The Occasional Warm Spell

Every four to five years here in Tucson the winter fails to deliver a very hard freeze. (Now that I have mentioned this a freak weather event could drop the temperature down to 25˚F tonight). For the most part this winter temperatures in Tucson have generally remained in the 70s during the day and 40s at night. The lowest we have dropped was to just below freezing.

This little tomato plant managed to live through a light frost

Though a lack of freezing temperature can be a real pain for the gardener when it comes to next year’s insect pests, an occasional warm spell enables us to enjoy something that few other U.S. gardeners get to indulge in – a fresh January tomato.
 

Even in a warm climate January tomatoes are risky. That's why I have one plant!

Growing tomatoes in January is not for the faint of heart. In planting my solitary tomato plant I knew I would be taking my chances. The plant did sustain some damage from a few slight frosts, but being next to a sun-bathed south-facing wall has greatly enhanced its ability to weather the cold and produce a few delicious tomatoes. So – should you be coming upon winter in a southern climate and be thinking of tossing that young tomato plant – perhaps it can be transplanted into a warmer location to extend its life and your harvest.

Black Spanish Radish

Whilst on a trip in Turkey my parents picked me up a packet of these black Spanish radishes. Having never tried them before, I decided to give them a go. I planted them at the very back of the kids’ garden – where they would be watered least. Despite my best efforts they grew so well that they started crowding out the spinach. Perhaps without much foresight I had the thought to actually pluck one of these little radishes out of the soil for a sample – what a mistake!
 

A Black Spanish radish with its friends growing against the wall

I shared some with my wife – who usually likes radishes. She was a bit taken back by the taste. The taste to me was intensely pungent, so I decided to try sautéing them in oil, then adding seasoning, then more seasoning. Unfortunately the seasoning didn’t help too much. Perhaps these radishes would be good pickled in heavy brine– so that all the taste is removed. 

Cutting up some Black Spanish Radishes for the taste test

Though I do enjoy most veggies I encounter, I have yet to come across a reliably sweet (and not spicy) radish. I almost wonder if this is a genetic trait that cannot be bred into radishes. In any case, the genetic trait of enjoying strong radishes failed to exhibit itself in my taste buds. With this said, I would highly suggest Spanish radishes to be used for one of the most essential components of a healthy garden: compost!

 

Sadly, sauteing this radish did nothing to change the taste. =(

The January Garden

One of the best things I learned when gardening in Tucson is to plant in spring for the hottest days of the summer and to plant in the fall for the coldest days of the winter. As the temperature here rarely goes below 20°F then it is pretty safe to plant brassicas, lettuce and many other greens, onions, peas and some other kinds of beans, beets, chard and cilantro.

A view of my children's winter garden

Digging a trench for composting in my summer garden.



Growing year-round with two separate gardens always presents the problem of competition for space and light. My summer garden often comes into my winter garden, though I have never had the opposite concern.

 

 

With the summer garden put to rest, the winter garden has light

 

 

Jerico Lettuce (which I begrudgingly share with the caterpillars)

 

 

Monstrux De Viroflay Spinach

 

I tend to plant my winter garden very intensively and pull plants as they need the space. Though all plants need light, many of my greens can survive on minimal light until I recognize that they need to be thinned. Conversely, I tend to space my summer plants much wider as each plant requires much more space and any plant that gets crowded out will likely end up being a disease and pest liability, as well as a waste of time and effort to plant.

 

 

Small Black/Purple Carrots



Tavor Artichokes

 

Some of the plants I am growing this winter include Jerico Lettuce (which I plan to save seed from the plants that bolt last), purple/black Turkish carrots, Kyoto red carrots, Spanish black radishes, some small Texas multiplying onions, Viroflay spinach, snap peas, Tavor Artichokes, a lone Celebrity tomato plant and McGregor’s Favorite beets.

 

McGregor's Favorite Beets

 

If you want a minimal maintenance garden in the Southwest then Winter is the prime season to do it. When the weather consistently goes above 75°F then I have to water more than once a week. But if not, then I can usually get away with watering once every 10-12 days. With many of the pests and disease vectors wiped out by the first light frost there is little maintenance required for the winter garden. Truly, the Tucson winter garden is a delightful way to grow and enjoy winter salads, greens, and roots to well into the spring.

 

 

Some tasty Snap Peas

 

Amici Dell'ortodue

Amicidellortodue is a wonderful Italian blog staffed by a group of friends who love to garden and cultivate heirloom vegetable varieties. In Italian, Amici dell'orto  literally translates to “friends of the garden”. Gardening blogs that consist of multiple members are most likely the future of sustainable gardening blogs. Blogs with multiple authors incorporate both many perspectives and consistent posts to enable the blog to remain both legitimate and interesting.

Amicidellortodue's title page does a good job showing the variety of vegetables and fruits their bloggers grow.

The blog was started by Paulo Basso, an Italian gardener with a vision for the blog. Besides sharing information with other gardeners, the members work to provide access to old Italian seed varieties. 

They even enjoy purple colored tubers in Italy.

Although the climate of Southern Italy may differ somewhat from Tucson, the majority of the vegetable varieties that I have seen posted about in the Amicidellortodue blog are very similar to those that do well here in Tucson. 

A beautiful snake gourd flower

The gardeners who staff Amicidellortodue are very kind and willing to answer questions about any variety of vegetables that they have grown. That being said, some of the members of the blog are very busy with their lives and pursuing their gardening niches. Before posting a response, make sure that your thoughts or questions are well organized.

A few of the many tomato varieties grown by the Amicidellortodue group

I would highly encourage all gardeners to learn as much as they can from the Gardening gurus at Amicidellortodue. Near the top of the page there is a drop-down menu for choosing your specific language. For all those who live in a warm dry climate or just want to learn more about growing vegetables, take a moment to visit the gardeners at Amicidellortodue!

Some Armenian type cucumbers and beans

Some Carosello Cucumbers grown by Paulo of Amicidellortodue

Purple Sweet Potato Descriptions and Summary of 2013 Harvest

After growing 3 different purple sweet potato varieties this year, plus an experimental stint with a Stokes Purple sweet potato, I am happy to give a description of each of the purple sweet potato varieties I have grown, along with their growing characteristics.
 

My son finding an orange sweet potato

Taste Testing to inform descriptions - My children exhibit a lot of potential in taking pictures

All Purple: Long roots are often produced in locations of excess water with tubers often developing deep in the ground. Good yields of mildly sweet potatoes with a consistently purple flesh.

Alabama Purple or Purple Delight: Mostly top setting tubers of variable shape and size. Heavy yields of smooth textured savory tubers with purple flesh.

Dingess Purple: Top setting tubers of very marketable shape and size. Moderate yields of tubers with a rich, complex flavor and dark purple flesh.

Currently, if you live in Tucson and would like to buy any of these sweet potatoes you can contact me through this Craig'slist post. All proceeds go to my garden.

I grew a Stokes Purple Sweet Potato (starting in August or September)

In summary – I would have to say that the Purple Dingess are my all-time favorite, despite the meager 15 pound yield. Harvesting and working with the Dingess Purple Potatoes was much easier than working with the All-Purple or Purple Delight tubers. It would be well worth it to try to cross Dingess purple with another purple variety, such as Alabama, to seek to increase yield.

My Sweet Potato vines in November

Sweet Potato Vines have problems staying on my property

The final results of my 2013 harvest are 165 pounds of mostly purple sweet potatoes from my 7’ by 15’ summer garden bed, meaning the garden produced more than 1 pound of sweet potatoes per square foot, in addition to everything else produced this last summer. That being said, in the long term I am really seeking for quality over quantity. I would much rather have a tasty Delicata squash over a big poor-tasting squash. I am very grateful for such a good harvest, though I will definitely be changing some things this next year. Two of the things I will be changing for next year include planting my slips later in May and applying more EM-1 throughout the season to see how it affects my sweet potato vines.

Purple Sweet Potatoes make great pie.

EM-1: My experience with EM-1 was that it did nothing for any of my garden plants – including the legumes. The exception to this was with my sweet potatoes. EM-1 greatly increased my sweet potato yields. I highly recommend using EM-1 as an inoculant for sweet potato slips to increase yields. It is worth every penny if you are really into growing sweet potatoes. I diluted my EM-1 in purified non-chlorinated water and sprayed it on my young plants until the ground was soaked. The results in both vine and root growth were impressive. In fact, I would warn gardeners that the growth of EM-inoculated sweet potato vines is so vigorous that, in crowded conditions they will grow several feet off the ground.

EM-1 dramatically improves sweet potato growth

I am currently doing some research on culturing my own shelf-stable EM with the same characteristics as the EM-1 that I currently use. I will gladly share any success I experience from my own experience brewing activated EM - as I have time to do so. Another interesting thing is that, from some of the research I found, the Anthocyanins contained in Purple sweet potatoes can better retain their health benefits and color in storage with the presence of lactic acid (7%), which happens to be one of the ingredients in EM-1.