The Beans are in the ground.

Well, I have started working on the watering system, need to get it installed here soon as the temps are in the 80’s right now.

Installed my bean tower I build 2 years ago for my furniture business as a sign holder, it will do better for beans right now.

The squash is starting to come up, but some of the seeds have rotted and I replanted those areas. Also, did the soak the beans for 8 hours then plant, I think I’ll get good crop, but we will see.

Here is a current picture of the garden, tomatoes are growing and flowering, the radishes are up and the marigolds are blooming. Now I have to plant the pumpkins, watermelons, gourds and anything else I can thing of, maybe a small section of corn.

Update after planting

It has been a long time since my last update, over 23 days, I have planted tomatoes, and some summer squash and things are going great.

I have included a picture of the garden area, working on a watering system and just waiting.  The raised garden kits we sell are working out great.  Check out our Ordering page and give us a call.


I already have tomatoes forming on my Sweet Pea Currant Tomatoes, look closely and you can see them.

I also went to the Arizona Home and Garden show this last Friday and found some Rock dust type minerals that will help the bad soil we have here, put it and some other stuff on the tomatoes and will see how they work out.  We might be adding this minerals and fertilizer to our ordering system, Keep checking back and see what we have.

I promise that I will be better at getting updates to the blog, but for the next 2 weeks I will be studying for a few tests so I can get hired onto a full time permanent job. Not a big fan of contract labor when you don’t know if you work next month or not. But, if you order from us then I can keep working at what I love to do and we all can be happy.

Thanks for reading!

Time to start planting

After a delay in working on my garden, I have had to down size it a bit, I am only putting in 2 raised beds right now, each 8'x4'x1'. Here is the parts that will make up the bed, I made them yesterday and should have them built in about 15 min each. I believe in the KISS principle. Keep It Super Simple.

These are the sides, post and caps for the beds, now I just need to lay some newspaper (3-4 sheets), add compost/soil mix and some additives to enrich the mixture and I'll be off and running.  Watering system will come later as time permits.  So, if you are looking for a great way to get the garden you want with little work, this is your best bet.  Thanks for reading, David

Seed planting time.

OK, I thought about this and will have to say that I am going to document our, that is mine and my dad's, gardening for the year 2012.  We are in the Phoenix Arizona area and with summers hitting 115 degrees, we have a mild winter with highs in the 60's and lows in the low 30's.

Growing tomatoes is one of the fun and hardest things to do.  This last year, on my dad's place we grew tomatoes, peppers, green beans, okra, eggplants, onions, carrots, beets, chard, herbs, squash and peas with mixed results.  We grew them in Earthtainers and raised beds, that we made ourselves and are for sale, and right now with the experiments and downfalls that we have had, we hope to do better this year.

My dad has started tomato seeds today and here is the list, I also ordered some current tomato seeds and will see how they do here in the heat.
Black Krim
Box Car Willie
Cherokee Purple
Red Boar
Roma
Solar Flare
Ildi
Carmello

The currant tomatoes will be
Sweet Pea Currant
Gold Rush Currant
Chiapas Wild-Heirloom

This year we will be doing things differently than the last two seasons, yes, here in Phoenix area we have two seasons, maybe three, thanks to the mild winters. We will be using more organic fertilizers in our garden, I think we burned our plants in the fall with too strong of water soluble fertilizer in our Earthtainers and it burned the roots as all of our plants had a very hard time right from the start until we removed the fertilizer strip, then they did better.  I will have pictures here soon after the first of the year.

Thanks for reading about our work and I hope to have more information on our Raised Garden items and our tests of growing heirloom plants here in the hot southwest desert.

Christmas Time

Well, Well, it is December 24th 2011 and what happened to this year, it just flew by.  So, I thought I would wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from the people at Allred's Outback.

I have posted a few pictures of a Raised garden growing, our new 15" miter saw setup in the shop, colorful carrots that were harvested, and our newest member of the team, she is our Quality Assurance tester and is just out right adorable, our Grand Daughter sitting in the childrens furniture.

So, have a great time for the last week of the year and spend the time with family and friends.  Take Care!!!

Raised Garden

New Miter Saw Setup

Colorful Carrots

Our new Assistant, My Grand Daughter.

That is all for now, check out our Furniture and Garden pages, prices are on the Ordering page.

Thanks and have a wonderful Merry Christmas
David

Raised Gardens

Now that the year is almost over, it is time to start thinking about 2012 gardening seasons.  Here in Mesa Arizona, the weather almost gives you year round gardening with proper planning.  Here is a link for planting your garden in the desert, Urban Farm, this is great information for sowing seeds or planting transplants and what will grow here in the desert year round.

The raised garden kits that we sell are great for the desert, we have a 6" deep kit that is great for all crops except root vegetables, the 11.5" deep kit will bring you garden up closer to you and will also allow you to plant deep rooting plants like Carrots and Celeriac.

If you have a bad back, you can get the 17" high kit, but to save money, you can fill the first 6-8" with sand, then soil to the top.

We have all of these sizes made to order to fit your needs.  Check back for more information in the future.