Location, Location, Location

Emboldened by the anonymous comments of a couple of readers, I've decided to inudate the site with even more rambling information about fall gardening in Arizona. (Emboldened, inudate: How's that for some 25 cent words?) Today's ramblings: How to pick where to plant your vegis.

As best as I can tell (remember, I'm still new to this too!), there are three things you need to worry about when figuring out where to plant your vegis:

1. What was planted in that spot before? From what I've read, if you plant the same plant (or the plants from the same family) in the same spot too many years in a row, you increase the chance of disease. (Since I'm pretty new to all of this, I don't have to worry about that too much.) There's also the issue of putting a "heavy feeder" (something that saps the nutrients from the soil) in the same spot where another heavy feeder was just planted. For instance, I'm told that planting an artichoke in the same spot where you just pulled out some corn is a big no-no, because there just won't be enough nutrients left in the soil for the artichoke. (I have to wonder if adding a bunch of compost or something to the soil will help you get around this particular requirement.)
2. How much sun does the spot get? Can you believe it? We actually have to worry about getting enough sun in Arizona? Surprises me too, but it's really something you have to worry about--particularly in the non-summer months. For instance, I planted some peas against the west wall of my house recently, and they were a total bust. They slowly turned from green, to yellow, to white--probably because they were getting too much afternoon shade from the house. I still think that spot is a keeper for the summer months when you have to worry about your vegis getting prematurely cooked in the heat, but for the fall, I think I'll let that spot rest.
3. What plants are going to be planted around it? This is the most complicated part. For those who want to do more reading, google "companion planting" for your plant of choice. Basically, some plants make good neighbors. Beans and corn are a classic example of this. The beans add nitrogen to the soil, and the corn takes the nitrogen from the soil. The beans need something to grow up, and the corn makes a perfect support. It's a great symbotic relationship. (There I go with the 25 cent words again.) On the flip side, there are other plants that absolutely should not be planted together, either because they compete for the same nutrients, or because they adversely affect each other's flavors, or because one plant attracts pests that are problematic to the other. Lucky for me, most of the plants I wanted to put in this fall seem to work well together, but I did have to separate the peas and garlic in my plans because apparently they don't play nice together.

When it comes to companion planting, I find that I have to make myself a spreadsheet to keep track of it all. Here's the one I cooked up when I was doing my fall planning this year. I'm not sure that the list of dos and don'ts are complete, because I really only wrote down the plants I was interested in planting this year, but hopefully it will at least be a good start for some of you.

So there you go. That's pretty much everything I can think of when it comes to picking a location for your vegis. Happy planting!

P.S. Thank you to the anonymous readers who have sent me emails about the site and encouraged me to post more. It really and truly makes my day to get your comments.

Planning the Fall Garden

Not that I'm counting or anything, but my staycation from work starts in 11.5 days. That means that 12 days from now, I will be happily digging away in my garden. (13 or 14 days from now, I might be getting a pedicure. We'll see how it goes.) I've been reading, spreadsheeting, and planning like crazy in anticipation, and I've got a fall plan:

You'll probably notice I've got a LOT of stuff crammed into that box on the right (3 brocolli plants, 4 celery, 27 garlic, 54 onions, 72 carrots, 2 cabbages, and 12 spinach). It's inspired by square foot gardening, which seems awfully optimistic, but I'm feeling optimistic. Let's give it a shot. 

A bunch of the stuff I have on the plan (peas, artichokes, brocolli, carrots) are things I tried last year and couldn't make work. I'm hoping that getting them off to an earlier start this year will make things go better. (Last year, I started the artichokes and carrot in late November, the broccoli in late December, and peas in late January.) So maybe a little sun before the cold sets in will do them some good.

Hey, I couldn't do much worse than last year, right? 

From Seed to Supper: Growing Okra in Arizona

One of my favorite Arizona gardeners posted some lovely pics of okra on Facebook this week, and they seemed to generate a lot of interest and questions from her followers. It seemed like as good an excuse as any to chronicle my own okra saga, just in case it helps anyone. (Also, I have a lousy memory. If nothing else, I'll have this on hand for next year when it comes time to plant okra.) So here's my process for going from seed to supper with okra in Arizona.

Sprouting...
Some time back in March, I ordered okra seeds from my favorite seed company. Soon after, I eagerly started the seeds inside under grow lights. I found it pretty easy to start the seedlings. I used some organic Miracle Grow potting mix and followed the instructions on the packet. However, I'm wondering if the whole grow lights thing is necessary. I probably did it so I could get a jump start on the season, but I suspect that was a false start. As best as I can tell, okra doesn't really produce a lot until late August or so, regardless of when you get it started. It might be easier to just plant the seeds directly outside, even if it means they get off to a slower start. (Also, if I recall correctly, Summerwinds Nursery had okra seedlings this year, so if starting from seeds seems too hard core, there are other options.)

Okra seedlings. So deceptively small.

Planting...
Sometime around April, it came time to plant the seedlings outside. I probably should have "hardened them off," but I suspect I just stuck 'em in the ground one morning and hoped for the best. I planted mine on the north side of my yard in a 4'x6'x1' raised bed where it would get full sun. Arizona gardeners, this is one of the many charms of okra! Not only can it take full sun during the furnace blast we call summer, it actually likes it! (Crazy, crazy plant!)

Waiting...
This was the hard part for me. Once I planted my little seedlings, then I just watered and waited. Every few weeks I gave it fish emulsion too, but mostly, I just watered and waited. (For watering schedule, I think I started at every other day or so, and kicked it up to every day during the height of summer. Next year, I'm going to try to encourage deeper roots and mulch with hay or something to see if I can get away with watering less.) During this waiting period, I think a few died, so I'm going to take that as a lesson for next year too--plant more than I'll need, because they probably won't all survive.

Okra seedlings do not inspire greatness in the beginning

Harvesting...
Somewhere around August, the okra finally started kicking into gear. By this time, I had 5 plants, and between them, I was probably producing an average of 3-4 pods a day. I've read online that pods are only good for a couple of days, but I would save up my daily haul in a Tupperware container all week and use it to cook something on the weekend. It seemed plenty fresh, so I think that 2 day limit is a little aggressive.

Probably the big things that I learned about harvesting okra are:

• You've got to hunt for them. The plants are like bushy little trees, and it's easy for okra pods to hide (particularly on the lower branches). If one of those pods slips past your attention for too long (like a day), you're kind of hosed because...
• You've got to pick them at just the right time. If you let them get too big (over 3-4 inches), they turn into the consistency of tree bark. This transformation from tiny & tender to big & barky can literally happen overnight, so you have to be on your toes!

Right now, we're in late September, and the okra is still going strong.

The ugly duckling turns into a swan

Eating!
I probably get about one really nice meal a week for my husband and I out of our 5 okra plants. Our absolute favorite is bhindi masala, but we've also really enjoyed some gumbo. (The nice thing about the gumbo is that it makes way more than we can eat in one meal, so we have a nice store of easy to reheat leftovers in the freezer when we make a batch.) I tried pickled okra too, but it kind of tasted like mushy cucumber pickles. I think I'll pass on doing those again.

Bhindi Masala. Oh baby.

Composting

Pretty soon here, the okra will probably be done for the season. (Even if it isn't, I plan to pull it up in mid-October when I have some time off from work to garden.) I'll tear them out, compost them, and put something else in their place. So all told, I will have probably gotten about 2 months of good production out of them this season. Not bad!

There you go: Seed to supper. In future years, I might be able to give you a seed to seed saga (where I save the seeds from one year to use the next), but I'm not there yet. Baby steps.

Update (May 24, 2013):

I'm branching out and trying some new okra types this year, and wanted to let you know how it's going. Clemson Spineless, which I planted exclusively last year, continues to be my big winner so far this year. I've got a couple of Burgundy Okra plants too, which are stunning, but boy are they hard to get going (even under indoor grow lights!). I'm not sure if I like the taste as much as Clemson Spineless either. I've planted some Okra Hill Country Heirloom Reds as well. No luck so far, but I might give 'em one more shot. So the season's not over yet, but so far, Clemson's in the lead. Happy gardening! 

Arizona Seed Source

I just bought seeds again from Westwind Seeds in Tucson, and I almost feel like I have to write about these guys. I don't work for them. I've never met them. But I'm pretty sure they are totally awesome people, so I'm going to mention them here, just in case it helps any other Arizona gardeners.

First, these guys do the whole no GMO, open pollinated seed thing. So right off the bat, they're getting some serious hippy points. (If you're not a hippy-dippy type, but you do like gardening, read on. It gets better.)

Even better, they specialize in plants that will do well in "extreme climates." What a nice way to say "surface of the sun" (e.g., the backyard of every Arizonian I know). Another selling point is that (at least in my experience), they always, always, always include a nice hand-written note with your order. Nice touch!

But the kicker here, folks, is that they always seem to include free seeds in their orders too. This little perk is not advertised on their website, but in the four or five times I've ordered from them, they have always included some free seeds in the order. Check out the sticker on the lower-right and upper-left seed packets here:

I'm not really clear why they do this. They don't advertise this perk. They don't send a hand-written note saying why they choose to do it. You just get these free seeds. My best guess is that they're trying out new varieties or something. Darned if I know, but it makes me feel good every time.

So there you go. I didn't get paid for this. I don't know anyone at this company, but if you live in an "extreme climate," I totally recommend buying your seeds from Westwind Seeds. These guys are awesome.

My name is Claudette and I approved this message.

Staycation!

Not that I'm counting or anything, but 26 days from today, my one week staycation from work starts. The kid will be at camp (her school has a 2.5 week break in October), the weather should be beautiful (Arizona primetime, Baby!), and my "To Do" list for the garden is growing by the second. It should be awesome! So what are my grand plans?

• Pull out the okra. (It's should be winding down by that point.) 
• Possibly pull out the sweet potatoes. (I really have no idea when they'll be done. We'll see how that goes.) 
• Move my raised beds closer together in an attempt to squeeze another one in. (The alternative is to actually rip up lawn and put more raised beds there. It's tempting, but sometimes you've got to know your limits. That's probably more than I'll be able to take on.) 
• Build another raised bed. 
• Plant winter vegis (brocolli, onions, garlic, carrots, spinach). 
• Maybe rig up some hoops on the raised beds so they're ready to go when the cold weather hits. (Cold weather is, of course, a relative term. Cold for Arizona.) 
• Stake out my apple trees to get some good espalier action going. 

I'm so excited, I can hardly contain myself. Have I mentioned that there's only 26 days to go? :) 

The Garden Speaks: "Stop Your Damn Whining"

For a little while here, I've been writing posts about starting my fall garden. The more discerning among you may have noticed just a hint of whining. (OK, more than a hint.) Although the main message has been about how I want to be proactive about getting the fall garden started, the undercurrent has been "I'm soooooo done with summer."

I think the garden got tired of my damn complaining, because it's started talking back to me. (OK, that's an overstatement. I can't hear the plants actually speaking. No need to call a shrink.) Let's rephrase that. It's demonstrating to me that summer in Arizona actually has something to offer.

When I went to water the sweet potatoes this morning, I was greeted by this beauty. It was quite a surprise. The sweet potatoes have been going gangbusters now for quite a while, but there's never been any hint of flowers. I'm hoping that this is the first of many:

And my plant-it-and-leave-it sunflower is like a postcard. I planted a few seeds in a pot a while back and put it where it would get water from the lawn sprinklers. That's it. I've literally done nothing for it since, and I got this in return:

And that's just the new flowers. The okra flowers have been coming fast and furious for weeks and weeks now. Check out these exotic beauties:

And the heat loving melons have a way of showing off too:

OK, garden. I get it. I get it. Summer in Arizona ain't all bad. I'm still looking forward to fall, but I'll try to be less whiny about it. Just don't actually start talking to me, OK?