Planting Time Again

Spring has come early to Northern Arizona. It feels like we didn’t have winter at all. In the 23 years I have lived in this area I don’t remember a single winter without at least some snow. But we got no snow at all this year and barely any rain. Since mid-November we had one storm with measurable rainfall and that was 0.7 inches. I guess the Midwest is getting all the winter!

Our average last freeze each year is May 1 so it’s now time to plant some of the cooler weather crops in our little garden. I bought spinach, romaine, broccoli, and beet seeds and planted them yesterday. I only planted a five foot row of each, small enough that our portable row covers can go over them if we have a cold snap.

We tried growing these same vegetables the first year we were here but that was before we built the full cage that surrounds our garden now. The first year everything came up beautifully and then, one day, it was all gone. Critters had eaten everything. Not this year, though. We have it protected against everything except insects.

Last November we thought we’d try planting a winter crop of garlic. It is working out wonderfully. They survived the winter (minimal though it was) and they look great! We didn’t pick most of the onions we grew last year and they have come back looking really good.

In two or three weeks I will plant some veggies that are a bit more sensitive to frost and see how they do. Then, in the beginning of May, we will plant the pumpkins.  We will also plant tomatoes, chili peppers, and cilantro once a freeze is unlikely.  Last year we made pico de gallo completely out of what we grew in our garden.

If you want to eat home-grown food in the middle of winter,  plant pumpkins at the beginning of summer.  Pumpkins last a long time in storage. We cut open a pumpkin from last year in February and it was fine. We cut, steamed, and mashed it, and it is now in our freezer waiting to become pumpkin bread or maybe pie.

We are excited about our garden this year. We learned a lot in our first attempts out here and are looking forward to having even more fresh food grown in our own yard. Delicious!