Saturday, August 22, 2015

Is It Fall Yet?

Like most Arizonians, I'm speculating how long it will take for the fall weather to come. This summer, like all summers, has lasted a long time. It doesn't help that I haven't had much gardening to keep me sane. 

Originally, when I decided I needed to solarize my garden, I thought that I only needed to solarize half of it. After I got the plastic laid down on the front half though, I found the signs of fusarium wilt in plants on the back half. So I pulled out all the plants there too and laid down plastic on the whole vegetable garden. I was most worried about having to transplant my peach tree in the middle of summer, but it seems to have survived the transplant. 


Not much to look at, but alive and kicking at least

With nothing to look at in my vegetable patch but ugly white plastic for a good deal of the summer, I've had to find a way to keep myself occupied. 


What? This isn't a pretty view? 

I have weeded, fixed leaks in the irrigation, planned the fall garden, cleaned and organized my tools in the side yard. I even made a purchase that I've been wanting to make for a very long time. I replaced my little 55 gallon rain barrels with a mammoth 865 rain tank. It's a monster. 


Monsoon season, here I come!

Still, I realized none of this was replacing my need for a few vegis in the backyard. So I bought a big pot at Costco and started a couple of plants on the back patio to tide me over until fall planting season comes around. 


Ah, finally, a touch of green

That big guy is a zucchini plant. The little sprouts on the left are butternut squash seedlings. They aren't much, but hopefully, they'll tide me over. 

Next week, I can finally pull the white plastic off the garden. At that time, I'll plant cover crops over half of it.  The other half, I'll reserve for some seedlings that I have already started inside. (They probably won't be ready to plant until late September, so I'll just have to hang on a little longer.) 

The cover crops won't be vegis, but at least I'll be able to look out my window and see green instead of plastic. It'll be a nice change. With any luck, the weather will change soon too, and I'll be able to get out in the mornings without sweating buckets. A girl can dream, right?