People, people. Lend me your ear! This may be just what the “doctor ordered”! What more could we who live in the desert southwest ask for!
I know how much work I do just so my dirt (can hardly call it soil) can hold water and praying that I can afford the fertilizer and water needed to allow a plant to grow, let alone flourish!
If you know what I’m talking about… this product is for you!
The ideal discription of a plant that is made for our environment is as follows… Can better tolerate temperature extremes, Can grow in poor soil, more resistant to pathogens, can produce up to 4 times the normal yield. This description could only be better if it were self-watering, self-pruning and free!
Introducing the “Mighty Mato” and other grafted fruits and vegetables.
Once again the Mesquite Valley Growers has introduced to me a wonderful and new (to me) product that I am h
aving my first experience with and though it is too soon to state conclusively my total experience with the product, I am glade to share with you my experience so far.
The seedling that I purchased was filled with fruit, multiple secondaries established within the first few inches of the base of the primary, all sturdy and comparable in size as the main. Flower buds showing and no indication that the flowers and the subsequent fruit would be a burden or overly task the plant.
I planted next to a 6pack of sweet one hundred which are on the my heavy water supply irrigation plan as are the rest of my tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. You may wonder what my “heavy water supply” actually equates to! Well I wonder also! I could figure it out but the facts would mean very little since there are so many factors that would determine the amount of water you will require and my requirement is certain to be difference than nearly everyone else.
Use the site search or use Google 0r other search engine to find more information about watering.
- Select garden location.
- Prepare location [clean, weed, amend]
- Get seeds or seedlings that you want to plant. [tomatoes, corn, broccoli, etc.]
Grandpas garden was a mess!!!!!! So if it wasn’t for me, it wouldn’t have gotten done. Lucky for him he had his handy-dandy grandchild… me! we had to rake, shovel, weed, and fix a water pipe that had broken during the winter freeze. I was so dirty, my dog started to help!!!!!!!!!!
My name is August and I am 10 years old I and was born in Bel Aire, Maryland. Gardener and Gardeners wife are my grandparents. I used to live in Texas for 8 years. I have 1 brother, 2 stepsisters, and 1 stepbrother, 1 step dad, and 1 stepmother. I have 2 dogs, 2 snakes, and 1 lizard. My favorite subject is science. My favorite singer is Adele. I’m a animal lover. My favorite hobbies are singing, scrap booking, dancing, and cooking.
I’ve planted flowers but have no experience with a vegetable garden so this year I am looking froward to learning a lot!
Is there anybody out there?!
Well if you haven’t guessed yet, the weather is changing daily. For us in Tucson, if we don’t hurry and take advantage… we will find ourselves behind in our planting.
As I write this, I am feeling sad because I’ve made the decision to not plant this season. I want to but with all that is going on in my life and the travel that I must do this year precludes me from allocating the time required to ensure a positive outcome. But who knows, maybe I can get something in the ground that will take little time and effort. If you have a similar dilemma, let me know what your plans are and if you are going to plant something that would be considered low maintenance… Let me know what it is!
Spring planting comes early here in the Old Pueblo. By now we should have our green leaf veggies in the ground. Lettuce, cabbage, greens, squash, cucumbers etc., will do well in the coolness and will survive the slight freeze threat that typically is past us by the mid to late March. Other plants that we should be prep-ing are tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, okra (even from seed). If you don’t have them in the ground yet, it is not too late!
Mend your soil with amendment of you choosing, I have had success with Happy Frog. Mesquite Garden Growers, located on Grant Rd, East of Kolb, also has calcium and their own brand of multi purpose vegetable fertilizer that I’ve used.
Remember to rotate your planting to avoid depleting the soil and to reduce the success of critters that would cause damage. If you are unable to rotate, it is a good idea to transfer soil and amend it.
For other suitable plants, please check with your local nursery and I encourage you to include any other spring plant recommendations in the comments of this post.
All the tomatoes are full grown and one has actually turned to ash from being in the full sun. Of the 6 remaining, two I have just given over to the birds, tired of the fight. The other four are producing, one really well, although splitting and cracking is an issue. Must say, though, that it usually is an issue just before the Monsoons arrive. The smallest, a grape (or is it globe), is really putting out. I’m giving most of these away….trading them for goat poop to go in my compost pile. They aren’t my favorite and I have lots to contend with.
The watermelon has given me 5 melons so far, good ones, but a bit tattered my the rabbits and the dratted birds….is there nothing that they won’t eat?
The artichoke is struggling with it’s last blooms. The chokes I allowed to bloom were beautiful purple and big. Good for bees, and no rabbit seems interested in it now that it’s burnt up and woody. I’m replacing it with something winter growing….what? It’s a good emitter, even if it is in an unprotected location.
Have killed 4 rattlesnakes, was visited by one king snake and then killed same king snake at a later date when he got badly tangled in the bird netting. Only silver lining to that was that his “smell” deters the crafty cactus wrens from stealing from that tomato plant, (how long is anybody’s guess). So goes the fight at my Summer Tomato Farm. Can’t wait for the monsoons when everything revives and the bell peppers actually begin their best efforts.
Having any good luck on the East side. How goes the compost?
My winter tomatoes were more of a success than I ever thought. I planted my spring tomatoes and now I have babies on the Early Girl and the Romas. I sure hope the sun doesn’t burn them to a crisp before I get the best of them, too. Saw my first artichoke baby as well. A good start to spring, soon to be summer. I went and saw a local organic farm last weekend, and plan to incorporate more of their practices in my small backyard endeavor. Mostly flowers among the vegetables to draw more bees and beneficials, also used as ground cover in the place of mulch. Anxious to see how that’s gonna work for me….sure looks prettier….
The broccoli is all over and I have abandoned the remaining stalks to Itty, who appears to be quite happy with her little corner and is staying out of mine…..for the time being anyway. Spinach is done and the 2 remaining plants bolted already, as if to say, let’s move on already…..
I’m afraid I’m gonna be over-run by tomatoes this summer. My friend Delton had a few extra’s that he didn’t have room to plant, so I “graciously” took them off his hands. (Truth is I would have begged—I think I did, a little.) So now I have San Marzano, Celebrity, Jet Sonic, Sun King, Early Girl, Tommy Boy, Roma, and one more I cannot remember the name of. In addition to these, I’ve got some carrots, yellow and red bells, and my ole stand-by beets, and then there is the artichoke from last year. Bruce wants me to plant corn again, but I’m hesitant since it seems to be a tomato year, and where the heck do I put the corn? Corn begs for a stand (like 3×3 plants–can’t do just a single row). I have one corner left for some sun loving wild vine-thing like watermelon.
Also I decided to use a stray emitter, who’s plant gave it up sometime in the winter. It’s also full sun. Hmm…it now looks a bit like I’m starting to landscape with vegetables. Cantalope would be a good choice for that emmiter right now. So much to do……so little time to play…..
PS. Lamont, I signed up with a CSA for a box of organic, home grown groceries weekly for the next 5 months. You familiar with CSA’s?
Hey it’s Springtime and I am alive!!
Actually as you may know, here in Tucson we are generally able to be in the garden all year long, and I have, though there wasn’t much incentive for me to BLOG my winter months so I used the time for some other things, but now… The days are getting longer an my ‘carry-over’ plants are beginning to respond to the warmth by sprouting new leaves as if to say “here I am… Feed me! So it’s time to fertilize and amend, plan and do some planting. Read the rest of this entry »
Sleeping Frog Farms Goes CSA
How exciting. A local organic farm sells shares to the public. That’s good news for a backyard gardener like me. I can’t grow enough in my limited space to eat the variety I’d like. Don’t like paying exorbitant prices that many stores ask for their organics, so this is an excellent option. Once a week I pick up a bag of produce (not of my choice, but then, I’m not that picky) and take it home to cook up. The cost is approximately $25 per week and I signed up for 20 weeks. They pull it, bag it, and take it to the pick up location…..where I am there waiting…..what a deal. Nothing more than 3 hours out of the ground or off of the plant. The only place I could do better is in my own yard. Plus, I get to visit “the farm” anytime I like and get their advice on how to grow stuff. I’m practically in heaven now, or the garden of eden….how cool is that?
CSA is a term meaning: Community Supported Agriculture. A relatively new idea to support local farms. The farm sells shares and then gets participation from the Share Partner on the farm, or money, (or both) to enable them to continue farming. The community Share Partner gets a portion of the farm’s harvest, whatever it is, delivered to them each week, so the farm doesn’t have to send their produce on week long trips in huge trucks to supermarkets. (A process that reduces the quality of the produce and severely limits the income to the farm.) The Share Partner picks it up himself from a pick-up location and everybody wins. Produce is fresher and healthier, the local economy and the local farmer benefits the most, the Share Partner gets the best from the farm and helps the local community to boot.
Next, I’m gonna find me someone who raises chickens and goats.