Here Comes Summer

Tomatoes are toasting and peppers are roasting . . .  in the garden! To extend the harvest, now is the time to provide some shade for tomato and pepper plants.
This is also the time to harvest your onions and garlic.  I use a spading fork to gently raise them up a bit and then let them set for several days. After that, I shake the soil from the roots and put the fully formed onions and garlic in full shade to 'cure' for about a week. Then its off with their heads! Well, at least the dried leaves anyway. The best way to store garlic is in recycled pantyhose. That's right. Drop a few garlic down into the pantyhose. Work them down to the toe then tie a knot just above the garlic. Drop a few more down the leg and tie another knot. Keep it up until your crop is safely stored with good ventilation. When you need some garlic, just take the scissors and cut the lowest section off just below a knot. Clever, eh what?
How do you store your garden harvest? 

It's Raining! More Or Less.

Monsoon season is here. Wind and rain are the topic of the day. A big hubub over the haboob word caused quite a reaction from a lot of people. Haboob is an Arabic word. It refers to the huge dust storms they have. We have them here too. A lot of folks were upset and said to just call it a dust storm because of the origin of the 'H' word. Origin of the word? Hmm . . then what about Taco and Pina Colada?


Anyway, the rain is pretty much hit and miss as usual. While one part of town is getting a drenching, the other part is enjoying the sunshine. Hopefully we will have a wet monsoon season, we can sure use the water.


Our landscape plants enjoy the rain. A drink of fresh rain water perks them right up. I'm looking forward to more. It cools things down for a day or two which helps in the hot summer temperature.

It's getting Hot

Summer is upon us. The temperature is in the one-hundred-teens. While we spend most of the day inside a cool building or our homes, landscape plants must endure the heat.


Native trees and shrubs have adapted to this environment and can handle the heat. Its the other non-native things like Roses, Hibiscus, Daylily and container plants that take a beating.


Probably the most important way to help all of our plants survive summer is by watering properly. That simply means, water deeply through the entire root system. For established desert adapted shrubs and trees, about once every 7 to 21 days depending on the plant type.


Drip irrigation is the standard method of watering here in the Desert. Water is applied slowly over a long period of time. For small plants, the soil should be watered to a depth of 12 inches. Larger shrubs need the water to soak down 24 inches. Trees take longer to water because the water needs to wet the soil to a depth of 24 to 36 inches. Seems like a lot of water. Not really. All desert adapted plants need to be watered deeply but infrequently.


Well meaning people waste a lot of water by overwatering their Xeriscape (low water) plants.


Its the 'other' non-desert adapted plants that we need to watch carefully at this time of year. Miss one watering and some plants will crisp right up in a day. Watering deeply once every 3 to 7 days might be necessary. Container plants might need watering every 1 to 3 days depending on what type they are.