
“If you are going to take a stand in the desert, do not be unsure of your purpose. More than anywhere else that I can think of, this land does not reward partial commitments.”
This quote from the book, How To, edited by Susan McAllister, Jessie Rogers & Wade Patterson, describes gardening in the desert so well. There are no “partial commitments”. You are either all in or all out, as a gardener. With blaring sun and little to no sky water gardening in the desert seems to be quite a feat. And yet with a little tending life prevails.
This is the first year we are using the square foot gardening method. This picture was taken soon after planting earlier this Spring, mid- April.
And here it is now. We have very limited space for our tiny, backyard garden. Just this little fenced in area for one garden bed, a palette herb garden with some containers on top & a small in ground bed to the left.
Vine tomatoes & two zucchini plants are growing well here. There’s also some basil & marigolds in the center of the bed.
We’re harvesting zucchini’s semi regularly now.
The tomatoes are starting to turn from green to rosy. The other day I counted 81!
The basil has given us many a pesto!
We’ve harvested a handful of cucumbers.
There’s something so beautiful about how the cucumber vines find their clingy way.
We have three cantaloupes growing strong.
And some Sunflowers growing along the perimeter of the yard. They thankfully have kept the grasshoppers busy & away (mostly) from the garden.
The pallet herb garden is starting to work after a slow start in the dry heat. We have parsley, sage, a newly planted oregano & basil. And here also is my constant garden kitty companion. I think she loves the garden as much as I do.
The wonderful thing about desert gardening is that we have an extra long growing season. I hope to add more square foot garden beds here and keep them busy year round. Wish me luck!