Gardening in Arizona has been a learning experience. First, it gets very hot, so after trying to find the best spot for my raised beds, (I have moved them twice) I think I may, now, have some success. Now the beds get early morning sun and late afternoon sun, so the seedlings don't fry before they start to grow. And we do have rabbits here and they have munched on all my bean sprouts, so I have replanted twice. Now, as you can see in the top left photo, I have the beans raised up so the bunnies can't nibble.
The top right and the bottom left photo show my beds on the north side of the house. Kale, Swiss Chard and Potatoes are doing well. Beets and zucchini are struggling, but still producing. I have an abundance of beet greens but not much fruit. And the zucchini is doing well enough but I chose a species I had not heard of before and it turns out to be a miniature variety. I have to wait for 10 fruits for one meal. Jeez. I will have to read up on any new varieties I decide to choose here before buying them. I have basil growing well, but have to pick it often. If it gets too high, it starts to fry in the sun. Just like my 6 tomato plants I initially planted on the south side of the house. After yielding 10 tomatoes, they fried up! I lost all but one plant, which is struggling to come back since we moved our planter, (shown on the bottom right photo, right hand side). I tried planting peas twice but much too late. I have to replant in November again, it should be cool enough then to reap some yield.
Had a batch of radishes but they are gone now and I have replanted them again. I also planted cucumbers which I hope will grow up on the trellis. We will see how they do.
All in all, for the little amount of work it takes to maintain these four beds, we are eating two fresh meals of veggies every week, with extra nibbles (green peppers and zucchini) occasionally.
No comments:
Post a Comment