a garden az (Phoenix: house, live in, agricultural)

[hexx]

so i live in utah and will be moving to phoenix soon! yay so i was just wondering how to grow tomatoes and that kinda stuff there it seems strange obvious the season would be different than in utah! what itme of the year do you plant?

[Rubee]

You have to amend the soil (or build a raised bed), and plant early in the spring (late Feb/early March) before it gets too hot. In the Phoenix area, in the summer when temperatures start averaging 95+ with full sun, tomatoes will stop setting fruit.

Check out HX Guy's beautiful tomato plants:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...en-update.html

[hexx]

thank you so much

[HX_Guy]

The nice thing is that in Phoenix you have two harvest seasons per year, one in the spring and one in the fall.

[hexx]

wow 2 harvest seasons that is great and makes me really look more foward to moving to az thank you

[joninaz]

A lot of stuff grows here without much effort, especially in the milder months, but it is a learning process... a certain plant might thrive in one part of the yard and hate another. Or it might thrive in the challenging area if you create a microclimate by planting another tree that provides extra shade certain times of the day.

There are even groups who delight in things that have no business growing here.. tropical fruits, bamboo, plumerias, etc. See: http://www.tropicamango.com/links.html (broken link)

[cap1717]

Originally Posted by HX_Guy

The nice thing is that in Phoenix you have two harvest seasons per year, one in the spring and one in the fall.

This is correct. In Phoenix we have two "short" season, growing periods. Amazingly, the varieties that do well in severe winter habitats, tend to do well here, as they are also "short season" varities. Try early girl tomatos and other short season crops. The exception here is winter vegetables, that do quite well when planted in late fall. They may need a bit of frost protection on the coldest nights, but they will produce and produce. Sugar Snap peas are my personal favorite!

[Ponderosa]

Pay attention to what your house is built on if you like to garden. Places like Anthem and Ahwatukee are pretty much rock and gravel and you will need to haul in dirt to build raised beds. Much of the Phoenix area is former agricultural land, though. Areas that are converted farm fields - generally the "flat" areas - have very good soils, though you need amendments and fertilizers. My MIL grew excellent "crops" in Maryvale in the native soils.