low temperatures and the unusual high winds. Lol. As you can tell by the pick I have a garden cloth semi covering the garden during the day and then at night it is let down and held by the bricks you see at the bottom, and secured to what ever I could grab onto by big office clips. (Funny I have had these big clips for years, and was reluctant to throw them out…. Well I guess I have now found a use for them. =)) I am telling you, covering this garden has become quite the process in the evenings.

The one good thing is that the garden is protected, and as you can tell, there is quite a bit to protect. =) so I am happy to do it.

Till next Log!
Michelle

Amethyst Peppers?

When California Green Peppers are not California Green Peppers after all...
All this time I was under the assumption that the peppers that I had planted last spring were in fact California Green Peppers. At least that is what it had stated on the packaging of seeds I had purchased.



Amythest Peppers by definition are green to start, then turn purple (now at this stage I was really worried that I was doing something wrong here, did I not have enough nutrients in my soil... did I have too much?) then turn back to green, then they turn brilliant red! Yes you read it correctly. Hard to believe and in fact very hard to find any information regarding the Amythest Peppers at all.

If anyone has any information regarding the Amythest Peppers I would love to hear your comments! In the meantime, I am going to just simply enjoy the wonderful array of colors that my pepper plants have produced. Oh and did I mention... they are awfully delicious!



Until next log! Cheers!

Taking Root

I am very happy to announce that I now a six pack of green onions sprouting in the garden. I had done some reading awhile back about how simple it is to grow them.

First, purchased some green onions from the store.
Second, cut off the bottoms about two inches up.
Third, set them in a container of water, place in the frig for two weeks.
Fourth, checked the Farmers Almanac's http://www.farmersalmanac.com/home_garden/gardening best days to plant onions.
Fifth, planted them in the garden about two inches deep.

Unexpectedly within three days, I had an onion sprout from the ground.

When the green onions get to be about a foot or so tall, you just trim them down, and they will regrow again.

Happy Planting!

Green Garden Worms

The summer is near a close here in Arizona and its time to step up a notch in your garden. The majority of the summer consisted of keeping the plants alive in this treacherous heat, which consisted of just watering mostly and making sure that the plants do not get stressed out from lack there of.

One element that I ran into this summer (be it a nasty little creature) is the dreaded green garden worm, or should I say WORMS, meaning many many worms.

Not ever having a garden before this year, I was totally surprised at how difficult, once infested, that they are to get rid of. The hard part was not to use any insecticides that would cause issues later, and I had to find a solution that was... well... natural. I had heard to use red pepper on the leaves to just when you find one... kill it.

Well, I cant claim that my strategic method that I had created over the summer really works or not, and nor can I tell if there is any long term damage (meaning through the growing season to harvest here in December) that has been inflicted on my mini crop. I guess time will tell.

Oh back to the Shelly Method of Green Worm Capture and Disposal... I had found that by keeping an eye on the garden (yes once in the morning and once before dusk) I would go out and investigate any leaves that looked like they had been munched upon and I would pluck the leaf if not the entire leave cluster. And 8 out of 10 times sure enough the rascal would be right under the leaf. Well, you know what happens after that! el Squisherooo!

I have found that in the mornings when it is cool... I would shake the plants and every-now-and-then one or two would fall to the ground. But the best way was to seek... capture... and destroy.

If anyone has any better solutions to this dreaded little problem… please feel free to comment.

Till Next Log...
Shelly

Preparing for Fall Planting

Well it is getting to that time to start thinking about fall planting. I am enjoying the fact that, in Arizona, we have two growing seasons! =)

I have plenty of room in my garden for a bit more items so here is the list that I am currently contemplating on:

• Green Onions


• Chives


• Tarragon


• Parsley


• Basil (Sweet Genovese)


• Marigolds


• Nasturtiums (Planted some earlier this year and they didn’t last the summer so I am hoping that they will make it this next go around.)

I am doing my research on all the above so if anyone has any comments and or suggestions please feel to comment and suggest away.


Till next log,

Cheers!

Arizona Monthly Calendar

In doing some research on Gardening in Arizona... I stumbled upon what seems to be a great mini gardening checklist for those who live in this dry desert oasis that we call home. Check it out at About.com

What is really great is that I had discovered that Tomatoes and Peppers have two growing seasons here in the desert, that is if you can keep them alive long enough to do the necessary trimmage to 18 - inches in the month of September for re-growth and harvest in early December. =)

Check out the calendar, it not only covers Vegi Gardens but Grass (for those of you who do not know, we have two growing seasons for two different types of grasses here in the desert, Bermuda for summer and Perennial Rye for the winter), Trees and Shrubs, Flowers and a Monthly Does and or Don'ts Lists for the month.

Till Next Log...

Cheers!

We now have Edible TOMATOES!!!!

Whooo hooo!! Yup you heard it correct! I now have fruit that we can now eat, share with family and friends and have in our salads and sandwiches. MMMMM Tomatoes!




I am so thrilled that I can actually grow something and have it produce something that is edible. What an experience... its like the day I wrote my first HTML code! Very exciting!!!!

These tomatoes plants are growing like weeds, they are 5-6ft tall already and producing alot of fruit. I am getting cherry tomatoes from .5 inches to 1.5 inches in diameter and they all have their own twist in flavors. The smaller ones are really really sweet where as the larger ones are not so much. (But not to the point of being sour, which is good.)


I am really glad that I went down this path of gardening… words cannot explain the confidence, and the amount of tranquility that I have gained from this experience! A great stress reliever, and confidence booster all at the same time. Not to mention great eats as well!




Till Next log! Cheerio!

Ohh the Peppers

This Arizona weather is taking its toll on my poor peppers. They were looking pretty good at the beginning of the month.

Then it started to get into 100-115 degree weather and I started experiencing Blossom End Rot. So I cut the peppers off the plant. =(

Blossom-end rot usually appears on the first fruit cluster of a plant due to the combination of rapid plant growth and water stress. Even a temporary water stress during early fruit growth can cause blossom-end rot because the fruits are the last to receive adequate calcium.

Also, lack of calcium can be the problem where the plant's root uptake of certain nutrients is inadequate. Where as another cause of blossom-end rot is over-fertilization, especially with nitrogen, which stimulates vegetative growth.

They say that when the weather gets above 90+ that blossoms will no longer produce any fruit, and that the blossoms just fall off. Yup... experienced the same problem.

Fortunately if you’re an Arizonian, all is not lost, as long as you can keep the plant alive all summer there is hope for fruit production once the temperatures cool, say in September. Sigh... so in the meantime I will just have to patient for summer and keep those babies alive.

Till next log...
Michelle

Keeping your garden COOL in Arizona 05.31

Whoofta... we are experiencing some hot days here in AZ. By mid May I was noticing that all the plants in my garden were stressing out.

So I did a little research and stumbled upon an article from last year about "Helping tomato plants survive".

One of the recommendations was Shade... now who would've thought, shade in the summer? Well as it seems like a no brainer to most everyone who lives in the middle of the desert, I had then realized that the garden was getting over 5-6 hours of direct sunlight during the day and the last two hours were in the middle of the day around 1-2pm. OUCH! I was noticing some sun scalding on some of the leaves so I had to do something fast. And knowing that it isn't going to get any cooler, and that sun is going to get more intense as summer goes along, I decided to come up with a plan to protect my babies.

1. Need a shade cloth for the canopy of 50 to 70 percent shade.
2. Brainstormed with my husband (with whom is an Technical Engineer) on what we should make the frame out of. Wood... PVC... there were pros and cons to both. We initially decided to go with PVC.
3. Drew up the specs.
4. Then ventured off to Home Depot for the supplies.
   

As we were wondering around looking for materials we found three metal trellises that just happened to be the same width as the garden. Sweet! A lot less expensive and work than constructing something out of PVC.

Here are the results....

We cemented in the two trellises on the sides and used some string for support. Works great and the members of the garden couldn't be happier.

I would like to thank both my husband and my mom for assisting in this daunting task in putting this together... it was a bit of work, but very happy with the results in the end! Ya!

Till next log!
Michelle

Nasturtiums - (Tropaeolum majus) 05.12

If you have been reading my blog you will see a few references to the Nasturtium. Not only are they compatible with the tomato, they are also edible. In doing some research they are quite the favorite amongst some gardeners because of their ease, versatility and flavor, and their beauty. They require very little attention to thrive in your garden, all they need is some soil, water and room to grow and your good to go. Just as long as you don’t use pesticides in your garden you can eat them.

It is recommended to soak the seeds in water for 24 hours, as the seeds are quite large and hardy. They do well in full sun or light shade. They are fairly tolerant of drought, but do best with regular watering. Try not to fertilize too much, or you will get a lot of foliage and not enough flowers.

Nasturtiums come compact or trailing. Great for border planting, hanging baskets and window boxes. Keep them trimmed back or they will crowd out the other plants.

I found some history and food tips from Sally's Place ... Sally is a food enthusiast & industry professional and talks about Nasturtiums from a food perspective.

I will try and post some recipes that have Nasturtiums flowers in them as I run across them and try them out for myself.

Until then... Cheers!

Companion Planting 05.11

Companion Planting...

Received a comment from a long time friend Anna. Her and her husband used to be our old neighbors until they decided to move to New River. Glad to hear that they are doing well and have a few raised gardens themselves. I am tellin ya, Raised Gardening is the way to go!

They are growing potatoes, tomatoes, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, grapes, peas, lettuces, radish, carrots and several kinds of flowers and herbs.

One of her comments was in reference to Companion Planting. I found a online compatibility chart and it just so happens that one of the compatible plants that is on the list for tomatoes are that of the Nasturtium. Talk about luck! I didn’t know that when I had purchased it to plant in the tomato garden that it was compatible... I figured, that since the Nasturtium is a plant in which you could eat (on the back of the seed packet it states that "they are a Tasty, Peppery Addition to Salads and Vegetables") what a perfect addition to the garden... flowers that are edible.

Some of the other plants that are compatible are the Onion Family, Marigolds, Asparagus, Carrots, Parsley, Cucumbers and of course the Nasturtiums.

Companion planting is where you plant one or more of the same plant species in close proximity of one another. They can then take advantage of each other’s cultural benefits... pest control, pollination, higher yield etc. Take a look at the compatibility chart. Very interesting... I am definitely keeping this in my list of bookmarks. =)

Thanks Anna for the post!

Tomato Blossoming 05.10

The tomatoes are blossoming nicely. It is very exciting to see such progress with this new garden. My track record for keeping plants alive has been sporadic at best. With a little time, love, and proper care I am not doing to bad. Thank goodness for the Internet, with all the articles, forums, blogs, etc. I am learning a lot.

Now that the tomatoes were and still are blossoming, I was curious to whether I needed to get any Tomato Bloom Spray. Did some research and was getting conflicting points of view on the topic. So I decided... since I have six plants, lets experiment on half.

I purchased some Green Light Tomatoes Bloom Spray. It is supposed to promote flowering, increase blossom set, reduce blossom-end rot and increase the yield. The bottle states, that you can use it on other plants such as Beans, Cucumbers, Eggplants, Grapes, Melons Okra, Peppers (good deal), and Strawberries. Can’t guarantee any of it since I only have tomatoes and peppers.

So, I experimented on half of them and in two days I started to see results. (Then again it could have just been luck with a little dose of good timing).

On one half, I started to see some Fruit! I was simply astonished.

On the other half, I was experiencing some Blossom Drop. =( Oh no, what to do... and why is it happening? My first reaction was to use the Bloom Spray I used on the other three... then I thought no, lets find out WHY this is happening and see if there is any other way to fix the problem.

In doing some research on Blossom Dropping there are a few things I found that could cause this:

• Extreme weather conditions, too warm, too cold, too windy, can cause the blossoms to not set properly. (Okay, knowing that we had some extreme weather conditions one of the weekends that we were in Australia, windy with temps near 100 degrees. Ok, I will buy that.)


• Lack of Nitrogen or too much thereof. This happens if you fertilize too much, or not enough.


• Lack of Pollination. Now this was interesting... makes sense. So started thinking, I really haven’t seen a lot of bees around here lately. Not sure why that is but I then realized that I needed to plant some complimentary flowering plants near my tomatoes to attract insects that assist in the pollination process. Another way to assist in the pollination process is lightly shaking the tomato plants. I will just keep doing that until I get my Nasturtiums to grow and bloom. (So far.... this seems to be working)


• Insect damage


• Stress related to disease


• Lack of light


• Extended light exposures - (24 hour exposure to a light source)


• Excessive pruning

There are other factors I am certain, I recommend to do your research and see what best applies to you.

Until next log… Cheers!

Tomato Log 05.10

It has been a month since my last post. A lot has been happening around here, we went for a two-week trip to Australia, which was absolutely AWESOME! And thankfully during that time, the tomatoes just kept growing. Special thanks go out to my neighbor Gina and my Mom for watching over the garden while we were gone.

A pic before we left:

And a pic when we got back: WOW!

Amazing, they look absolutely amazing! Can’t say much about my peppers however. Pretty sad, lost three while we were gone. I guess one of the weekends here we had a pretty bad windstorm and I didn't do a very good job staking them before I left. Oh well, live and learn. =) But the tomatoes look great!


There has been quite a bit activity since we have been home. From blossoming, blossom dropping, blossom setting solutions, and my favorite... Fruiting!


Keep you posted!

California Green Pepper Log 04.12

Its been a little less than a week since my last post regarding peppers... They are looking pretty good right now. Other than I have something munching on them! Seriously, the common Pepper Pests are Aphids, flea beetles, cutworms, thrips, and the whitefly. However when I do my research none of these pests cause the damage that I have displayed here. Feel Free to click on the pic for enlargement.

I am at a loss... they were looking so good a few days ago. I do know that we have a wide variety of lizards in our area. Do lizards eat leaves?

I am off to do more research regarding this irritating problem that I have discovered.

Until the next log.

Tomatoes Lower Your Blood Pressure

What? Did you read that correctly? Yes indeedy you did... In a recent study, people whom experienced hypertension that consumed tomato extract daily for 8 weeks experienced a 10-point drop in systolic blood pressure and a 4-point drop in diastolic pressure.

Tomatoes have lycopene which lowers blood pressure. Lycopene is also known to be an anticancer and has heart-protective effects.

Tomatoes are an excellent source of vitamins A, C and K, and are also low calorie and low fat.

Hurray for the Tomato!

I would like to thank my Mother who sent me the article. Thanks Mom!

Check out the full the article on RealAge

Till the next Log!

Raised Bed Gardening

While my husband and I were building our new flower garden, my in-laws (Jack and Kay Conlon) were in town from South Dakota. They have just purchased a house out here in sunny Arizona at a wonderful place in Sun City called Corte Bella. They were constantly back and forth from our house to theirs, cleaning, finding furniture, working with the landscapers etc. Before they even realized it we had finished up our garden structure and was nearly ready to plant.

They went back home to SD and they had found an article in USA Weekend about raised bed gardening. "Four great reasons to give a raised-bed gardening a try" By Fran Sorin. My in-laws clipped out the article and sent it to us and said, "Looks like you two have the right idea".

Here were the 4 great reasons to give a raised-bed gardening a try:

1. The soil isn’t walked on or compacted, so it stays loose, allowing air and water to circulate through it easily. Having compacted soil can reduce a crop's yield by 50%. (WOW) Reason is that the water, air and roots have difficulty moving throughout the soil when compressed. (Makes sense to me.)
2. Raised beds can extend the gardening season because the higher soil heats up more quickly in the spring allowing you to plant earlier in the season.
3. Drip systems and other watering systems are easy to use and install.
4. And pest control is much more manageable.

Check out the full article on raised-bed gardening at http://www.FranSorin.com .

Until the next Log!

California Green Pepper Log 04.06

The peppers have been planted and are looking really good. So far...

Interestingly when it comes to planting them it is totally different than the tomato. The tomato plant requires you to bury the stem in the ground where as the Peppers you do not. Nor do you need to pinch off any leaves. You just plant them. They do suggest not growing peppers in the same spot two years in a row.

Same rules do apply in terms of spacing; roughly 12-16 inches apart. It is recommended to use some compost or aged manure into the pepper bed before planting. This will give the peppers plenty of nutrients. Use aged (not fresh) manure to prevent nitrogen overdose, which can cause low yields. One of the articles I had read about peppers had cases of six-foot tall jalapeno plants with plenty of foliage but no pods on them, because the grower fed them too much nitrogen too fast. Thankfully we let the soil in the garden sit for two weeks before we did our initial planting. (We used Miracle Gro garden soil. I hear conflicting results when using Miracle Gro vs just plain Manure or compost material. So we will just have to see how it turns out.)

Again, since I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods in a package of twelve and I only used five, I kept the remaining pepper peat pods around for a while. Since the stems are above ground, I have had a few of them snap in half due to wind, critters, etc. and needed to replace them... make sure to keep your peat pods moist and not let them dry out.

And keep that garden weed free. Weeds can attract pests like leafhoppers, which can spread the Curly Top Virus. This had happened in New Mexico in 1995 where many a crops had been lost.


Until the next Log... Cheers!

Tomato Log 04.04

Well I have planted my little tomatoes. Red Cherry, Large Fruited Tomatoes. Six all together, I know, I know, its alot but this is the amateur gardeners blog and I wanted to make sure that I at least have one that will survive out of the entire lot. =)

So, they recommend planting them about 2ft apart, pinch off the two lowest leaves and then dig deep enough to where the remaining leaves are just above the soil. On thing to note, you should water them straight away ( I used a miracle grow mixture), once planted in the ground... the surrounding soil sucks the life out of the peat pod and your little plant will wither right quick.

Since I used the Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods in a package of twelve and I only used six, it is recommended to keep the remaining around for awhile until the ones that you already have planted get established. I have had to replant about three of my tomatoes plants since my initial plant date. I still have a few left just in case... make sure to keep your peat pods moist and not let them dry out.

I purchased two tomato cages, "The Ultomato Tomato cage" Three 5 ft stakes, and Nine 10in adjustable connectors that support the branches. Yes I plan on getting the rest of them, however these little units are 6 bucks a piece. Since the plants are still young yet I plan on picking up the rest, a few at a time.

Ironically, as I am in the midst of planting, gathering information about how to plant, a new catalog came in my mailbox... Gardeners Supply Company. Which has some pretty interesting items, along with some tips and tricks on planting. And on the cover of the Magazine was an article all about... yes "Tomato's".

One of the little articles talks about using Red in your tomato garden, they sell stuff like Red Mulch. They say that surrounding your tomato plants with the color red can boost production by as much as 20%. The red light stimulates the plant hormones that are responsible for fruit production and ripening. Who would have thought? They have several items for your tomato plants, I suggest checking it out. Also, they have a great selection of tomato cages.

In the photo above you probably see another row of items... those are California Green Peppers. Check out my Pepper Log.

Until the next Log... Cheers!

The Start of the Garden

This is my first ever post to a blog of any kind, so I thought the best way to get started was to create one and document my latest hobby... Gardening!

I started out with some Jiffy Professional Greenhouse peat pods that you can get at any Walmart, or Home depot store. I had a great success rate in terms of germination and didn't have any problems with them falling apart. (I have read some conflicting reviews, so I may have just gotten lucky.)

I decided to purchase the smaller trays that yielded 12 each. Purchased some tomato, and green pepper seeds and planted away. Within a few days I had already several pods with little plant lings in them. I was soo excited.



My husband and I built a 16x4 retaining wall garden to put them. It took us about 3 days to build... clearing the area, laying the sprinkler lines, making sure the wall blocks were level, cemented them in and together (we did two layers of wall blocks) and filled it with gardening soil.

We installed three sprinkler heads which are the Mini sprinkler on a Spike by DIG and provides coverage of up to 14' full circle.

I cant forget to mention that we wired up a few lights to go in there as well. My husband thought it would make for a nice accent at night.

Now that the new garden area was all finished the question came up as to when do we plant. I found myself by the end of the weekend with tomato plant information overload. From staking to making sure your pH level is correct to how deep you should plant it to spacing etc. But nothing really in terms of when. So knowing that both sets of grandparents had farmed, I decided to ask my Mom. And oddly enough she knew the answer, and the answer was "the Farmers Almanac". So I did a quick search and sure enough there it was.... The Farmers Almanac Website what days to plant and what days not to plant. Simply amazing... in talking with my mother she said that her parents lived by the Farmers Almanac.

So since it mentioned that March 21-22 is Favorable for planting crops bearing yield above the ground, that is just what I did. I planted my first set of 6 plants on the 21st.... they are looking good right now, it has been raining off and on all day today (I live in Arizona so as you can imagine it is a major event when it does rain here).

I will keep you all posted of the progress and my other findings in the next few days.