American Gothic, Swartz style

George and Jeannie - drawing by son Eric

The summer garden is long gone. It was a grand adventure, fun, and a real learning experience. Will we do it again? You bet! But changes will have to be made. What we won't plant again: cantelope, strawberries, and peppers. We'll have less room in our Spring garden as the winter garlic and shallots will not be ready to harvest until June. But we should have room enough to plant tomatoes, green beans, squash, radishes, and eggplant.

I received my first Burpee catalog in many years this week, and hope to get together with George and Jeannie soon to discuss what we'll plant.

Sending a great big THANK YOU to G & J for their help, friendship, and contribution of the garden plot. Love you guys!

Zucchini and yellow squash plants

We are now in the "But it's a DRY heat," phase of living in Tucson. Temperatures have reached 100 degrees pretty consistently so far this month. No sign of an early monsoon season, so we are watering the garden every two days now.

Watching our squash plants make me feel a bit like Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. They have tripled in size since I took the photos on May 26th! We have begun harvesting the zucchini and crook-neck squash, as well as some eggplant. The bush beans are still producing, but seem to be slowing down a bit. Their leaves dry out easily, and I wonder if the higher temperatures will do them in. The cherry tomato plants don't seem to be doing very well, but are still giving us a few tomatoes. The rest of the tomato plants are doing well, and are full of fruit. We're having a bit of trouble with blossom end rot (a watering problem?, possibly too much nitrogen?), but there are more healthy fruit than not. We have three cantelope plants that have finally made it. Two have baseball-size fruit on them.

Last night I made a lovely casserole with veggies from the garden. What a thrill! I used eggplant, green and yellow squash, tomatoes, and peppers from the garden. I diced all, and sauteed them with an onion in some olive oil. I layered the cooked veggies with some home-made toasted bread cubes, and shredded cheese. (I had Gruyere and Cheddar in the house so used that. I think you could use any kind of cheese with equal success.) There was enough to make two nice layers. It was baked in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees. Yum! I will definitely make that again.

While in NY, my brother gave me some New Zealand spinach seeds. (not a true spinach) I'm in the process of germinated them. It's been about 20 days, and still no sign of anything! :( This plant produces leaves that look and taste like spinach, and happily it thrives in the heat. So, I am anxious for them to get going. I hope they make it.

During this "lazy" period of gardening (what work is there except to harvest?), I think about a winter garden. Real spinach, lettuces, garlic... I suppose I better get serious about a plan, but I think it can wait a while. Right now, I am going to enjoy the fruits of our labor and pray the coming monsoon rains don't wreak havoc with our plants.

One of the Chili Arbol pepper plants

A close-up - lots of HOT chilis on the way!

A harvest of squash

Veggies that went into my casserole

Our first cantelope!

Plum tomatoes

Another long gap in the blog. Sorry. May brought illness, a trip to NY, and more illness, so I am just now catching up. The garden didn't really need much except for water anyway. George and Jeannie were good about making sure the plants had enough water while I was gone. I told them to eat up anything that was ready for harvesting, so they enjoyed radishes and our first crop of beans!

Before I left for NY, we got our first bunch of radishes. They were delicious and quite spicy! It's probably too late to put in more seeds now as it's quite warm. Perhaps in September we can have more.

The temperatures edged up into the 90's this month, and did wonders for the garden. I couldn't believe how all the plants had grown during the 12 days I was away. I was pleased to see the eggplants with many lavender blossoms, the pepper plants had some peppers, the squash had quadrupled in size and were full of lovely yellow blossoms, and the tomatoes were huge with many little tomatoes on their way to our plates! The two cherry tomato plants turned out to be yellow cherries, and we've eaten about a dozen already. George suggested we plan a dinner night together when we can harvest enough different veggies to make a good meal for four. Sounds like fun!

May 25, 2010 - East end of garden showing squash, eggplant, and peppers

May 25, 2010 - Amazing change!

A harvest of beans and cherry tomatoes

Some of the tomato plants

Look at that squash plant!

Our first harvest of radishes

A SNAKE! Yikes! I never imagined a snake would enter our garden (but slivering up the hardware cloth and going over the fence), much less getting itself tangled up in the bird netting surrounding the strawberry plants! It was a Blue Racer according to Alex. Not poisonous, thankfully. But it can bite. He and George tried to cut it out and found it had cuts and slices in its sides from trying to get itself untangled. They weren't sure it would survive, but they continued to work on freeing it.

Success! The snake was freed and it took off. But, damn, if it didn't come right back again and get tangled again the next day. George found it this time and said it was barely alive. He said he gave it a good Christian burial after he finally got it out of the netting. Poor thing!

My update is long overdue, I know. My apologies to anyone who is actually reading this on a regular basis. There's a lot to catch-up on.

My elation over the germination of more squash seeds was very short-lived. No others germinated, and we had only one cantelope seed sprout - a very poor showing. Our pepper plants were not doing well either. There was little growth, and several leaves were yellowing or had dropped. I did a bit of research on the Internet about pepper plants and found that they are somewhat sensitive (you can water too much, or not enough, and get similar problems. I learned that they can develop root rot, which can be prevented by adding crushed egg shells (for the calcium) just underneath the root ball when transplanting into the garden. I had eggs for breakfast the next day!

Last Friday I went to Home Depot for new pepper plants, and to see if they had any squash plants, which, thankfully, they did. They were small, newly sprouted plants, but that was all they had. After hearing from another nursery man that "no one will have squash plants anymore," I figured I better take what I could get. I found a good variety of pepper plants to choose from, and picked some mild and some hot ones. I also bought another package of radish seeds. Next morning, George and I put everything in the ground. remembering to add some crushed egg shells under each pepper plant.

We also side-dressed the tomato plants with fertilizer, as it had been 4 weeks since they went in the ground. Then we put in more radish seeds - George using the new package on one end, and I used the old package on the other end of the radish patch. Finally, everything got a big drink of water.

At home last Saturday, I decided to try sprouting cantelope and watermelon seeds in peat pots for later transplant in the garden. They still haven't sprouted yet. I'm beginning to think the seeds were old and shouldn't have been sold. (note to self: don't go back to that nursery - same guy who said no one would have squash plants, so I bought his squash seeds, which didn't well either.)

What a learning experience we are having with this first garden! The next day all the squash plants we put in looked dead! The only thing I can think of is that the roots were damaged as we separated the 3-plants-per-pot. I decided immediately that I would try the Silverbell Nursery not far from our home to see if they had bigger squash plants. They did, and I bought 6 zucchini and 6 yellow crook-neck. Next morning before work, I put them all in the ground, adding more good garden soil/compost, then put a layer of burlap over each hill of squash to keep in the moisture. We were expecting hot and windy days, which can quickly dry out a "hill."

I was careful to water the newly transplanted vegetables and the radish bed daily and in the evening if it was dry. It only took about 3 days for the radish seed to begin sprouting. Guess which ones sprouted and which ones didn't? You got it! The new seeds from Home Depot that George put in are going wild. We are lucky to see 3 new sprouts from the older seeds.

Here it is May 1, and the new peppers and squash plants are looking great! I've got all my fingers and toes crossed. Some lucky gardener will get to pick another ripe strawberry this weekend. And Alex is sure he'll finish the irrigation this weekend. I hope to get more photos this weekend to post soon. Stay tuned.

Yee Haw! Upon inspection at 5 p.m. today, we now have 5 squash sprouts and one cantelope!

This was a interesting week for the garden. Some of the radish seeds sprouted - a rather poor showing I thought. Only one squash seed has managed to sprout, and none of the melons! The pepper plants are looking poorly - some leaves have yellowed and fallen off, and there doesn't seem to be any growth, despite that fact that there are two small peppers growing on a pair of plants. The eggplants aren't growing much either. However, the strawberries, beans and tomatoes are doing just fine. The two cherry tomato plants even have a few small tomatoes already!

I've had a look on the Internet to find out what could be wrong with the peppers and eggplants. There are various causes for what I see, but I'm going to guess that there is a problem with drainage and maybe overwatering. Most likely, I will replace the plants after working on the soil in that area again. I'll put in more radish seeds this week, I hope. I may also purchase squash plants (I saw some at Home Depot this weekend.) if we don't see any more seeds sprouting. I'm not sure what I want to do about the melons. I will discuss with G & J.

We hope to get Isabel and Raoul back over to have a look at the garden. I'm guessing that they will have lots more advise to offer.

Alex and I worked this weekend on getting the irrigation tubing layed in, and the main tube hooked into the control box. Everything seems to be working fine. All that's left to do is to put the small drip lines in (3 per plant) and set the timer. We're planning on 75 gallons of water per 100 sq ft once per week. The Arizona Agricultural Extension web site suggests between 65 - 130 gallans per 100 sq ft. We'll adjust as needed when the temperatures rise.

I bought some burlap and but it into square pieces. Then we fit these around each plant stem laying the material on the ground. This will help keep the earth moist and cut down on weeds. At the end of the growing season, we can just turn the burlap into the ground if we want to.

I also got some bird blocking cloth. Alex cut some wood to make a simple cage around the strawberries. Then we covered it with the cloth and used some pegs and rocks to hug it to the ground. This should end our strawberry-picking bird raids!

The first of our radishes sprouting.

Our very first little cherry tomatoes!

It's all starting to look so official.

Our irrigation control box and extra faucet.

Yesterday morning while out watering, I noticed that one of the strawberries was bright red! Today I see that a bird has helped himself to it. Ate it half-way through. I can't grudge the bird a tasty morsel like that, but he at least could have finished the whole thing!

I'll have to do something about that problem.

Near dusk yesterday, I noticed some birds flying off from the area of the garden, so I took a quick peak to see what was up. It was difficult to tell if they had done anything, but it looked like they were using the newly turned earth to bathe in. Birds around here love to do that. They sit in the ground, spread their wings, and then flutter around until their bellies have created a shallow bowl in the ground. I hurried home to find some ribbon, then tied several long strands of it along the trellis. I was hoping this would scare the birds away should they return. It's a pretty lame idea, but I was desperate to keep them away from the seeds we just planted.

Alex Googled up some items for scaring off birds. We'll have to consider these if birds become a real problem.

This morning, I went back to the garden as is my new habit. I watered the seeds and looked around for signs of intruders - either flying or earth-bound. All looked good. I took a rake to the area I suspected the birds would have an interest in, so that when I returned home from work, I could tell if the birds had been in there. Happily, there was no trace of birdy bathing at 5 p.m.!

It was a windy day, and some of the ground looked to have dried out a lot. Tomorrow morning will be deep watering day.

Out by 7:30 a.m. this morning. George and Jeannie arrived shortly thereafter. First order of business was breaking up the small section near the fence so we could extend the area for the melons. George tore into the now hard ground with the pick. Jeannie and I raked and shoveled and picked out the rocks. Then we added organic compost, bone meal and blood meal. After the area was smoothed out, we focused on the squash hills. We made 6 small mounds and sowed about 4 -5 seeds in each - 3 with yellow summer squash and 3 with zuchini squash. Then the melon seeds went in - one row of watermelon and one row of cantelope.

George and Jeannie put in the wire trellis along the row of watermelons. George plans to add some stakes to strengthen and stabilize the trellis. After watering all the newly sowed seeds, we called it a day.

During our work today we talked about our garden philosophy. I asked about how much G & J were concerned about the outcome/productivity of our garden, and reminded them that I am a worry wart. Beautiful folks that they are, they assured me that it doesn't matter - they are in it for the process. They are enjoying the experience, the exercise, and the social aspects. I wholeheartedly agree. It's been a lot of fun even though we've all worked hard. We all share the sweet anticipation of biting into our first fresh veggie! Yum!

The tomato plants are doing great!

My hanging herb garden is doing well. I'm growing basil, oregano, sage, thyme, cilantro, rosemary, and mint.

I got out to the garden today at around 8 a.m. The neighbors orange tree, in full bloom, was perfuming the air sweetly, the sun was shining, and all was well with the garden. Our unknown creature managed to dig out his holes just a bit, but there was no sign of entry in the garden.

G & J stopped by to say hello on their way out. They have a wedding today, and their son Eric is in town for that. They will be busy all day, and I wish them much happiness visiting with their son. They said they will meet me in the garden tomorrow sometime around 7 a.m.

I managed to replace one pepper plant (we now have a serrano chili pepper plant), dig a spot to plant the radish seeds and got them in the ground, and worked on the area where we will finish 6 squash "hills" and plant melon seeds. That section looked a bit lower then the rest of the garden, so I raked some dirt over and added more organic compost that I had in the garage. There were still a lot of small rocks, so I spent time getting those out of the garden. I worked until I could do no more, leaving the garden at 11 a.m. A nice nap and several aspirins are definitely scheduled for the afternoon. I will take more photos tomorrow when all is completed.

This weekend the plan is to replace one pepper plant that is not doing well, turn over another small section of the garden, and plants some seeds (Squash, melon, radishes). We learned during our visit to the "Green Things" nursery that squash plants can't be had at this time, and that we'll have to grow from seed. I was also told that now isn't the time to plant garlic or green onions.

I visited the garden every morning this past week, and watered when necessary. Alex worked more on the drip system yesterday, but it's not finished yet. So I'll continue with hand watering as needed.

We noticed that we might have some creature trying to dig into the garden. It's making some very small holes (about and inch and a half wide) near the fence. I'm not sure what it is yet. It can be anything from a tarantula to a ground squirrel. We'll be on the alert.

Happy Easter, everyone!

I knew I was going to feel every muscle in my body today from all the bending, squatting, etc. in the garden yesterday. But I was not prepared for how much! Wow! Time for some stretching and a massage.

Today Alex started working on the irrigation project to water the garden. He's drilling through our wall to run the irrigation from our spicket. He'll put a timer control on the line so all will run automatically. I'm glad about that, as getting water to the plants early in the morning before the intense summer sun rises will be more efficient and beneficial to the plants.

The project will take a few days, so in the mean time, we will use our hoses to water the garden.

We've got clear skies today. George, Jeannie, and I headed out to our local nursery this morning for our BIG purchase! We took the pick-up, as we all envisioned the bed of the truck covered in plants by the time we were finished. Alex was off on his weekly visit with his aged father.

We bought Roma and cherry tomatoes, eggplants, strawberries, bush beans (they DID have plants afterall!), Ancho chili peppers, Chile de Arbol peppers, and garlic bulbs - a last minute request from George. The nursery owner told us it was too early for melons and squash, so we will come back in a few weeks for those.

We also learned from him that the hotness of peppers is effected by the amount of sun they get and by how much water the plant receives just prior to harvesting. Plants in more direct sun light will produce a spicier pepper. If you want to turn down the heat on your peppers, water the plants very well before you harvest. If the peppers are allowed to dry out some on the plant, the heat intensifies.

We paid for our plants and were ready to go. We all got a good laugh at how small our purchase looked. It all could easily have fit in the trunk of my car with room to spare.

As soon as we got home, we unloaded the plants and got to work. First we marked the spots for all the plants. In doing so, we realised that we measured incorrectly. The garden is only 15 x 18, not the 18 x 18 we planned on. I'm not sure how that happened, but it did. So, I will spend some time trying to reconfigure the garden over the next few days. But for now, we are going with what we have and getting our plants in the ground. We worked some fertilizer into the first few inches of the ground, then set off to digging our holes. Actually, George and Jeannie did most of the digging, and I put all the plants in the ground. As I didn't know where the garlic should go, we left that aside for another day.

George put in a few pavers to create a pathway through the garden. They look good, George! It took us several hours to complete the job, and I was very glad we didn't have any squash or melons to put in. My back was feeling over-used, and I feared for what was to come in a day or two. We gave all the plants a good drink of water, and were getting ready to go have a bowl of George's famous homemade chicken soup, when Alex pulled in.

He asked if he could help, so I tasked him with putting the Rabbit Scram around the perimeter of the fence. We will all cross our fingers and hope that stuff works.

George's soup was delicious! I ate it heartily, then went home to take some aspirin and a long rest. I slept until 5 p.m.

Although the clouds rolled in this morning and the air was cool, we didn't see a drop of rain today. I called a few nurseries to find out what they carried in vegetable plants, and what their hours were. Seems like they all have what we need - except they all say that you cannot buy bush bean plants. Bush beans grow too fast, they say, so no one likes to carry them. They carry the seeds, so we will get those.

My goodies from Gardeners Supply came today. The new gloves fit nicely, and the special kneeling cushion felt very good when I tried it out.

I just learned that each April, the National Gardening Association (NGA), sponsors National Garden Month to encourage individuals to garden. The organization encourages everyone to join in this monthly celebration to make “America a greener, healthier, more livable place.” One of the newest trends to hit the gardening world, they say, is yard sharing. How cool is that? I feel so hip.

The forecast calls for rain Thursday and Friday morning. I hope we won't get too wet when out purchasing our plants on Friday. Saturday is planting day! Yee Hah!

I worry - about everything. It's my nature, unfortunately. My new worry? Will we spend more money on this garden than it's worth? We'll need some way to measure our success. I'm going to propose to G & J that once we start harvesting, we keep a scale and notebook handy to weigh everything we pick. At the end of the harvest, we can then get total weight for each type of vegetable, multiply that by current store prices to calculate value. We will also find out how successful each vegetable was in our garden, and make a decision as to whether or not we will replant using different methods, or skip that veggie next time around.

During the last week, George completed work on the fence. All the posts are cemented in and the hardware cloth attached. He extended the cloth six inches down below ground level to keep the rabbits out. But I'm not entirely convinced that this will be a successful deterrent.

Last night at dinner we were talking with our sister-in-law, a former Tucsonan, who grew several vegetable gardens here. She told us that she also tried the below-the-ground fence, but it never worked. After trying various depths of fencing, she finally tried digging a deep trench and filling it with cement. That worked! I don't think we want to add that kind of work to the project at this point. There has to be some alternatives.

I found some reinforcements in a gardening catalogue. So, I just ordered two items from Gardener's Supply Company - Liquid Fence and Rabbit Scram. The Liquid Fence is a potent spray made from organic garlic and eggs. The Rabbit Scram is a granular substance containing garlic, clove and "fear-inducing" dried blood. The latter will get sprinkled around the perimeter of the garden once per month. The spray is supposed to be very smelly, and I'll use it only if the other doesn't keep the "wascally wabbits" out of the garden. The spray is also supposed to deter deer, which is good as we occasionally see mule deer in the yard.

It's time to get serious again about the garden. Today I ordered myself some new garden gloves and a comfy "kneeler" to make planting easier on my knees. I also ordered some organic tomato fertilizer, foam twist ties, and seed tape (for the beets, onions, and radishes). Using seed tape feels a bit like cheating, but for this first garden, I'm OK with cutting corners a bit. After all, we are all still getting our feet wet. Plus, laying out the tape will be much more back-friendly.

George and Jeannie came over for the steak and beer dinner I promised, and to look at the layout of the garden. Everyone seemed to like the layout, so it's a go! Jeannie and I will go out together to purchase the plants sometime around April 1st.

We had a fun evening and hope to have regular garden dinner meetings.

Upon return from work today, I saw George in his yard, waving me over. He wanted me to see that he had the fence together and standing up. The posts weren't cemeted in yet, but it was standing. Oh joy!

It's Monday, and time to return to my real job. So I'll get a rest from the garden, likely for about a week. Jeannie turned in the remaining amendments yesterday, so that job is finished. When I returned home from work, I found George working on the fence.

He's reconfiguring it a bit to deal with the concrete footing of the walls. Once it's up, we'll have to work on attaching the mesh hardware cloth to the fence, being sure to extend it at least 6 inches below the ground to keep out the burrowing animals.

Jeannie called this evening to let me know that her friend is offering up some tomato plants she grew from seed - romas and a firm slicing tomato. We'll want to check the variety to see if they're well-suited for Tucson, but I'm guessing this experienced gardener knows what she is doing and the plants will be just fine.

I'm getting more excited about this garden every day! I can't wait to bite into my first freshly picked tomato! I remember doing that as a kid. My mother had a few organic gardens back in her day (imagine that! - we're talking the 60's). There's just nothing like the flavor of a home-grown tomato.

I forgot to mention that I purchased some herb seedlings on Saturday for my "hanging gardens." I bought: basil, oregano, sage, cilantro, and mint. I was pretty successful last year with my hanging pots. I grew and dried basil and oregano. I also tried rosemary and thyme, which didn't do as well. Those two plants are still growing, though, so I hope I can coax them into producing a better harvest this year. What with my new green thumb, and all, how can they fail?

First things first, though. I still need to get them potted. Maybe this week after work I can find the time.

There's nothing better than a cool 67 degrees when facing a few hours of digging! Alex and I headed over to the garden to turn in the compost and manure after a long and leisurely breakfast (today is his birthday!). G & J were leaving just as I walked out of the garage. They were going to buy some wood posts to get the fence started.

The earth was still pliable and moist, which made the work a lot easier. The sun was shining, but the air was cool and delightful. We got to work in separate corners of the garden. After a while, Alex suggested a tag-team approach. We worked opposite each other - he doing the first turn, then me following with a second, and sometimes third turn for a thorough mix. I couldn't keep up with him, so he'd come back and help me. We took breaks every couple of rows, but after two hours of shoveling, our backs were giving out. So, we called it day, and headed for home and the bottle of aspirin. We finished only 2/3 of the garden, and hoped that George and Jeannie might be able to finish the remaining area.

When I heard G & J come home, I headed back over with my 3-ring binder. They were working on digging post holes and turning in the amendments. We decided to get together for dinner sometime soon, so we can look over the garden plan. My place this time. "Steak and beer," was the call from George. Sounds good to me!

Before we headed out to buy the amendments for the garden, I perused the Internet for any wisdom I could glean from local Tucson gardeners. There are a number of good sites out there that offer great advice, so I bookmarked a bunch of them to revisit as needed. I found one web page that offered up free mulching, delivered free right to your yard.

I decided we'd head out to Home Depot and read the bags of manure and compost to see what they suggest for quantities. We ended up buying 6 bags of organic compost and 18 bags of steer manure. We bought the organic, deordorized type (and thank goodness for that! It still smelled pretty ripe.) All were deposited at the garden site, and I left to continue on my shopping expeditions (birthday present for Alex and a dress for upcoming wedding). Alex opened all the bags, and spread the contents on top of the ground. George arrived shortly before Alex finished, so helped him spread the rest of it. They discussed options for the fencing, and then hauled off all the tree branches that were cut down on Day 1.

Tomorrow we will all get out there and turn the amendments into the ground, then give it a good watering. We'll have the next two weeks to complete the fencing. We are still aiming at the end of the month to place our first plants in the ground.

This evening I got some graph paper and began to organize the garden plot. Since I heard from Alex, that I'm the brains of the operation, I figured I better make the veggie choices, look at the growing season (number of days to maturity) for each, and plow ahead (no pun intended). It didn't take long to come up with a nice arrangement. We'll grow several varieties of tomatoes and peppers, bush beans, watermelon, summer squash (to be followed by winter squash), beets (to be followed by green onions), and eggplants. I've reserved a small section of the plot for some herbs, even though I will continue with my own "hanging herb garden" on my back patio. I'll show the plan to G & J tomorrow.

I collected all my Internet print-outs, notes, and other garden booklets and put them in a 3-ring binder. I learned long ago - 1978, in fact - that keeping a garden journal is very useful. I still have my journal from the large gardens I grew in Lindenhurst, Long Island in the spring/summers of 1978 and 1979. Alex was quite intrigued, and asked if he could read it.

I have to take back what I said about Alex. He informed me this morning that he plans to put in some hours helping us turn over the earth tomorrow. Nonetheless, I decided to get out there again today to get in my garden exercise.

I put in about 1.5 hours of work before noon. George had already been out there, but was nowhere in site during my time in the garden. Today I found a small lizard and some fat, white grubs when I dug close to the back wall. I figure the grubs are hanging around the roots of the California Pepper tree that lives on the other side. I hope they won't be a problem. I'll talk to George about staying at least a foot away from the wall. I also found some patches of thick clay. It was tough digging through that stuff, but I was able to break it up. There were a lot of rocks to pick out of the ground today, so lots of bending. The work tired me out, and the sun was getting pretty strong as I was out till almost 11:30 a.m. Time to call it a day, so I went home.

After a bite to eat and a shower, I headed out to do some errands, and found George back in the garden. He said he was determined to finish the ground turning today. I let him know that Alex would be out tomorrow to lend a hand and talk about the fence. Alex has some ideas for putting it together. I'm staying out of the fence business, and let the guys do their thing.

Upon my return home about 3:30, George was still outside, but had finished turning the earth. George told me that he dug up 3 tarantulas and a lizard. Taruntulas live in the ground, and must have had a home below the garden. I was horrified to hear this, and wondered how close I came to getting up close and personal with one of the beasts. George said it was good luck to find them in the garden. I hope he's right, but still very happy HE was the one to find them. Anyway, George removed them from the garden to another part of his yard.

All that remains is to add the amendments, and level out the soil. Then we'll let it rest for 2 weeks. Alex and I will buy the steer manure and organic compost tomorrow morning.

I won't be able to work on the garden today. I take my grandson to guitar lessons after school, and we won't return home until 6:30, but I have high hopes to get a lot done tomorrow on my day off. George plans to take the day off also, so maybe we'll get to the store and buy our amendments.

We had a nice cool, sunny day today. When I came home from work, I found George out in the garden area working on piecing together the fence. He said he will finish the fence this weekend. I brought my pitch fork over, and continued with turning the earth. The rains over the last two days soften the ground nicely, and made my job a lot easier. George joined me with his pick after finishing the fence puzzle. We talked about getting the "amendments" for the garden in the next few days to add to the soil. That is the term that Raoul used for things like manure and compost. I like it. If the Constitution doesn't meet the needs of the people - we add amendments. Likewise, if the soil isn't suitable for growing vegetables, just add some admendments!

Alex peaked over the wall to watch the activity for a while. He won't get much closer than that to a shovel or pitch fork. He's the first to admit that he was "in it for the food" when he attended the garden breakfast on Saturday. He'll also tell you he has a "black thumb," and I have to say, I think he's right. Case in point - our Dr. Seuss trees. They used to be mesquites. Now they look like the perfect trees for a scary movie. He does enjoy getting out in the yard to hack away at "the vegetables," which in his book is anything with roots, to get some exercise. I think it's great, really. And the Dr. Seuss trees are also a great addition to my Halloween decorations every year.

Our Dr. Seuss Trees

Rain! We love it in Tucson, as we see it so rarely. But it sure is impeding our progress with preparing the ground. It's been raining off and on for the last two days. But, for that I will be thankful, as it will make turning the ground much easier. Today, I learned from George that the garden will be fenced in this weekend. He's as anxious as I am to get things planted by the end of the month. Hopefully, we'll have a break in the rain for an all-out pitch-fork fest this weekend.

I thought I'd wake up stiffer and in pain from all of the raking yesterday. Thankfully, that was not the case. I guess the two aspirins before bed helped.

The morning forecast said there's a 70% chance of rain, so I thought I'd get out early to start turning over the soil. I downed another two aspirin, and waited until after 9 a.m. to avoid waking up George and Jeannie with any sounds from my pitchfork (and mild groaning). I worked for about an hour and was only able to complete a 5' by 5' section of the garden.

I was surprised at how soft and "dirt-like" the ground was. I'm so accustomed to the very rocky and compacted crud in my yard, that this was a bit of heaven. I remember fondly how rich and brown the soil was on Long Island when I grew my garden there! Ah well. We've got something good to start with right here, and I will be very happy!

I don't expect to get many chances to return to the garden during the week, but if the weather (and my body) cooperate, I will try to do more work some afternoons after work. If not, I'll return on the weekend.

Alex and I met with our neighbors, George and Jeannie Favela at their home for breakfast to discuss our new adventure in gardening. Jeannie’s sister Isabel and her husband Raoul were there to lend their expertise. We enjoyed a delightful and delicious breakfast, as well as some pleasant conversation.

After eating, we went outside to decide on a location and size for the garden. We chose the south-western corner of the property that is enclosed on two sides by our wall. We will enclose the garden on the other two sides with some kind of fencing that includes a gate that swings outward. The fence will be covered with hardware cloth that goes below the ground 6 inches. This, we hope, will keep out the burrowing creatures. At this time, Raoul recommended that we not bother with trying to cover the area overhead. He didn’t think that intrusions from birds would be a big bother, but we can revisit that concept if needed.

The size of the plot is 18 x 19 feet. This will give us enough room to have paths through the garden and plant many different vegetables. The earth will first be turned/tilled to a depth of 10” to one foot. Then it will be enriched with a mixture of steer manure and organic compost, sulfur, and possibly soil conditioner. The earth should be left unplanted for a time (how long?) so that the manure can break down some and not “burn” the young plants.

Raoul suggested that we start with the following vegetables.

• Tomatoes - varieties to try: cherry, celebrity, early girl, roma, red pear
• Squash – bush type only (vine types are susceptible to boring insects)
• Melon – yellow-flesh watermelon (best against the wall)
• Ambrosia cantelope
• Jumano melon (seeds from Native Seeds)
• Eggplants
• Basil
• Bush beans (must be in no later than end of March)
• Yoeme pole beans (seeds from Native Seeds)

Other suggestions/info from Raoul:

• We can use soaking hoses that wind through the rows of the garden. (what about an old-fashioned oscillating sprinkler?)
• In mid-summer, we will probably need to water every-other-day.
• We can sprinkle Mesquite Valley Growers’ fertilizer on the earth and rake in before we put in each plant. (They make their own.)

We spent about an hour raking out the large rocks from the plot, trimming tree branches that were in the way, and making a rock border around the area.

We must meet again soon to discuss the financial aspects of the project, and come up with a rough schedule of what needs to be done when so that we can make the most of the upcoming growing season.

It was a great start to the project, and a nice time was had by all.