Gardening 101

I am new to the gardening world. But after visiting the vegetable and flower gardens of two friends, Jill and Leslie, I knew I needed to have my own. Not to live off the land of course, but to have the experience and educate myself on the process. Of course, having organically grown vegetables and herbs in my own backyard is a nice reward.

So the first thing I did was to hire my friend to start the process. Jill Green's Sweet Life Garden got me started. Jill and her husband Hal designed and created my two 4 x 4 garden plots. Hal described the soil as, "the soil from hell." Lovely. But after the garden boxes were built, soil amended, and vegetables and herbs planted, I started seeing some results.

First came the fragrant basil and thyme. Then the zuchinni and the crookneck squash. Tomatoes didn't fare so well. And I had to end the whole thing before the red peppers ripened (more on that later.)

But I loved checking on the garden early every morning to look for ripened vegetables or to snip herbs. And I loved giving the goods to friends who put them to use. The gardens are dormant right now as the soil is being baked or solarized in the intense heat. It is supposed to be great for the soil so I will do without any homegrown vegetables until this fall. Can't wait to see what works and what doesn't in the Arizona fall heat!