gardening resources
Having recently moved here (Phoenix) from the Pacific Northwest, where it seems like everyone + their brother/mother/neighbor/barista gardens, its a surprise to find that we’re among the few, at least among the regulars that we know, that garden fairly passionately. Oh, I’m sure that there are a lot out there, its just that we don’t seem to know very many. We do, however, seem to know a lot of people who are interested in starting to garden, or adding some new veggies to their repetoire. Lately people have been asking us where we get our gardening information- so we thought we’d share some of our favorite gardening resources:
The best thing we’ve found for growing in the desert is a vegetable growing calendar published by the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.
The same group also puts out additional information. Just click on the link that says, “home + urban horticulture”.
Our favorite gardening book is Desert Gardening, Fruits + Vegetables, by George Brookbank. If you live in the Phoenix area, you do need to adjust a little bit, because its written for primarily growing in the Tucson region.
If you’re not in Phoenix, and looking for information of growing in your area, a good resource is always the statewide Master Gardeners Programs- I believe every state has one, and they are there to help educate people in their community. Just ask at your local nursery for information.
As far as other information, I find the articles at Renee’s garden, a seed company with some terrific varieties of vegetable seeds to be very useful- particularly the bits about growing tomatoes from seed.
There’s always your local nursery, in our case, Bakers, where they are always willing to help out, especially our favorite people there- Jim and Wayne. They’re also our key resources for chicken information! And if you’re thinking about getting chickens, Jim can help…and who wouldn’t want help from a guy who named his toughest looking chick, “Jack Chicklson“!
There are a host of other resources out there, but we just wanted to mention a few. We’re also always perusing different seed catalogs, magazines, books and articles for updated growing information.
Happy gardening!
Dear Thoughtful Friends in Phoenix,
I have a Google Alert on “growing tomatoes” which is how I got in touch with you. I am a very keen gardener (especially tomatoes) here in Staten Island and felt a slight twinge of sun-envy when I read “Phoenix”.
Thank you for your recommendations re websites –very helpful.
Malachi
Your extension offices do publish practical info……Good luck with your veg in the desert – quite a challenge! TopVeg
Hi Miro,
I am so proud of you being in the AZ R. It is time we bring the more important things back to life.