Dorothy's Garden May 2011

This has been a wonderful spring for a very productive garden here in Phoenix. It is now June 10th and I'm harvesting peaches, tomatoes, eggplant, garlic and onions. Still picking a handful of stringbeans almost every day, but the snow peas have been done in by the heat and sun. The new squash patch has been so productive we've had to give a lot away as well as freeze grated zucchini for future bread making. Found a delicious recipe that includes orange zest and cloves and it really makes a delicious loaf. Had a crop of about 25 artichokes this year - most we've ever had.

The fruit trees came through the frost OK as far as the peaches are concerned but we got only four apricots. The smaller citrus trees didn't fare as well with the frost, but fortunately our two older trees did very well. We enjoyed fresh oranges for several months. Planted some new citrus trees along our front driveway by trimming back the Texas Sage plants. As the trees grow the sage will be cut back more. Decided we couldn't eat the sage. Also planted an almond tree. Have a fair pomegranate crop and four apples this year. High hopes for 2012.

Tom has everything on automatic sprinklers or drip so that has made it a lot easier for me to keep everything watered. Love Mel's mix. It has served me well for three years now just by adding compost when I replant. I do give the tomatoes and some other plants extra fertilizer.

Double click on any picture, enlarge the picture and view the slide show.

Haven't had time to post to my blog for a long time. We've been enjoying the vegetables from the garden for the past couple of months (carrots, onions, chard, asparagus, snow peas, lettuce, chives, and kohlrabe). There are a lot of pictures of flowers in my garden that I hope you will also enjoy. Last falls slide show has been moved to the side. Just click on any picture to see the garden in larger pictures with captions. You might have to set the interval to a longer time. The very cold spell we had in Arizona in February was hard on my garden. Lost some plants that had carried over the winter. My very prolific ichiban eggplant and a tomato vine that had tomatoes ready to ripen. I've replanted the eggplant and tomatoes and added squash, snow peas, beans, onions, garlic, bell and hot peppers. Added cilantro this year, also. Found a tire dealer that gave me two tires, so I just planted my potato starts in them for fun. Our navel oranges were so good and sweet this year that we have added more citrus trees out in the front yard. The fig tree is loaded with the first crop of the season (which is the biggest and best compared to the fall crop). Now just have to keep the birds out of the tree as they ripen. Our apricot and plum trees did not set fruit but five out of the six peach trees are in various stages. We should have peaches from late May through July. Really did a lot of thinning of the peaches. It will be worth it as they will be larger. One apple tree is setting fruit and the pomegranate tree is loaded with blossoms. I've been more careful about trimming and fertilizing the trees this year. Plan to keep every tree under six feet tall. The artichoke plants are huge but not producing, don't know what I did wrong. Haven't tried melons this year. I keep planting root crops such as: carrots, beets and radishes, as the heat doesn't seem to bother them. May not save much money, but the fresh vegetables taste so much better fresh from the garden. Enjoy your gardens!!!