By George! - A Blog!

My son, Robert, took me to a community garden on Stone Avenue for their monthly “education” meeting. It caters to refugees from Bhutan and is located on the grounds of Southern Arizona Rainwater and Gutters at  1627 North Stone.  You may have driven by it and noticed a garden of ours there.  We met with […]

April gives us good weather and our plants enjoy it too. Remember that plants of the cabbage family are true biennials, which means that last year they built up energy (which we stole as green leaves) and now they are using that energy to raise seed. At this stage we gardeners don’t get any […]

A few days ago, before the snowstorm, Darlene and I took the soil temperature at the St Gregory Garden. It was sixty degrees and that’s a signal to get going with seeding and planting. When you use a soil thermometer (available at nurseries and hardware stores) get a reading where you’ll be sowing seed […]

Before the hot weather arrives to stimulate growth it’s time to prune deciduous trees. You can see what needs to be done before new leaves hide the situation. Start by cutting out those branches that cross over, rub against one another, and go towards the center of the tree. Also remove old stubs from previous […]

Probably all of us, except perhaps the golfers, enjoyed the current rain. It was long lasting and did a lot of good and gives promise of good spring growth in our wildflowers ( not to mention the weeds!) and shrubs and trees and our vegetable gardens. May it continue for a few days more!
Just […]

This past week we have had some frightening cold nights but if you followed our planting guide and planted for the season, you don’t have to worry.  It’s best to remember that all of our winter vegetables will recover their pre-frost condition as soon as the day warms up. Resist the temptation of spraying the […]

We have enjoyed unusually warm weather for this time of year.  The expected cold did not arrive and our summer plants kept on growing and even flowering.  If you really like the flavor of the tomato you have, you may wish to keep it going awhile longer.
I have Giant Cherry Tomatoes flowering on my table-top […]

A visitor from another world ( i.e. a person who is not a gardener)  dropped by one of our gardens and was quite amazed with what she saw.  Here are some of her observations and my answers.
1.What are the gray dotted ornaments for, that run along a dried out irrigation tubing? Those regular dots […]

A visitor from another world ( i.e. a person who is not a gardener)  dropped by n of our gardens and was quite amazed with what she saw.  Here are some of her observations and my answers.
1.What are the gray dotted ornaments for, that run along a dried out irrigation tubing?

Those regular dots are not […]

Changes in the fall weather have been most unusual and our gardens have shown us that “anything” can happen.  Tomato plants still keep growing and some varieties are even flowering so it’s natural that gardeners hopefully hang on  instead of pulling out summer plants at the end of summer in order to make room for […]