Frost Warning

Frost warning this week, especially for tomorrow night. In our experience, those who live in outlying areas experience temperatures up to several degrees cooler than predicted for downtown so be prepared. We will likely not see any fruit from tomatoes (heavily set with green tomatoes), corn (still silky), or zucchini (blooming). The rest of the garden (broccoli, onions, garlic, peas, sage) will be just fine.

Fall Gardening

This is another first attempt - Brussels sprouts.

We picked one red cherry tomato yesterday. That's a first and a very welcome addition to the Phoenix gardening experience! There are lots of others coming along so we should enjoy fresh tomato salads this fall until it freezes. Our weather is still in the 50's to 80's so the plants are happy. They have completely overgrown the wire cages shown in the October post.

Zucchini plants are finally up. As you may recall from earlier posts, we had trouble with birds picking the sprouting seedlings out of the ground, followed by trouble with germination, followed by placement of a net over the area which we left until the plants were finally big enough that the birds would ignore them. They look healthy and will soon blossom, but need to hurry or the first frost may rob us of zucchini. You can also see the broccoli off to the right of the picture (Brussels sprouts in the middle, garlic in the foreground). We also have peas about six inches tall in another part of the yard. I love all the different colors of green in the garden, the miracle of how things grow and the anticipation of eating fresh food from our very own back yard. And of course the broccoli, brussels sprouts, and peas will all continue to grow through the winter even with our occasional frosts, and then when the weather warms in spring we will have sweet prolific vegetables to eat.

Tomato Update

The tomatoes are really doing well. Today we found a few blossoms have set, the vines are growing rapidly, and there are many open blossoms. We put wire cages around each plant to keep them better contained and possibly to help be able to cover them when the weather gets cooler and extend the harvest. Notice that we cage them by using bits of wire fencing cut and bent into circles. This is far cheaper than purchasing tomato cages, and they last many years. We also use these same cages for pepper plants to keep them from falling over as they can get so heavy with peppers that branches break off or the plant bends to one side and touches the ground. Growing Anaheim peppers is on our list for next summer.

You can also see the bird netting we made to keep the zucchini plants safe in the background.

Zucchini are Up!

Finally, after several tries and those accursed birds, we have zucchini sprouting. It is likely too late to expect much from them, but we might get to pick a few before frost takes them out. Truthfully, I had given up until today I was out weeding and noticed five sets of leaves pushing their way through the soil. Hallelujah!

Tomato Update

Each of the three tomato plans we set out in September have at least doubled in size and are beginning to bloom. This is very encouraging for a gardener who has never grown fall tomatoes in Arizona. We usually plant enough that we can bottle what we need for the rest of the year, but this season we decided it would be nice to have fresh tomatoes for barbecued  hamburgers, salads, and braised with slices of zucchini in olive oil. There is a long way to go yet, especially with the zucchini which I just put additional seeds out that we sprouted indoors (see prior stories about birds). Tomatoes still need to set, grow, and ripen. For those in cooler climates, we can pretty much guarantee another 10 weeks before frost is a concern. In fact, I recall a year when our kids used the wading pool on Thanksgiving. It can be that warm that late in the year.

Garlic Update

All of the garlic is up - except the nodules from the elephant garlic. We planted a few cloves from last year to be certain we end up with some of this variety, but are still hopeful the little nodes will come to life. Given that they had such a rock-hard shell I'm not surprised they would take longer to start growing, but will feel better to see some signs of life. The store-bought variety sprouted quickest of all and is 2-3 inches tall already.

Fall and Winter Flowers

We have an open house coming up in January, and preparations are already underway. After consulting the Flower and Bedding Guide mentioned in an earlier post, we decided to plant pansies, petunias, and snapdragons. So far all are doing well, especially the petunias we found last weekend which have rich variegated colors (last year we planted the deep purple velvet ones). The snapdragons didn't like the last week of 100-degree weather, but are doing better now that it is cooler. We have only found bright yellow so far, but have an eye out for other colors, especially lilac blue since that is one of the wedding colors.

Last year we planted snapdragons and petunias, and they grew and flowered all winter long. By spring they were very large and beautiful and then the heat came and that was that. So we learned that it is possible to have wonderful flowers all winter here in the low desert of Arizona. In the collage above, Vinca flowers are on the left in white, red, and pink. These will freeze and die, but if kept next to the house on a southern exposure can survive some winters and grow quite large. They will also re-seed and grow again the next season. On the right are the petunias, which will suffice for the lilac blue wedding color as I can't locate anything else this time of year. They will grow in a large circle about 2-3 feet in diameter by spring, and last longer in the heat than snapdragons.

Protecting Seedlings

We've watched our fair share of sprouting corn and zucchini plants disappear from one day to the next thanks to neighborhood birds. I'm not sure they even eat them, because there next to the hole where the corn used to be growing we often find a mangled bit of sprouted corn. This year we had better luck with the corn, but we did put out bird scare tape and that has helped somewhat in past years.

After watching five or six healthy zucchini plants open their first leaves and disappear the next day, I decided it was time to win the battle. We've never had fresh zucchini from the fall garden and this year we want success. So I used PVC fittings, an old tube of liquid nails, and some half-inch electrical conduit to make a frame one foot tall and five feet by four feet across. Zip ties held some bird screen material over this frame and we placed it over the area where additional zucchini and broccoli have been planted. No more birds. Plus, it's light and easy to lift out of the way for a bit of weeding.

We might find a way to use this as a cold frame by covering it with plastic. We'll see. One of my "wish list" projects is to grow tomatoes and other more tender vegetables through the winter here in Arizona so that we can have a really early jump on warm spring weather.

If the frame does it's job and I decide to make more, I'll make them slightly larger/smaller so they will nest when in storage. Garden stuff does take up a lot of room.

Fall Planting

This is the fall planting season for winter hardy vegetables. Now is the time to be planting peas, carrots, broccoli, beets, and other vegetables that don't mind a light frost so you can have an early harvest next spring.

We also noted snapdragons are now arriving in stores, although it's a bit hot to be setting these out right now, very soon it won't be. These and a few other flower varieties will grow and bloom all winter long until the heat of May and June arrive.

Back to the garden - we set out three tomato plants in a warm, sunny location yesterday. We also put in a sage plant. We have had sage live 2-3 years and one plant produces far more than a typical family could use. We dry the leaves in a dehydrator and store them in pint or half pint canning jars.

Continuing the theme of growing things in the fall, we tried zucchini as they should mature with the tomatoes before cold weather arrives. If we can keep the birds from pulling sprouting zucchini plants out of the ground life will be good.

Garlic Planting

We still have a large bin of garlic we harvested and dried in June, as well as some hanging in the backyard shed which has been fine in spite of the high summer temperatures. Yesterday we took three of the larger clusters of garlic, broke them into individual cloves and planted them about 2 inches underneath the soil.

We are excited to see what happens with the nodules that grow on elephant garlic. Research indicates these will grow into single large cloves the first year, and split into elephant garlic clusters the second season. We have enjoyed this variety as it is more of a cross flavor of onion with garlic overtones. A mild flavor overall. In the garden we now have the elephant garlic nodes, German extra hardy, Georgian fire, and some of the store bought variety we planted and harvested last season. Plenty for making sauces next summer. The German and Georgian varieties did not grow as large as regular garlic, but was in the ground nearly a month later. This season we planted them as early as possible to encourage better results.

I will say again, that we have thoroughly enjoyed having our own fresh garlic and onions. It takes so little effort to grow, and provides a supply of fresh seasoning for dinner any time you need it. Also, the fresh garlic is much tastier and aromatic when fresh than after it has been dried for storage.

Site Update

We added a link to the Flower and Bedding Plant Guide, plus a couple of gadgets.

Tilling

Today was tilling day. Free labor day, but this year it was all me and no help from friends or family. I tilled in 20 bags of steer manure and since we had a nice rain a couple of days ago the soil was soft enough that it wasn't too much work to get the tiller as deep as it would go.

I've also been studying the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Flower and Bedding Plant Guide for the Low Desert. This deserves some serious thinking time, and looks to be a wonderful resource for someone planning an update to their yard or moving into a new house.

Fall Garden Preparation

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.

End of Garden

This is the end of our spring garden. There are still tomatoes out there, and plenty of onions and carrots, but we are turning off the water. It's time to mulch what's there, let it sit in the sun for a few weeks, and then plant the fall garden in mid-September. A little bit of watering will help break down the mulch faster so we don't turn the drip lines completely off.

Looking forward to fall planting. Need to decide what to put in the ground - probably broccoli, carrots, and peas.

Pizza Sauce

So today is another pizza sauce day. It's a time when the family revels in the smell of freshly picked onions and garlic roasting in olive oil, filling the house with a wonderful smell.

It started later than I had intended, picking 30 pounds of tomatoes in the garden this morning. Then pulling several large purple onions and collecting two bunches of garlic from the shed where they are curing. Finally, I plucked off two handfuls of fresh basil from a couple of plants we have growing in the flower garden.

See the ingredient photo below - tomatoes get washed, cut in half, and placed in a large stockpot. Garlic and onions go into another pot with a bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking. When the garlic starts to stick and the onions are translucent more of the tomatoes go into the pot and then it simmers for a half hour.

Then we press all the hot tomatoes, garlic, and onions through a food mill and return the sauce to both pots to boil down. The basil is finely chopped and added to the pots. Stir them every 20 minutes or so all afternoon while they boil and thicken. When the volume is reduced by half and you have a nice thick sauce it is time to load canning jars and process the mixture in a boiling water bath.

We do this on two Saturday's in June and have fresh pizza sauce for the rest of the year, or dipping sauce for breadsticks. The family loves it and it's one of those things the older children miss because they can't get anything like it at the store. How could they? Fresh from the garden and bottled the same day! It doesn't get better than that.

Bottling

We do a fair amount of bottling... Okay, we actually do what most people would consider A LOT of bottling. When the teenagers were in the house, a typical summer of bottling included 200 quarts of tomatoes, 30 quarts of salsa, and 20 pints of pizza sauce. One of our first home modifications was to build sturdy shelving in the closet under the stairway. You would be amazed at how many quart jars can fit in a small closet like that if there are shelves from floor to ceiling. We also bottle apples, peaches, apricot jam, strawberry jam, raspberry jam, apple sauce, green beans, dry beans, chicken, cubed beef, pickles, and grape juice. Most of the fruits and vegetables are grown in our back yard, although we have to buy some of the fruit when visiting relatives who live in a cooler climate.

The inspiration of this blog entry is to point out there are wonderful resources available for people who haven't bottled at home before. And for those who do have experience, there are new recipes to try. We used an old cookbook to start with, and wanted something more comprehensive that focused on bottling so found the Ball Blue Book. I don't mean to advertise for them, but they sell a very good book and it covers all the basics including dehydrating (make your own apricot fruit leather), pickling, water bath canning (tomatoes and jams), and pressure canning (meats and low acid foods). It also lists the equipment you need and explains how to use it. It is an excellent resource.

It is an investment to get the equipment together so you might want to borrow or work with a friend who bottles to see if  you really want to do it. I recommend starting with water bath canning and something simple like tomatoes or jam. People who lecture on storing food say it actually costs more to bottle your own, so the only reason to do it is because you get superior flavors. I would add that you also have the comfort of knowing how to store and cook foods from basic ingredients. This is becoming a lost art in our age of zipping off to the store for every little thing. I personally find great satisfaction in growing food and preserving it, plus we know exactly what the ingredients are. Now that we have children living in other states, it has been very rewarding to have them call and say they miss home made bread, or salsa, or pizza sauce, or they wish they could find tomatoes in a can that taste as good as the ones we grew at home and bottled. I would rather hear that than have them lament they can't find the same kind of frozen waffle with the freezer burned taste...

Sorry, no offense to those who purchase everything and don't have a garden. I am biased and I admit it. For me there is something magical about planting, growing, and harvesting things in the garden. Learning to preserve those foods is a natural next step and has become part of our family heritage and skillset.

Garlic Harvest

Continuing with the garlic theme, although this will be the last post until it's time to plant again. We'll have grapes to talk about soon. We harvested each of the four types of garlic, pickled some that day, and tied the rest in bundles in the tool shed to cure. This picture was taken the day we harvested.

After hanging like this for two weeks, the tops are mostly brown but still not completely dry. Another week or two should do it. We made pizza sauce with tomatoes and onions from the garden yesterday, along with two bunches of this garlic roasted in olive oil, and a bit of fresh basil. It made the best pizza sauce we have ever bottled! We also bottled a batch of salsa last week using the fresh garlic, onions, and tomatoes. We did have to purchase peppers this year but that was it.

We grew four varieties of garlic. In the background of the picture (click on it for a larger view) is regular garlic we actually purchased at the grocery store last fall and planted. On the left is elephant garlic, which isn't really a garlic at all but more like a leek with a large clove. On the right are two varieties of garlic from Germany and Italy. One is extra hardy and the other is supposed to have a hot flavor (salsa anyone??). These last two did not grow as large as the others so we're saving them and will re-plant early this fall to see if they do better. One last thing - the little tan nodes on the elephant garlic are supposed to grow a single very large clove the first year, and then divide into a bunch the second year. I can't wait to plant these!

History of Garlic

Above are photos of a couple garlic cloves from the grocery store, which we planted in a row next to the roses last fall. First, you break the bunches into individual cloves, then plant these a few inches apart in a shallow trench. No additional care was provided other than watering the roses next to them.

Harvest day. I included two planting day photos in this collage, a couple of them growing, and the newly harvested garlic. When the tops start to brown they are ready. Dig them up, wash them off, and let them dry for a couple of weeks before trimming off the tops and roots and then you have garlic. It's essentially free, easy to do, and if you don't want to wait for mature garlic you can harvest some early and use for cooking even before they start to form cloves. We tried pickling some this year as well (because I planted much more garlic than what is shown in these photo collages) and will report on that later. I will say it was a lot of work peeling individual cloves to make 12 cups of garlic for the recipe.

Perfect morning

I took the day off and went into the garden to pick tomatoes this morning. It was perfectly cool, and I heard the loud buzz of that special bee that pollinates tomato flowers. People who sleep in or don't venture outside until 9-10 in the morning miss a wonderful, inspiring time.

Full Garden

The garden is in full swing, and we are enjoying the flower beds planted last fall. One thing about gardens is they teach the law of the harvest - if you don't invest the time and planning in advance there is no harvest or flowers to enjoy. The trellis is new this year and replaces one that had lost the battle of the Arizona sun. It serves as a gateway into the vegetable garden. We also moved the Tangelo tree seen on the right of the photo. This was a major undertaking and only time will tell if it was worth the effort to move such an old tree.

We are enjoying carrots, beans, zucchini, garlic, onions, and tomatoes from the garden. The peas have come and gone already this year. The garlic is mature and I need to learn how to harvest it properly. It requires a couple of weeks to dry them and the apparent rule of thumb is that when the bottom third of the leaves are dry its harvest time. Pull them, shake of the dirt, let them dry in a cool place for about two weeks, trim off the roots and dried tops and you have your own garlic. We've been eating it fresh now for months. The ones we don't pull will divide and grow again in the fall producing next year's crop. It has been so fun and easy growing garlic and onions this way, and now we are spoiled because they are always available and we never buy any at the store.

Spring has arrived!

Spring has arrived. A tour of the yard today revealed Almond trees in bloom, sprouting beans, peas, and zucchini, blossoming strawberries, and swelling buds on the Apricot and Grapes.

The onions and garlic are growing quickly now that warmer weather is here, and the flowers we planted last fall are coming up - gladiolus, lilies.

Pomegranates

We have a 10-year old pomegranate. It is the Wonderful variety, which is what nearly everyone in North America is familiar with if they have ever grown this tree or tasted pomegranate juice. However, there are other varieties with significantly different characteristics. I read a book about them which related the story of Dr. Levin who brought a selection of varieties from his nursery in Turkmenistan when he came to America. These are now being preserved and propagated at U.C. Davis and only in the last 2-3 years have they become available in retail nurseries.

You have to give me a chance to wax poetic here - we are talking about a man who had hundreds of varieties of pomegranates under his care, all with different genetic traits developed in many different climates by people with a desire to grow this fruit. When he left Turkmenistan Dr. Levin brought of the best or most interesting (from a genetics standpoint) in order to preserve them.

Two of these varieties are Parkfianka and Desertnyi. There is one nursery in the Phoenix area that carries both. Yesterday I planted one of each in our yard. Parfianka always rates among the best for overall flavor, Desertnyi has citrus overtones.

Pomegranates are one of the perfect fruit trees for the Phoenix area. Deciduous, drought-tolerant, beautiful as a landscape plant, and the fruit can be eaten fresh or made into jam, or into wine, or juiced and bottled. Plus they have great health benefits.

Spring Garden

Tomatoes are in the ground. There is a slight historical chance that we'll get another frost, but only it's only slight and I find that an early harvest (before the high summer temperatures) is worth the risk. We have 53 tomato plants in the ground.

Additionally we have peas sprouting and have planted bush beans, zucchini, broccoli, and carrots. We'll see in the next week or so what germinates and what the birds leave alone. Often the birds make sprouting peas their breakfast so we are hoping the cooler weather will prevent this. So far, so good.

Garlic and onions are doing great and we are using them in sauces and marinades. The lower portion of the stem and developing bulb works great - you don't have to wait for them to be "ripe" and this way you can enjoy fresh onions and garlic year-round in our climate.

Roses are out of dormancy. Pomegranate trees are also out of dormancy. We pruned back the frozen bits of the lemon tree (temperatures here were between 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit for a couple of days so we had major damage to the lemon tree). Vinca flowers also froze but they usually don't survive the winter unless kept in a warm spot. We have trimmed everything and see new growth starting so in a month or so things will be green again.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are in the nursery (Summer Winds on Chandler Boulevard). They arrived this morning and look very healthy. We'll be watching the weather for another week or so and if there isn't another cold spell in the long-term forecast we'll set the plants in the garden. In the meantime, they will be out during the day and in the shed at night.

New Background

Today we updated the site background with a photo of the garden from May 2012. This is our typical garden, which takes up half the back yard (about 12 feet by 45 feet). Grapes, bamboo, lima beans, tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, indian corn, broccoli, peas, beets, carrots, bell peppers, anaheim peppers, leeks, onions, garlic, sage, cilantro, lemons, grapefruit, pomegranates, apricots, and more.... The actual vegetable garden is 12x45 but every tree in our yard grows something edible, and the block walls are lined with grapevines, and we have herbs, onions, and garlic growing amongst the roses and iris's.

One of my favorite things to do is photograph all the different shades of green in the garden, and the flowers and fruit, and the bees, and the hummingbirds. Witnesses will testify that the hummingbirds like to stand on the grape trellis wires and watch me work.

Lemons

Picked "some" of the lemons last weekend. Two buckets held about 400 and we just grabbed the quick and easy low hanging fruit. The tree is laden this year, and probably won't have any lemons next year due to the cold weather we are having. It doesn't hurt the tree much but it does kill the fruit buds on new growth.

The first 200 lemons yielded 20 quarts of lemon juice, which we froze in bottling jars. In past years we have frozen the juice in plastic bags, bottled it in mason  jars, and made lemon jam. All of the bottling experiments turned brown from oxidation within a few months and those with added sugar went more quickly (so much for instant lemonade concentrate...). Freezing is definately the best option although doing it in plastic bags can make for a sticky mess. Thus we tried bottles this year for the first time. Oh - and one more thing. We screen off the seeds in a collander, then run the juice through a sieve to get the pulp out and we save this pulp. It is GREAT in recipes calling for fresh lemon. Our favorite use is to make cheesecake - the unbaked version.

Yes - those are onions and garlic growing in the background and the recent 20-degree temperatures did not bother them at all.

Pruning

Thus far we have pruned the Pomegranate and Pecan trees. We've also pruned the roses and pulled all the brown plant material out of the Iris and Asparagus beds. The branches and leaves all go through the chipper to reduce it to a nice mulch, which then goes around the roses and along walking paths into the garden. The birds love it - which is the one drawback to making our own mulch. They seem to come from all over to find the perfect twigs for their nests, and remember to come back when the Apricots and Grapes are getting ripe.

In the next month or so we'll prune the grapes and the frost-bitten citrus trees, and perhaps thin out the bamboo to keep it under control.

Garden Preparation

Today, if I can overcome the cold, the garden will be tilled and the pile of grass clippings and the mulch pile will be mixed into the soil. We've had an old bit of wire fencing tied in a circle holding a very large pile of grass clippings since October (from when we dethatched the lawn) which is now ready to go into the soil. In past years we made the mistake of putting this directly into the garden - not a good idea because the grass will grow.

Cold!

These few days of cold weather will likely burn some ficus trees and freeze the buds on lemon trees. This is the third or fourth time in 10 years that it has been cold enough to damage our Lisbon Lemon tree. We'll prune it back and have a year of nearly no lemons (as opposed to this year when we have a few hundred). These cold spells don't bother our grapefruit tree, perhaps because it grows in more of an umbrella shape that holds in heat better.

After spending several years nurturing a plant to maturity and losing it to one night of cold I surrendered and put in something better suited to our climate. We can't cover our lemon tree because it is so large, but it gets along fine.

One thing we will cover is our backflow assembly on the irrigation line. We've had that freeze before and it was no fun buying a replacement - since thousands of people in the southwest had the same problem and the stores were out of stock. So there is a painting cloth over our water pipes for the next few days.

Getting Ready...

It's time to get planting areas ready for vegetables. For those who are interested in flowers the big box stores (Lowes) just got in their flower bulbs. We put in some Gladiolus this year.

Vegetables are not really available yet. Bear in mind I say that because we are looking for 6-packs of tomato plants. We took a hiatus from planting tomatoes from seed this year so are really hoping to see the seedlings show up in nursery's soon. I did start some seeds yesterday as a backup plan and to keep my anxiety level down...

Bare root fruit trees should be arriving in stores this month if you are looking for apricots, pomegranates or the like.

Now is the time to plan what you want to plant and where, and get the soil ready. We usually till the garden and add a bit of fertilizer a couple weeks before setting out anything. The weather should be warm enough in about 4-5 weeks to set out tomato seedlings.