Arizona Garden doing fine learning experience. PHOTOS

[Gary350]

The plants are all up and doing fine. The garden is a lot smaller than I am accustom to. The okra is growing very slow as okra does. I have always wondered why corn is always 6 ft tall by the time okra is knee high. Tomatoes will even out grow okra for a while but once the temperature hits 100 degrees okra takes off growing.

The garden is very compact.
First 5 rows are silver queen corn, rows are 1 ft apart.
Next row is okra.
Next row 2 kinds of tomatoes.
3 kinds of squash in this row.
2 rows of blue lake bush beans.
Last row bell peppers and melons.

Back left side of photo is the Grape arbor with 4 Grape vines. To the left is an Orange tree and to the left of that is a Nectarine tree. The 21 degree winter weather killed several desert plants so I replaced them with a Peach tree, Pomegranate tree, and Plum tree. Bushes around the pool all died too so they were replaced with Blueberry plants and Hops. 2 dead palm trees and the ever green tree are about to be replaces with 2 Pecan trees and Black Raspberries. The oleander bush is going to become a Blackberry. I still need to buy an Apple and Pear tree. If I can't eat it I don't want it in the yard.





I hope to have a winter garden. Cool weather will be great for a winter garden I just don't know how the short sun light days will affect the plants. I think I will plant potatoes, onions, carrots garlic, and lots of greens.

[sepeters]

Lookin' good Gary! Glad to see it is all panning out now. One day I will figure out how to post pictures, myself.

Your winter garden will do great, as well. Our "short days" are not really so short and the sunlight is still intense. All the things you are considering will do very well and you can even grow peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant through the winter if they are very well protected from frost. Sometimes mine survive it, sometimes not. You can start your broccoli, cauliflower, etc in the fall too. It gives them the best chance of getting large heads before the flowers begin to open. As long as everything gets full sun all day they don't seem to have much (if any) dormant period when it is "cold."

http://phoenix.about.com/od/natureanden ... unrise.htm

[drh146]

How about some pics of the hops? Mine are sprouting all over, and I was nervous about growing in NC. Very curious how AZ hops do.

How long have they been planted?

[imafan26]

Really nice. You must spend most of your days tending it. I can't even see a weed anywhere.

[jal_ut]

Looking good Gary. I am really wondering about the corn. Have you grown corn like that before? It seems way too crowded. Corn is a large plant and needs room if you expect two good ears from each stalk. Let me know how it turns out.

[Gary350]

Looking good Gary. I am really wondering about the corn. Have you grown corn like that before? It seems way too crowded. Corn is a large plant and needs room if you expect two good ears from each stalk. Let me know how it turns out.

I have grown corn like this before it works great. It is the best way to get good pollination with such a tiny crop of corn. North/south rows helps to get more sunlight on both sides of the corn plants. It worked great for 34 years in TN it should work just as well in AZ. My TN garden was small 25x45, my AZ garden is smaller 15x22. Every thing is squeezed in tight, rows are 24" apart expect corn it is 12". I am counting on my okra being shade for the tomatoes in the hot afternoon sun this helped prevent tomato sun burn in TN it should work in AZ. Tomatoes help shade the squash. Beans, peppers, melons and corn need all the sun they can get. There is only 2 degrees difference between AZ and TN north/south latitude, elevation is almost the same too within 100 ft.

latitude and longitude of Phoenix, Arizona is:
33° 26' 53" N / 112° 4' 23" W

latitude and longitude of Murfreesboro, Tennessee is:
35° 50' 44" N / 86° 23' 25" W

[sepeters]

After reading all the advice from the corn crossing thread and the advice you gave me, I planted a couple more stalks and my corn patch looks a lot like yours (just much smaller ). The larger stalks are 6 foot and the smaller are around 5 foot, all have nice thick salks. Have had to mound more than usual, but both look really good. No signs of stunting or being too crowded. Tall corn has big tassels and small corn is just forming them. Thanks for the advice, Gary! Hopefully this will fix my pollination problem like you said! Hope you get lots of corn!

Wow! Hops? I'd like to see some pictures of that, too, if you find the time. Do you start those from seeds, or what? Are you also a home brewer?

[tomf]

Good thing to do with your back yard gary.
Hops; some time soon I will go out to the Willamette Valley and go through a German area where they grow tons of hops, they use large poles, like telephone poles to grow it. The town of Mt. Angle looks like you are in Germany and is in the middle of a farming region. They make very good beer in that town, and have the best October Fest.
There are a few odd photos having nothing to do with Mt. Angle in these but only a few.
Here are some photos from the web of Mt. Angle.
http://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+Mt.+Angel+oregon&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=jn5-Ud2dGYP_igLCjoD4Dw&ved=0CDAQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=673

Some photos of the hops around Mt. Angle.

http://www.google.com/search?q=photos+of+hops+around+Mt.&hl=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=uX9-Uf-mMMq3igKlhYHwCQ&sqi=2&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1024&bih=672