Official Arizona Thread! Veggies in the Valley?

[Ariel301]

Hello fellow Arizona gardeners!

I'm gardening up in Kingman, in the northwest part of the state. It's a challenge, our soil is awful and our weather has been unpredictable, especially this last spring, we have been getting temperatures anywhere from 15 to 75 within the same week. I've had my garden here for two years, and so far it's been a failure. Too much hot sun in the summer, several times a year without water for a few days because our water system keeps breaking down (we're tied in to one that services our neighborhood since digging a well here is iffy and really expensive, and the water company is horrible about keeping things repaired...yuck.), and then random unexpected hard freezes in the winter. I'm hoping to get a greenhouse built soon, and a shade covering over at least some of the garden.

Even gardening in Colorado at 9,000 feet with a 60 day growing season was easier than this! My family had a lovely garden in Oklahoma when I was growing up.

I also raise LaMancha dairy goats and an assortment of chickens.

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Hey! It took me too long to come over here from BYC. I'm really taking my garden seriously this year (I have to... I have too much $$$ in it this year!!) Nice to see some chicken friends here too Loving the rain today... too bad I watered yesterday

 

[pebbles]

Hi guys:
I live in Kingman, AZ also. Ariel is right, it is a wierd growing area. We can have really cold winters and hot summers and LOTS OF WIND. I garden in six 4' X 8' raised beds. I started gardening three years ago and I love it. I also started raising chickens three years ago too. Also have four horses, thee dogs and several cats.

This year I started lettuce about 6 weeks ago from plants I bought at Home depot. Todays rain really will do wonders for the lettuce, probably will have our first home grown salad of the season this week. I also have spinach and broccoli. Peas sprouted this week and I planted five grape bare roots four weeks ago, two apple, a pear and a peach bare root two weeks ago. Really excited to get everything else in after our last frost date of April 15. I'm going to try growing melons, butternut squash, pole beans and peas up trellis I made from "no climb" fencing.

Anyone tried potatoes? If so, how did you do it?

I love Arizona and gardening!!

 

[cluckin_crazy]

Potatoes are almost effortless if the soil is soft enough. I am in Queen Creek and the soil is really more clay than anything. Sand and compost to break it up is necessary.

 

[waryyear950]

I'm jealous !I'm from northern Minnesota and tomarrow we have blizzard warnings 8 to 12 inches of snow sleet highs upper 20s lows single digets.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hello Arizona! Does anyone here in the lower desert have a greenhouse? I'm in the planning stages for one and I'm looking for someone here that currently has one, or who has experience with one here.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

for those of you in the really hot areas (aren't they all down in AZ? ) try looking at trench gardening. i think it was Hattie the Hen that had a link posted to a pretty garden in India that they use that method over there to help grow their plants instead of raising them up.

 

[CheerioLounge]

I'm in the California high desert near Twentynine Palms. I'll be watching all you Arizonians for ideas and info as some of y'all have a very similar climate.

Thanks!

 

[DesertGrown]

Hello from Tucson. At the Tucson Botanical Gardens there is a demonstration garden of Native American crops where they dug shallow basins to plant in, and to catch the rainfall. I love the idea of a trench garden, but I would need a jackhammer to break through the ground in my yard. The ground is like concrete and full of football size rocks. I don't have the back to deal with that headache, so I garden in raised beds

In the winter I grow broccoli, napa cabbage, leaf lettuce, carrots, snow peas, snap peas, kale, swiss chard, scallions, and spinach.

Summer crops are tomatoes, peppers, corn, cantaloupe, watermelon, squash, gourds, and green beans.

Also have grape vines (Thompson Seedless, and Red Flame) and strawberries.

Fruit Trees: apples, plums, peaches, nectarines, loquat, orange, tangerine, pineapple guava, and mango.

Herbs: basil, oregano, chives, bay laurel.

Happy Gardening!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Hi DesertGrown! Your crop list sounds very much like mine. I got some of my garden ideas from the Botanical Gardens and the Permaculture people too. I dug out my 12' X 40' garden to a depth of almost 4' deep in the center and used a good portion of the soil (especially the caliche) to change the grade of the property so that water flows back into the garden, instead of off into the street. I brought in truck loads of horse manure and composted like mad to fill in the garden--which is now just below the level of the grade. I call it my cubic meter sunken garden. It was back breaking work to do by hand, but fortunately, we didn't have many rocks to contend with. Now, this winter we're preparing to turn half the garden into orchard space and covering the other half with a greenhouse.

We have grapefruit, lemon, tangelo, lime, pomegranates (angel, wonderful, Kashmir), black mission and Konandria figs, beauty plum, flavor king Pluot, Thompson and flame seedless grapes.

I'm surprised that you have mango! Has it produced fruit yet? Do you have to protect it well from winter freezes? What kinds of plums, peaches and nectarines do you have? Do you have favorites or recommendations? We're getting nectarines, peaches and more plums/pluots as soon as the new shipments come in after the new year. I'm very excited to get working on the changes.