The Twelve Months of Preparedness

This last few days I have been 'itching' to get out and put some seeds in the ground...but unfortunately I need to prepare a little better before I can start on my garden. It would seem I am already too late for things like peas (sniff), lettuce, broccoli, and such. And it's a bit early for tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. (but I could start some tomatoes inside)

Well, today I was reading an article from the Meridian Magazine, and it talked about having a garden (among many other things) I really enjoyed the article, so thought I would put a link here: The Twelve Months of Preparedness.

How does your Garden Grow?

Until recently I figured I was a bit limited in what I could grow in my garden, since it gets SO HOT here during the summer. I knew that you could grow things in the early spring, but I don't think I realized that you could actually have a garden over the whole winter! AMAZING! I really need to turn my backyard (at least a large portion of it) into a veritable green house. I could even do more if I got a small greenhouse.

I have tried growing a few things here in AZ, but haven't had a huge amount of success. I have grown a small handful of cucumbers, radishes, peas and even a couple of squash successfully. I HAVE had a fair amount of success with tomatoes, but I usually only plant 3 to 5 plants.

I have tried planting carrots, broccoli and peppers. I knew when planting them that they wouldn't work, because it would be too hot too quickly. Didn't even stop to consider doing it later in the season. I think it's a bit too late now, I should have planted any 'cold weather' plants probably about 4 weeks ago. I might just go to Home Depot or Lowes tomorrow, and see if they have any strawberry and maybe green pepper plants.

Sad that I have been here for over 12 years, and just now starting to 'climatize' to the gardening methods. Planting in late May and into June is just SO ingrained in my brain. I didn't pay much attention to exactly when my parents planted things, but I knew most of the planting happened when school was out (or close to being out). Here, if you don't start planting by February or March, then WATCH out, it will get too hot for your plants before they can produce.

For some of the different veggies (and timing) to plant them, here in our AZ climate. Click here: AZ Planting Schedule.

If you know of any other good gardening sites for AZ, or for the climate you live in, please share. Also your success stories in gardening. I will add pictures if you send them to me. :)





These are my tomato plants the summer of 2008. We were gone for a couple of weeks, and the tomato plants were neglected..Jakob counted over 30 tomatoes that we picked when we got home from our vacation. The tomato plants didn't survive, though. :(