About two weeks ago we pulled the last of the onions and tomatoes, and tilled the garden. It was dry, so the tiller wouldn't go as deep as I would have liked. We ran the old tomato vines through a chipper. In the next few weeks we'll plant the fall garden so with the recent rains it's time to till again, perhaps mixing in some steer manure and a bit of fertilizer. Then when the time is right all we need to do is put the plants in the ground and turn the drip system back on (which has been off to conserve water and give the ground time to dry out and heat up which reduces soil disease). With the recent rain the soil should be softer so tilling deeper will be easier.
Sometimes planning what to plant is more fun than the actual work of keeping a garden. We will be having an open house in January so had to learn what plants flower in that time - lo and behold we found a Maricopa County Flower Planting guide that lists many varieties of flowers, when to transplant or seed and when they will bloom. I had no idea there was such a thing. Pansies and snapdragons are destined for our borders this fall.
