The First Cucumbers

My journey to growing good cucumbers has been a bit of a long one. No one ever told me, when I first began gardening in Tucson, what kind of cucumbers might actually grow here. One book that I read cited the “Armenian” cucumber as a good pick for this area but after a couple people told me they dislike the taste I began experimenting with other varieties. I grew White Wonder, a pickling variety, and Marketmore 76 before I found something that might work. Then I tried Suyo Long. Very heat resistant, very tasty. In fact – in my book it remains one of the best tasting of them all. Unfortunately it turned out that Suyo long is also very susceptible to some form of root rot. Otherwise, if grown in isolation, it is a disease and heat resistant tasty variety. The pictures below are from my old house and my new house. They represent a few of the varieties that I have grown.



White Wonder Cucumber. Not that remarkable.

A spring cucumber garden at the new house

Suyo Long with very nice big leaves.

The Suyo cucumber grows while others fail

A mouth-watering Suyo Cucumber

After Pit (or Trench) Composting and thoughts about Solarization



Solarizing my Winter Garden after Composting



I am a fan of pit (or trench) composting because it does not make the area look ugly and because it is so easy. Just throw things in a hole, rotate them often, then keep adding things until you get soil that is good enough to plant in. It turned out to not be too easy or disease-free. Though- if you are trying this kind of method I would recommend starting with a whole season of squash vines and mustard greens before planting anything else. Squash vines because they don’t care if the pile is still hot and mustard greens (brassica juncea) to resist disease.

After several partially successful sessions of solarizing soils I have come to the conclusion that there are better disease management possibilities including using a cover crop. One recently growing area of study is biofumigants such as one species of mustard greens (brassica juncea). This involves using various part of the mustard green in greatly reducing a disease until it reaches controllable levels. My current winter garden, with  just a small group of mustard plants is demonstrating a very significant difference in how well my plants are growing. I was afraid I was going to lose some of my artichokes but growing mustard around them has completely subsided my reoccurring septoria! An analysis by the U of A Extension program gives a good overview of what is being learned in this new and exciting field of biofumagation research.

Mustard Greens fighting my Septoria. Go Mustard Greens!




 

Digging



Digging is good work for the young and healthy

In reading the book or watching the movie “Holes” you develop a good sense of how difficult it is to dig out dirt in a hot arid environment. Admittedly it was difficult for me but it could have been much worse. In many locations around Tucson people commonly complain of hard packed dirt and of caliche - a hard collection of minerals (primarily calcium carbonate). I would not be surprised if caliche was the main ingredient in concrete. Often trees and other deep-rooted plants will perform poorly if the gardener does not break a hole through a sub-surface layer of caliche to allow for water drainage. I borrowed a neighbor’s caliche bar – a metal rod with a spike on one side and a wedge on the other – and used it along with my shovel in digging my winter garden bed. While digging I encountered quite a few small ½ inch to 1 inch chunks of the caliche but found the process to be otherwise uneventful. Soaking the area with water the night before digging always helps.

Before I began digging I laid down my blocks to the perimeter desired. I removed soil down to the 2 foot mark, leaving enough dirt on the inside of the garden bed to be a good foundation for my underground weed block. To create my weed block I “planted” blocks vertically in the ground on the inside of the garden perimeter and cut a metallic insulation material to fit snug against the outside of the planted (vertical) blocks. Thus the Bermuda grass would be blocked from getting its tendrils into the garden by the metallic insulation and by the vertically planted blocks on the bottom and by the horizontal block perimeter on the top. I cannot stress enough the long-term benefit of keeping out weeds from the beginning. It is wonderful.

To go with picture: Digging is good work for the young and healthy.

Finding a site for my Family and the Garden

From the very first time my wife and I decided to buy the house we currently live in I was looking at the area that I could use for my garden. Flat was a big requirement. Another requirement of mine was to have a good amount of South-facing sun for the winter. I wanted something with west-side shade for the summer, but I was sure I could grow shade, if needed. We settled on a home with a usable interior and an exterior that needed some help. It was in a cul-de-sac in walking distance of an elementary.



My lot with the current garden plots


We moved in mid-May on my daughter’s birthday. I tried salvaging some of the boards from where we had lived previously but the new house had termites anyway- and I didn’t want to encourage them any more than needed. So I left the boards in the alley. There were a lot of blocks in the yard, so I figured I could use them for the perimeter of my garden, as needed. One of the things I really hated about my first garden’s perimeter was the constant fight with Bermuda grass. I have not defeated Bermuda grass but some of the methods I adopted in making my new gardens have really aided in subsiding the flood of the unwanted turf.

While making my first Garden



My Old Garden in the early spring.

Given the fact that I do not have money to pour into my garden (I’m a teacher) my need to be creatively resourceful is relentless. For my first garden, I found slats of wood that someone was giving away for free. With a few of these I shored up the sides of my garden in my attempt to keep Bermuda grass out. Once those were installed I dug at least 1’ down and put compost under the 1’ of soil. After amending the soil with sulfur and fertilizer I made rows and put newspaper on the bottom of the rows. On either side of the newspaper I ran my soaker hoses. Then on top of the newspaper (on the trough between the rows I laid the rest of the boards that I didn’t use for the sides of the garden. To keep from compacting the soil I walked on the boards, sometimes like a circus tightrope walker. Once the bounds of the garden were set and the soil was prepared I got set on planting.

Some of the first things I planted in my winter garden were Green Globe artichokes, Purple Dragon carrots, Tyee Spinach, and Chartwell Lettuce (a Romaine variety). I also planted some Fallstaff Brussel Sprouts to the dismay of my whole family. Lesson learned: Don’t plant any food crop the family does not want to eat.


Fallstaff Brussel Sprouts

I really miss growing carrots. Purple carrots are fun and very tasty. I think I’ll try growing some again for seed this coming year. I’ve just got to remember to pull out the little ones and let the big ones grow for stronger seed next year!

Purple Dragon Carrots

If you ever get a chance, Little Marvel Peas are great to grow.



Little Marvel Peas

 Some pics of the Spinach and Chartwell Lettuce. My wife loved the Spinach and the lettuce was a big hit with everyone I shared it with.



Tyee Spinach, Chartwell Lettuce & Carrots

Then there was the artichokes. I figured the adults could eat the larger tough leaves and that we could save the heart for the youngest children. My thinking paid off well. Our kids loved them. One day my oldest son was describing to me his favorite vegetable. It took a while, but then we figured out he was talking about artichokes!


Green Globes can get quite large

The beauty of the Artichoke



As you may notice from the pictures a good 1/4 to 1/5 of my garden area was taken up by the compost pile. Deciduous trees usually drop their leaves here between the second week of December and February, depending upon the weather. It usually took half a day just to rake them up and collect them into bags to store for later composting. I used leaves, coffee grounds, and manure from a local horse ranch along with some added kitchen scraps to make my compost.

Garden with old compost pile (lemon grass in the left corner)