Garden is a growing

Well, it has been a while since I posted anything, been busy with work and other things.
The garden is doing great, everything is growing and the weather got really warm, upper 80’s for the future and possibly 90+ in a week or two. The tomatoes are loving the heat and are really putting out the blossoms.
Here is a picture of the Ildi tomato plant that has a bunch of blossoms that are starting to open. never seen anything like this before.

Here is another picture of the first raised bed.

Here is a picture of the second raised bed, the squash and beans are not coming up and growing very well.

That is all for now, Hope to get better pics of the cluster of blossoms from the Ildi tomato plant.
Thanks for reading.

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

Seeds started, layout for garden

OK. I have started 20 tomato plants on 1/3/12 and they should be poking up shortly, Planted the following
Sweet Pea Currant
Gold Rush Currant
Chiapas Wild-Heirloom
Ildi
Zarnitza

I will post a picture here in the next day or two showing my location for the raised garden and the experiment of enriching and growing a garden in the desert of Arizona.  I will also try growing some Blackberry and Raspberry plants in a 2x8 raised bed and constructing the supports for them.


Thanks

Garden planning time!!!

Well, the end of the year is near, the winter wonderland is in full force in parts of the country and the mail box is full of gardening catalogs.  I guess that would make it Garden Planning Time, time to start thinking about what you are planning to plant.

Some people will start thinking about planting their first garden, well, there is tons of cool sites out there that give great advice to what, when, where and how to plant.  Right now we are starting our Tomato seeds, (see post below), and prepping the ground for a plant date of Feb 15, that is if the weather holds, see, this year we had a hard freeze on  Feb 3rd and 4th, it got to 20 degrees.  So, we have to be careful in planting too early.

So, what are you planning for this year? If you live where the soil is rich and full of goodness, that is great, but if you live where the soil is bad, like at my house, then you have to find an alternative for growing a garden.  I have setup raised garden kits in my yard and filled them with great compost and this should give me the start that I need.

Wow, I just looked out my window and I see a covey of Valley Quail in my yard, at least they are eating the weed seeds that are ever present in my area.

Well, time to get ready for work and I will take the garden catalogs with me to look at and plan.

Happy Gardening!!

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.

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.