I realize I haven't been very good about posting pictures of the garden. It's still alive! And we were able to harvest some spinach yesterday for dinner. Yummo!
We had to rig some artificial shade a couple weeks ago. I know most of these plants are "full sun", but I think full Arizona sun is different from full sun anywhere else. All the plants had sprouted, but had stopped growing. I think the sun is just too intense. We noticed a remarkable difference in just a couple days after hammering in some metal stake and hanging some burlap over them. Most of the plants started growing like crazy.
I think the zucchini plants are going to outgrow their containers by the time the end of summer rolls around. We'll be eating a lot of zucchini bread.
I'm getting mixed results with my tomatoes and herbs. The basil and cilantro have come up, but aren't growing very fast. And half my tomato plants are going nuts and have green tomatoes growing, while the other two seem stunted.
See these two? It's like they've stopped growing. Not sure what's wrong with them. Any of you expert gardeners out there have any ideas?
5 comments:
COOL! I've been looking forward to the garden updates. All I have to say is "Hello Mrs. GREENTHUMB"! Look at your beautiful budding garden. What an exciting and rewarding thing to live off your land, I can't wait until we have one. You've inspired me!!
P.S. Congrats on Easton's baptism!
your garden looks awesome! :)
Garden looks wonderful! I think the first two years are always the hardest when gardening somewhere new, because you have to discover what works well and what doesn't for you.
For the tomatoes: Miracle Grow and keep the soil moist...that bigger one may be taking most of the water and nutrients. Be sure to feed through the foliage.
Cilantro doesn't like heat...consider bringing it inside and placing it in a window...Cilantro also likes to be crowded with other cilantro plants I've found here in North Texas where it gets hot and humid. It'll last year round with mulching as long as it doesn't get too cold and I keep cutting the top growth so it doesn't flower.
By the way, what kind of soil are you using? I've found a good mix of topsoil and either organic material or potting soil works well, although you may have to experiment with that next year since you've already got everything in place. Pure potting soil was the worst thing I ever used when I first made a raised garden bed, although my onions seem to like it.
One more thing...Sorry! About the zucchini, you may instead of shading it, allow it to have full sun, but instead cover the soil with mulch and water well. It is normal for the plants to wilt a little during the daytime, but if in the morning (say before 10) they are wilted, then water slowy for about fifteen minutes. In fact, I'd add mulch to all the containers if you can. The only set back with shading the plants is that they will produce more green, but less flowers, so they may be growing, but you're not getting higher yields either. Then again, I've never gardened in Arizona.
Have you considered capturing rainwater from, for example house gutters, for use in your garden?
This looks awesome! I'm very impressed!
I just checked out the New Square Foot Gardening book and can't wait to get started. Unfortunately up here our last frost isn't until the end of May!!!
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