January in the Garden

Thank you for coming to my newest blog. As it has been most of my life...I love starting things and hate the follow through. So as a new years resolution I am working on the discipline of finishing the things I have started in 2007. It's quite a list and something I am sure I won't finish.

This blog will be dedicated mostly to the garden. This past fall I took a master gardening class and learned some specific things to growing a garden in the low desert climate and I would like to share them with you. In the same respect please share with me...I took a class but you all have more actual experience in the garden so please share your experiences with me.

As many people in phoenix I'm a transplant. And when I was transplanted here I thought that there was no way to garden here...with this hot sun what could survive? Well to my surprise I can, and many yummy fruits and veggies, beautiful flowers, and some of the coolest cacti specific to our region of the world can too.

Before I jabber on too much let me tell you all the fun things that can be planted as seeds in January.
Beets
broccoli
brusselprouts
cabbage
carrots
cauliflower
chives
collards
endive
kale
leek
head lettuce
leaf lettuce
mustard
onion
parsley
parsnip
potatoes
radish
rutabaga
spinach
swiss chard
turnip

A lot to choose from right? For right now I am assuming you have amended your soil and have a garden that you are working in. But don't worry if you don't. My first attempt at gardening was 2 years ago when I took a spoon and planted corn straight into the ground near an automatic dripper. I didn't add anything to the ground or even dig very deep and got two ears of sweet corn. There are no rules to gardening so if you want to plant something on the list without much prep try it. But I will be doing a soil post soon. I have a beautiful above ground garden that my friend steve built for me in the middle of august. I need to fill it with dirt..and I will send along what I learn.

Before I go, here are a few tips for freezing temperatures although this seems to be a bit of a warm winer.

The best advice is to keep you plants watered. They will stay warmer and withstand cooler temps if they are properly watered (NOT OVER WATERED). The reason is because when the soil around the tree is kept moist, it will not radiate as much heat to the atmosphere at night.

It can also be effective to use Christmas lights to give off just a little bit of heat to keep the edge off.


I wish you well this 2008 and look forward to learning what you all are doing. Please take pictures and send them my way.

Happy Gardening!