Monsoon plantings

I haven't posted for a while because in general I consider summer gardening in Arizona to be roughly equivalent to winter gardening in more temperate locations: the weather is not conducive to growing much of anything, and it's unpleasant to be outside for long. However, although it still regularly tops 100 degrees in September, the month marks the beginning of fall planting season.

We actually have three planting seasons here: spring, monsoon, and fall. I planted melons, beans, squash, and okra in midsummer. The beans never came up and the squash is struggling, but the melons and okra are doing very well. The basil that I planted this spring, along with some volunteers I didn't plant, is thriving. I only planted one Japanese eggplant this year because I still have eggplant from last year's bumper crop in the freezer, and I have several volunteer Black Beauty plants as well. They haven't produced much yet, but I expect them to take off later this month.

I actually began my fall planting about a week ago with a row of bush beans, and saw the first plant emerge from the soil today. I'll begin planting peas soon. My plan this year for the peas and beans is to space out the plantings a week or so apart. That works well to space out the harvests, and is also easier on me because it's still very hot, and I don't tolerate heat very well. About fifteen minutes at a time in the summer is about all I can handle!

Here's a link to the vegetable planting calendar for the low desert, and here's a link to a basil pesto recipe I made in our Vitamix. I used pecans instead of pine nuts, and it turned out pretty tasty.

Honeydew melon

Bush beans- planted about a week ago

Basil

Armenian cucumber (really a melon, but tastes like cucumber)

Red okra

Armenian cucumber sprawl

My outdoor thermometer sensor says it's 109 in the shade, but the heat doesn't seem to faze this Armenian cucumber. Not only do the vines sprawl everywhere, but they also continue to set fruit. There's a foot-long cucumber hiding in those vines that wasn't there a few days ago.

Armenian cucumbers are actually in the melon family, but they taste like cucumbers and can be used as such in recipes. I like to chop them up and marinate with olive oil, basalmic vinegar, and fresh basil and/or oregano. Sometimes I add onions or tomatoes if I have some on hand. They don't need peeling and don't taste bitter when they get big.

That's my rescued basil plant cozying up to the Chardonnay bottle in the large pot. I have irrigation in the pot which comes on twice a day, but pots dry out quickly in our summer heat and I've found that wine bottles work well in allowing water to seep out slowly. The new foliage is coming in nice and green rather than mottled, so it apparently likes its new home.

I will survive

In the process of digging holes for the pergola supports, Mike dug up this basil plant and it languished uprooted all night. It was already suffering from some kind of unexplained chlorosis, and was limp and wilted when I found it the following morning. I put it in a pot with holes in the bottom, added potting soil, and stuck it in the streambed. It has perked up considerably since then.

It amazes me what some plants...and people...can go through, and survive while others, who have more advantages and fewer challenges, don't do so well. I think this basil plant is a survivor.

Broccoli, roses, and petunias

This bed off our back patio is bordered by petunias and nasturtiums. The nasturtiums were planted from seed and are up but not blooming yet; the petunias were transplanted in October at the same time as the broccoli transplants behind them. There is also garlic in this bed, but the shoots are only about three or four inches high at this point.

Behind the broccoli are rosebushes which are beginning to bloom again, and asparagus ferns that are beginning to yellow. We'll cut the asparagus back in a couple of weeks, and we usually cut the roses back in January.

To the left is a basil plant which is still going strong. Basil usually lasts here until the first frost, which is always unpredictable. It's could be as early as December or as late as February, or maybe not at all. If and when it comes, and depending on how hard a freeze it is, it may wipe out the nasturtiums as well.

It's also interesting to notice the difference in sun patterns at different times of year. Since this patio is on the north side of our house, it's not possible to take a photo this time of year without at least part of the bed being in shadow.

Hot! Hot! Hot!

We returned from a weekend in cool San Diego to find that the Phoenix summer heat has set in in earnest. 110 degrees, according to our outdoor thermometer. There's not much that can be done in the garden this time of year, other than try to keep things alive.

We're still getting lots of tomatoes from fruit that set before the heat arrived. The new varieties seem to be a definite "go", with larger tomatoes and less evidence of fruit splitting, blossom end rot. Cilantro is dead, but basil is healthy. The zucchini, yellow, and winter squash plants, as well as the melon plants, are still disappointing small for this late in the season. None of the eggplants I attempted to start from seed have survived. but the lone Japanese eggplant planted as a transplant is fruiting prolifically. I'm not too bothered, because I still have eggplant and squash in the freezer from last year's bumper crop. The Armenian cucumber, yardlong beans, and the few zipper cream pea vines that came up look fairly comfortable in their semi-shady location under the lemon tree. Nectarines are beginning to ripen, although the fruits are rather small, and watercress has virtually taken over the streambed between ponds. Zinnias and coreopsis are seemingly unaffected and look great; the marigolds are wilting a bit.

At this time of year, I garden in five-minute intervals. I used the time today to cut down hollyhocks that had ceased to bloom and set the plants aside to dry and become flower mulch. This year we had one deep-red plant that I hope will appear again next year.

Herbs and things

Lowe's had a sale on vegetable and herb pots, so I thought it would be a good time to clean out the Swiss chard and Chinese greens from this area and plant a herb garden in front of the roses in this bed. I planted oregano, parsley, basil, cilantro, and catnip. I thought this would be a good location for these as it is convenient to the kitchen, and will make an attractive foreground planting for the roses. There are also three tomato plants in this bed, and asparagus behind the roses.

The thevetia hedge between this bed and the pool area still hasn't started to leaf out after it took heavy frost damage this winter, so we may have to trim it back further. It's still alive, though, because when scratched with a fingernail we can see green wood.

The tomatoes in this bed look fine, but something happened to to the three I put in a different location. They turned black and wilted overnight...they look like they have been sprayed with Roundup, but we haven't used any in this area.

What not to do with basil

"Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."

This picture shows what you are not supposed to do to basil, or for that matter, most herbs. You're supposed to snip off the flower tops, because letting it go to seed will diminish the quality and flavor of the leaves. I was reminded of that this morning when I read this article on storing and preserving herbs. Fortunately, we typically won't get basil-killing freezing weather in the Phoenix for several more weeks, so if I cut them off now, there's still time for new leaves to sprout.

In our church, we recite the Lord's Prayer each week before communion. Perhaps that's why this thought came to me this morning while I was giving this basil a haircut. Gardens are more forgiving than we as people tend to be. That's fortunate for me, because I make lots of mistakes in gardening.