Arizona Victory Garden

Community Gardens in Mesa, AZ

2012-01-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

The city of Mesa has gotten involved in supporting community gardens. They are now taking proposals to establish new gardens. See their website at:

http://www.mesaaz.gov/sustainability/CommunityGarden.aspx

The City of Mesa invites an individual, a group, or an organization to submit a proposal regarding the planning and implementation of a community garden.

The City of Mesa will agree to enter into negotiations with the selected leadership members to provide cooperative funding for a portion of startup costs which may include getting water to the site, waiving development or permit fees, fencing and/or other amenities. More information can be found at www.mesaaz.gov/sustainability/CommunityGarden.aspx

DESCRIPTION OF PROJECT GOALS

Project goals include creating a planning/steering committee, site selection, fundraising, determining garden layout, developing guidelines and community garden agreements for participants. Visit Mesa’s Web page for planning toolkits and many other resources: www.mesaaz.gov/sustainability/CommunityGarden.aspx

PROPOSAL FORMAT

Eligible proposals MUST include contact information, a narrative, and timeline. Deadline for submittal is Feb. 16, 2012. Be sure to attend the City of Mesa Living Green Workshop on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 1:30 p.m. at Mesa Main Library, Dig In! Steps to Starting a Community Garden (www.mesaaz.gov/sustainability).

http://www.mesaaz.gov/sustainability/pdf/iMesa_Garden_Call_to_Community.pdf

Hard Freeze kills watermelons - Sunfowers survive!

2011-12-08T12:54:00.000-08:00

Last night was a real hard freeze. Not sure what the official temp was, but when I went to water the birds this morning, the water in the hose was frozen solid!

The watermelon vines were totally wiped out. Too bad too, these were my "longstanding" vines, planted last spring!

The beets appear to have handled the freeze just fine, along with the volunteer sunflower!

Yeah, Christmas sunflowers, only in Arizona!

Thanksgiving Watermelons!

2011-11-20T11:09:00.001-08:00

Watermelons ripening just in time for Thanksgiving??? Yeah, we do that!

Grey Water systems

2011-11-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

I am in the process of utilizing more grey water systems myself. Already have my kitchen sink/dishwasher set up for it, and am working on a bathroom tub conversion as well.

Here is a link I found to a group dedicated to spreading the word. Based up in the Pacific NW, I wondered, man, why do THEY need MORE water???

Down here in the desert, grey water systems are especially useful. My kitchen sink/dishwasher provided more than enough water for about 150 sq.ft. of garden, and that was through our SUMMER! If I can convert my tubs to grey water systems, I don't think I will have to water the gardens out of the house at all.

Anyway, the link: http://greywateraction.org/blog

RIP pumpkin patch

2011-10-30T07:43:00.000-07:00

So, last night I harvested most of the pumpkins, for jack-o-lantern carving with the kids. We did all of the big ones and some of the small ones, and saved the seeds for roasting.

Sugar baby pumpkin patch drying up

Jack pumpkins

Sugarbaby pumpkins

still ripening

Here is a pic of one part of the new garden, with the companion plants wheat and peas. I planted them at the same time, but the peas are a bit stronger. Next time I'll give the wheat a week headstart.

Wheat & Peas coming up

October Pumpkins in the desert - believe it or not!

2011-10-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

Bringing in a summer pumpkin crop is quite possibly the most gratifying accomplishment in my Arizona Victory Gardening career. I've got about 8 sugar babies, and about 7 jack o lanterns getting fat and orange right now!

A nice fellow was driving by on his bike the other day while I was watering, and he stopped and chatted for a bit. He was a gardener too, and he didn't even know it was possible to grow pumkins in Phoenix!

Sugar Baby

That was my first sugar baby, matured in late Sept, from a mid June planting.

Immature sugar baby

Immature jack o lantern

The pics are a couple weeks old, showing them maturing nicely but still green. Most of them are orange now, and the vines are dying off (I'll try to update pics soon).

The coolest part of growing pumpkins is the beautiful huge orange flowers in morning, which always attract swarms of honey bees.

bee in pumpkin flower

Late summer Okra!

2011-09-29T09:55:00.001-07:00

Okra is without a doubt the most frustratingly slow plant to sprout.... My sunflower/cucumber garden was up for literally months before I even realized that some of the okra seeds had sprouted. Turns out I had one "mega-bush" in there and 4 smaller bushes hiding in the sunflowers the whole time....

But after "biding its time" all summer, it is okra's time to shine, I guess! As soon as mid-September rolled around, the okra started blooming (oh those beautiful delicate pale yellow okra flowers!!!), and now it is fruiting like mad.

The chickens love the okra seeds, but my wife is not letting me feed the birds.... She is going to pickle it!

The fried okra, well, I'm one of those people who find it a bit too "slimy" for my taste, but she says some folk love their okra pickled! Alright, whatever, I am willing to try anything.... And if we don't like, we can probably give it away to those old Southerners down at church...

How Much Land to be Self-Sufficient?

2011-09-22T11:14:00.001-07:00

Very interesting infographic on how much land space would be required to keep your family of four self-sufficient. According to their bottom-line calculation, it would take about 1.5 acres, assuming you bought your own wheat, although almost 2 acres if you grew your own wheat.

I am left wondering, though, if they only calculated for one growing season. In the desert you can grow stuff literally year round, 12 months out of the year. Which means you can bring in at least 4 harvests a year of your typical veggie crops, and at least 3 harvests a year of your grain crops. Presumably that would lower the amount of land space you would need.

When you start talking about self-sufficiency on your own acre, it is important to think in terms of Permaculture principles. Chickens, goats, pigs, and fish are necessary for a functioning circular ecosystem, consuming waste while contributing fertilizers for the soil.

You would also need to re-route almost all your wastewater into grey water systems. A typical 20 minute show provides enough irrigation water to keep your garden soil moist even in the summer time.

Creating grey-water systems here in Arizona is difficult because most houses are built on concrete slabs. Finding or building a post-and-beam foundation house, or easiest of all, using a manufactured home, are the best alternatives.

The good news, if you follow these tips, you can have a functioning SELF-SUFFICIENT homestead in the desert ON ONLY AN ACRE. Quite amazing, if you ask me.

Here is their webpage with the infographic: http://1bog.org/blog/live-off-the-land-2/

You weren't crazy, this August really was HOT!!!

2011-09-01T13:35:00.001-07:00

And the irony is, this is the first summer I have kept gardening all the way through! Cucumbers, watermelon, and corn still producing, while the pumpkins are setting fruit and growing strong.

The Republic just did an article on our excessive heat this August, supposedly the hottest August on record!

from their article (http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/09/01/20110901phoenix-area-august-heat-broke-records.html#ixzz1WjdQQ7LD):

The month that wouldn't cool off has finally, mercifully, ended. August reached record-setting levels of misery in many ways. To name a few:

- The highest average high temperature: 109.
- The highest average low temperature: 87.5.
- The hottest August day ever: 117.
- The average temperature for the month - the high plus the low divided by two - was 98.3 degrees.

That leaves August tied for the hottest month ever. The real surprise here is that it's August. Every other month in the top-5 list is a July.

Gardening in the extreme heat - some observations, tips, and encouragement

2011-08-18T12:05:00.000-07:00

Extreme heat gardening -- meaning two+ months of 110+ degree heat -- YEAH, WE DO THAT!

The cucumbers have been my biggest "pleasant surprise". They outlasted the corn and sunflowers, and in fact, they are fruiting more in August than they did in July. Many of the leaves are getting tough and yellowing, but the flowers just keep producing and producing! I already have about 20 jars of pickles, so mainly the chickens have been enjoying the bounty...

I also planted late-June pumpkins seeds, hoping for nice big gourds for Halloween, and "so far, so good". One of my earliest and most promising vines died (due to one day of negligence), but the vines are growing like crazy now, and some fruits have started to set. I am growing three varieties this year: Big Max, Jack-o-Lantern, and Sugar Baby.

And, oh yeah, my watermelons are still producing, too! Unfortunately, the very day before a big BBQ birthday party last week, the chickens escaped their coop and pecked holes in 6 big jubilee watermelons! Oh well, more coming...

Keys to "Beating the Heat"

-Flood irrigate in the morning.

In other times of the year, I prefer to irrigate at night, to avoid day-time evaporation, giving the roots plenty of time to soak all night. But I have found that when it hits 110+ degrees, the ground is too dry by late afternoon and the vines struggle. When I flood irrigate in the morning before I go to work, even in the 110+ heat, the vines are doing fine when I get home from work. If it was a superhot day (115+) and the leaves are struggling, I will flood irrigate in the evening too.

-Don't spray water during the day

It has been shown that water droplets focus lightwaves, and this can actually damage your leaves if you spray water during the day. If you need to cool off your plants during daylight hours, do it with flood irrigation, avoid spraying the leaves.

-Partial shade helps

The more partial shade the better, especially in the late afternoon. It is not a necessity, as my full-sun pumpkin vines are doing fine this summer, but it does help give you more "margin for error". The most important thing is keeping the ground wet. If you don't have a wall or tree to provide the shade, interplant some sunflowers, or even corn, to help provide some shade.

Dealing with Bermuda Grass

If you had bermuda grass anywhere near your garden at the beginning of summer, after a couple months of flood irrigation, it will completely take over your garden space. It is almost impossible to avoid, unless you are so dedicated that you can devote hours a week to pulling weeds in the extreme heat.

The good news is, the bermuda grass will provide SHADE and COOLING to your mature plants. I have kept tomatoes and beets growing all summer by letting the grass go crazy around them. Come fall, just till it under as biomass to enrich your soil for winter. As bermuda grass is naturally dormant during the winter, you will be able to garden right over it, and put off the serious thinning to next summer.

Community Supported Agricultural Farms in Queen Creek

2011-07-31T22:38:00.000-07:00

The CSA farm is a fantastic model, and I would like to see something along these lines develop for victory gardeners as well.

Basically, people buy membership shares, which is like agricultural "futures". They contribute cash early in the season, then get the produce as it becomes available.

Apparently these CSA's even deliver the produce right to your door! That is pretty cool.

Here is the article about the CSA in Queen Creek, from the Tribune:

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/our_community/article_eb2d8e46-b971-11e0-880c-001cc4c002e0.html

Aside from growing your own garden, there's probably not an easier way to get your veggies than having them delivered to your door. That's what Queen Creek Desert Roots Farm offers families who purchase a share of the harvest for a 12-week season.

Desert Roots, which produces over 75 different pesticide-free fruits and vegetables throughout the year, is a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture farm.

According to localharvest.org, CSA farms exist all over the nation as farmers offer shares - typically a box of vegetables, but it might also include other products such as milk and eggs - to customers who buy a membership to receive a weekly bag, basket or box of produce during farming season. The website says the arrangement allows farmers to market their food early in the year before they start spending 16-hour days in the fields, receive payment early in the season to help with cash flow, and gives farmers a way to get to know the people who buy their produce. It provides consumers with fresh food, exposure to new vegetables and ways of cooking them, and the chance to learn more about farming.

In addition to produce, Desert Roots Farm offers customers the option of adding a Superstition Farms dairy box to their weekly home delivery, and the opportunity to buy Arizona-raised grass-fed beef, chicken, pork and eggs.

Home delivery is convenient, but if you'd prefer, you can pick up your weekly veggie bag at one of 12 Valley locations. For more information, visit www.desertrootsfarm.com or call (602) 751-0655

Making your own fertilizers to supplement poor desert soil

2011-07-22T12:16:00.001-07:00

Arizona soil, like desert soil everywhere, is highly alkaline and very low in nitrogen. Increasing the nitrogen content of your soil is the most important thing you need to do. Lowering the alkali level is also worthwhile, though not as pressing. If your nitrogen is too low, your plants will turn yellow and fail to fruit.

The expensive way to increase nitrogen is, of course, just to buy fertilizer supplements, such as blood meal or peat moss.

If you raise animals, their droppings are an excellent source of nitrogen, and from their remains you can make your own blood meal and bone meal. Blood meal is just dehydrated blood, and bone meal is just powdered bone, after all.

Amending the soil with lots of organic material is always a helpful choice. The ultimate example of this is plowing under cover crops, especially the "nitrogen fixing" types, like clover or fava beans. Of course, a compost pile is good for this purpose too.

But, there is an even easier method.

Now, I think the attractiveness of this "easy button" method depends on how much "hippy" you've got in you. I don't think the average suburban-housewife kitchen-window gardener wants to follow through with this method.. but the more hippy-type environmentalist and off-the-grid permaculturist will find it quite useful.. in a word: urine.

Basically, this stuff is the ultimate "wonder amendment" for desert soils, being acidic and high in nitrogen. Its N/P/K value is approximately 12/1/3. Obviously, it is easily available (don't even need a trip to the store!), comes cheap, and in large volumes...

It is too acidic to use directly on plants, so it needs to be diluted before use. A bucket full of water, or a standard flush, dilute it perfectly.

The good news is, urine is completely sterile, not dangerous at all (unlike the, ehem, "solid wastes" produced by humans). Don't use it, though, if you are sick, or on medications.

You can see some other cool suggestion in an article over at Survival Blog (http://www.survivalblog.com/2011/07/how_does_your_garden_grow_afte.html).

Summer weeds in Arizona

2011-07-21T11:06:00.001-07:00

Pigweed time in the desert! About a couple weeks ago, we left the hose on too long, and the irrigation waters burst through the berms, spilling water all around the garden, giving a good soak to all that bare ground.

It is amazing: everywhere the water spilled, pigweed is growing now. Pigweed is quite distinctive because of its pink/purple underside.

Its purple hue gives it away: just like its magnificent large and purple "tame" cousin, grain Amaranth, pigweed is in the amaranthus family. The two common pigweeds are "careless pigweed" and "tumble pigweed". My advice: get the pigweed while it is young.

As it gets bigger, pigweed stems get really tough, making them hard to tear down or tear out later. This is especially true of the "tumble pigweed".

Not to be confused with the Russian Thistle, which is the true "tumbleweed".

I keep my main gardening area bare ground, so I can just scrape a hoe over the topsoil, killing them while they are seedlings. I just leave them there to decompose on the ground, which has resulted in a nice layer of topsoil as well.

The common purslane remains soft as it grows, so it is less of a nuisance later. Sometimes I will even let it grow quite big for awhile, letting nature provide me with some good compost biomass.

The "prickly lettuce" weed will be big and seed-headed now, if it survived as a garden volunteer from your spring planting.

Lots of "puncturevines" will pop up in your watered areas now too. As you can tell from the name, you really don't want to let "puncture vine" mature. They produce those "sharpy thorns" that make your kids cry when they step on 'em.

The UA book has this to say about "puncturevine":

"It is abundant, one of the most obnoxious weeds in southern Arizona, and is found throughout the state, principally in July and August. Each plant produces innumerable burs ... Home owners and their dogs probably dislike puncturevine more than any other weed because the stout spines can easily penetrate shoes, bicycle tires, and dogs' feet."

If you have an Palo Verde or Palm trees nearby, there is a good change you are getting tons of their seedlings pop up as well. Rip the Palo Verde seedlings out quick. As soon as they get just a little big they get barbs all over 'em.

Community gardens sprout up in Mesa and Tempe

2011-07-08T14:00:00.001-07:00

Interesting article in the East Valley Tribune about the community gardens in Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler.

Mesa supposedly has no problem letting people establish community gardens. But my question is, will they supply the water? Setting up a garden on an un-used city property sounds easy enough, but if they aren't supplying the water, that is an empty gesture...

Here is the full text of the article (http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/article_2cc0e67c-a8e8-11e0-8702-001cc4c002e0.html):

For decades, cities figured that progress meant getting rid of agricultural land and replacing it with houses and businesses. But several East Valley cities are rethinking the urban-only mindset by allowing - and even encouraging - gardens to sprout in their downtowns and elsewhere.

The shift in philosophy is partly a reaction to the recession, which has left plenty of vacant land that's unlikely to develop soon. Communities also see demand growing for fresh, locally-grown produce sought by individuals, restaurants and nonprofits.

Tempe

But starting a community garden wasn't easy in some places. In Tempe, the city generally wouldn't allow developed land to revert to agricultural use. The city is moving to change that, hoping gardens will spring up on some empty downtown lots or within city parks. Tempe Councilwoman Onnie Shekerjian has worked to encourage gardens because she believes uncertain times make people crave a simpler, more sustainable lifestyle. Residents tend the gardens themselves and some involved with a south Tempe plot have found other benefits, Shekerjian said. "They're shocked at how they got to know people," Shekerjian said. "It's the community building that has become more important than the fresh vegetables."

The city is testing gardens on city-owned land, turning over 15,000 square feet of land at Escalante Park to the Tempe Community Action Agency. That nonprofit started the garden this spring and splits food between neighbors who volunteer, the agency's food pantry and selling produce at a farmer's market to generate revenue. The garden allows the agency to distribute healthier food to needy families, said Beth Fiorenza, the agency's executive director. "Having the free fruit and vegetables really guarantees that families are getting a nutritious supplement, that it's not all canned goods," she said.

A new Tempe ordinance will allow gardens on private lots, with a $50 fee and hearing involving neighboring property owners. Shekerjian figures there's enough interest in several neighborhoods to establish gardens within parks. These gardens would be overseen by a nonprofit that would provide funding and manage the project with neighbors. The city's role will be limited to playing matchmaker between residents and nonprofits, Shekerjian said.

Mesa

Mesa made sure community gardens were included in a recent revamp of zoning regulations, said Christine Zielonka, development and sustainability director. Lots of up to one acre can become gardens in residential and commercial areas. Mesa does not require permits or fees as a way to encourage gardens on unused land.

"One would hope that over time vacant parcels will become more valuable and they'll have a more beneficial use, so certainly a community garden would be a wonderful transitional use for that property rather than let it sit vacant," Zielonka said.

Mesa is looking to establish a garden downtown on one of the many vacant lots it owns. The city wants to open it this fall, having a nonprofit work with neighbors to get it going.

Chandler

About $10,000 from the Chandler Kiwanis Club will establish a garden that will distribute produce to volunteers and to the Chandler Christian Community Center. Harvest for Humanity will manage the garden, and one of its missions is to teach people how to grow their own food, said Denise Phillips, executive director. There's an increased interest in growing food locally in part because of e-coli outbreaks and food recalls, she said. "People are looking for ways to save money and ways to be in control of what they're eating," Phillips said, "and it tastes so much better."

Contact writer Garin Groff: (480) 898-6548 or ggroff@evtrib.com

Watermelonpalooza

2011-07-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

Watermelons and Arizona summers are just meant to go together. I get consistently better results with watermelons than anything else in the heat of the summer.

This year I put the watermelon patch near the back fence. As you can see, the watermelon vines love it. They are trellising right up the fence, and growing hanging fruits too!

The best of my watermelons this year are the Jubilee variety. I harvested a 13 pound watermelon last week, along with an 8 pounder. My Sugar Baby watermelons seem to max out at 4-5 pounds. I've been throwing a lot of them to the chickens, they LOVE it.

I have found that chickens also love the fresh cucumbers. I break 'em in half, or cut 'em in fourths with my shovel, then throw them into the coop. After they peck out the seeds, they eat all the cuc flesh.

Oddly enough, I have observed, a green watermelon tastes exactly like a cucumber... The chickens will strip the watermelon all the way down to the hard rind. Any soft flesh on the inside will be devoured.

Phoenix Dust Storm - Best Of pics & 1st person account

2011-07-06T11:20:00.001-07:00

The Phoenix Dust Storm has made the national and international news (as far away as New Zealand: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10736809). I will say, it was probably the coolest weather phenomenon I have ever seen.

Imagine a 5000 ft tall thundercloud, AT GROUND LEVEL, stretching from horizon to horizon, rolling towards you, looking like the frothy front side of a wave. It was more than a bit unnerving.

The light was perfect, streaming right across the face of the cloud from the setting sun, highlighting the sharp shadows of the rolling clouds across its face, and bringing out its rich orange (from both the setting sun and the orange dust).

I was driving directly into it, on my motorcycle... without helmet, jacket, or even long pants. I was coming home from a swim at the pool a few miles away, still in my shorts and t-shirt, intending to enjoy the cool air. Instead I was driving like a bat out of hell, going 70 (mph) down cut-through streets to beat that monster home. I did not relish the thought of the blinding grit pounding into my face, and I thought it would be a downpour as well. I felt like Viggo Mortensen in that scene in Hidalgo, racing the dust storm (except I was racing INTO it, rather than away...). Luckily, I met the face of the storm just as I pulled into my driveway.

Inside the cloud, the air was thick orange and dark, with swirling winds knocking everything about from all directions. Turned out to be totally dry in the cloud itself, no rainfall whatever.

I would have given anything to have a "panorama" camera when I was coming up to it. I've attached a collage of the best pics I could find online. Unfortunately, most of them were taken after the sun set, so the cloud front just looks dark, but a couple of them caught the spectacular orange.

Bring the Heat!

2011-06-23T02:56:00.000-07:00

AZ Victory Gardener is not afraid of the heat...

Hottest day of the year so far, but as you can see, our sunflowers are doing OK.

The "intensively planted" cucumbers are what is growing in front of the sunflowers. The intensive planting keeps the ground shaded using the broad leaves of the cucumbers.

I also planted them on the shady side of the sunflowers on purpose, to take them out of the heat in the late afternoon. Seems to be working well. The cucs were not even a little heat stressed today.

That is a six foot lady right there

Wild Chickens thriving in New Orleans

2011-04-15T10:24:00.001-07:00

I think wild chickens running through the city is pretty cool. I love birds, and that is just what they are, a beautiful species of bird.

I know for a fact that everyone loves wild peacocks in their neighborhood. Chickens are just as cool looking if you ask me, not as spectacular as the peacocks, but a lot better looking than the peahens. Chickens are highly ornamental.

The article mentions that Phoenix has had difficulties with wild chickens, but I have never heard of it.

I don't know how they survive in a city with wild cats, but they are making it work, apparently. The article mentions predatory birds, but not cats.

Check out the story:

http://www.nola.com/pets/index.ssf/2011/04/feral_chickens_have_proliferat.html

AZ food prices to rise 6% this year

2011-03-22T11:57:00.001-07:00

Good time to be a Victory Gardener!

The following is a reprint of today's Republic article, here http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/03/22/20110322arizona-food-prices-up.html

Arizona consumers who have been hammered at the gas pump by soaring prices can expect to get slammed at the grocery store in the near future by a sharp rise in the cost of food. Higher wholesale prices for vegetables and various grocery staples, coupled with a jump in fuel and energy costs, are expected to push food costs up as much as 6 percent this year at metro Phoenix stores.

That would rival a 5.5 percent jump in 2008, which was the largest gain in almost 20 years. Such a surge in prices would end two years of declining and flat food prices. Blame winter crop damage, higher commodity costs and global grain shortages. Coupled with the rising gas prices, the situation creates another tough economic challenge for consumers, many of whom aren't getting pay raises, are living on fixed incomes or, worse yet, are unemployed or underemployed.

In addition, the cost increases mark the first major rise in food prices since Phoenix voters approved a 2 percent sales tax on food last year.

Margaret Koziba of Phoenix already has noticed higher produce prices and expects costs to escalate for other products with the hike in fuel prices. "Everything is going up," she said.

While Arizona Farm Bureau has yet to complete its annual first-quarter survey of statewide grocery prices, spokeswoman Julie Murphree reported that preliminary information shows higher prices for many products. "It's basically across the board," she said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts retail food prices will rise 3.5 percent in the U.S. this year. But a sharp jump in wholesale food prices reported last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics could portend a much larger increase in retail prices than expected. The government reported wholesale food prices rose 3.9 percent from January through February, marking the largest monthly increase in more than 36 years.

Tim McCabe, president of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, believes prices could increase between 5 percent and 6 percent this year. The Arizona Food Marketing Alliance is a trade group that represents the state's grocery chains and other food retailers. "It's a perfect storm," he said. "All of the commodity prices are up at once, you have the impact of the freezing weather in the South and now you have rising fuel prices."

The increases come when overall food prices are still relatively low, however. In January, the Arizona Farm Bureau reported a basket of 16 grocery staples cost $45.44, more than 20 percent below an all-time high of $57.46 reached in the third quarter of 2008.

Consumers also could catch a break in Arizona because of the highly competitive local grocery market. In the past, Arizona food prices have risen more slowly than those nationally because local grocers have been compelled to keep prices low to remain competitive. Ann Reed, vice president of Fry's Food Stores in Phoenix, said the chain is under constant pressure to keep its prices low to hold onto its position as the market leader. "It's very competitive," she said.

McCabe said that Arizona grocers frequently eat some of the wholesale price increases to keep prices competitive. But he added that with prices rising so quickly, it may be hard not to pass them on. "When you have all these prices going up, the consumer is going to take a hit," he said.

The rising prices are tied to a number of factors. Winter freezes in Florida, Texas and other Southern states damaged crops and sent produce prices through the roof. Several major orange-juice producers have announced price hikes as a result of the unseasonably cold winter. Prices of corn, wheat and soybeans have increased sharply in the past year. Higher commodity costs have increased the price of animal feed, which in turn has boosted prices for eggs, ground beef and milk.

Grain prices have been pushed up by increased global demand and shortages due to crop problems in the Black Sea region, Canada and Australia. Russia has banned grain exports since devastating fires and drought wiped out crops. The ban could be extended until the end of the year.

Ephraim Leibtag, a senior research economist with USDA's Economic Research Service, said prices for some food ingredients are up 40 percent to 60 percent over last year. Those increases are going to "ripple out to the public," he said. More recently, a spike in fuel prices has driven up both food production and transportation costs.

In Arizona, gasoline prices are up roughly 40 percent since September and 13 percent in the past month. Those prices are being felt now by consumers at the pump and will be seen at the grocery store in a few months as higher transportation and production costs get passed down to shoppers.

Corn Inventories Fall to New Lows, Demand and Price Surging

2011-02-23T14:53:00.001-08:00

Good time to be a food producer!

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-22/corn-stockpiles-falling-to-1974-lows-as-farmers-fail-to-meet-demand-growth.html

Watermelon Going Strong

2010-07-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

I have not posted too many updates this summer, as I haven't really done much experimentation. Moving to a new house and starting just a limited plot left me feeling like not a whole lot was worth reporting.

But I can confirm that my watermelons are thriving in the heat! I have harvested a small crop from my earliest vine, which was a native variety with orange fruit. But the newer vines are doing even better, really taking off and producing tons of flowers right now!

My corn this summer, again, I left on the stalk too long... Grrr. It got too hard to eat, and so I just fed it to the chickens...

What I need to do now is get the pumpkins in the ground, so that maybe I will have some for Halloween! I am already two weeks late, yikes!

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the nice cool summer we are having so far, fellow crazy people, I mean, Arizona gardeners!

Devolution of the Economy

2010-05-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Interesting article in the L.A. Times about the devolution of our economy. http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/21/business/la-fi-homegrown-20100521

Basically, as more and more people lose their jobs, because their jobs are "permanently outsourced", more and more people filter down into the agricultural economy, growing crops for food and extra cash. At the Arizona Victory Garden, I do this with corn and watermelons (and might be trying it with pumpkins this fall as well). I like the corn and watermelons as multi=-purpose crops: if I don't eat them or sell them, the chickens love them, so it can't go wrong.

Public policy for this kind of thing can change over time. In the Depression of the 1890s, the unemployed were encouraged to turn empty city plots into productive gardens for sale in local markets. The Europeans still advocate this practice, going under the name of Community Gardens.

In the Depression of the 1930s, the unemployed were not encouraged to market their food, due to the deliterious effect upon crop prices. In short, government wanted to support farm prices, and farmers incomes, at that time.

Yeah, keeping the price of food high during a Depression, brilliant! Never underestimate the power of government to screw things up. As if our generation needs to be told that lesson...

Home Grown Eggs are Better

2010-04-05T22:10:00.001-07:00

Its true: Fresh home grown eggs from the backyard flock are better!

The girls are great egg layers, and the value of the eggs far exceeds their feed costs.

We are even able to sell our excess eggs to help offset the feed costs.

Absolutely great investment.

How and When to Water Your Plants?

2010-01-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Recent studies have confirmed that water on the leafs of plants can cause sun damage, as the water droplets focus the light rays, causing burns (see here). Thus, you should avoid spray watering your plants, especially here in the Arizona desert, which has intense sunshine due to the low humidity.

Hands down, flood irrigation is the best watering technique for the desert. Build an earth wall berm around the outside of your growing area, then just flood it with water. Be careful not to overflow the berm wall, as a little leak over the edge will quickly erode a huge hole in the wall.

For the most efficient use of water, irrigate in the evenings, to avoid excess evaporation.

You can do day-time flood irrigation during the heat of the summer to cool off the ground. I have kept tomatos going all summer long, in full Arizona sun, by heavy flooding and intentsive plant spacing. The intensive spacing creates a shaded zone under the plants, which along with the water, helps the plants survive the brutal heat.

Food Price Spike of 2008 set to Repeat

2010-01-08T09:56:00.001-08:00

The main cause of the food price spike in 2008 was speculation. Secondarily it was supply shortage, but primarily, it was speculation, meaning that big money investors threw their money into commodities, driving up their price. Warning signs are blipping that we may see a repeat of those events soon, driven again by a worldwide flood of money, just waiting for an investment vehicle to flood into.

http://business.asiaone.com/Business/My%2BMoney/Opinion/Story/A1Story20100106-190014.html

Global food prices are rising again with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index hitting 168 points in November, the fourth consecutive month of increase and the highest since September 2008. While this is still about 21 per cent lower than the most recent peak in June 2008 when the index hit 213.5 points, FAO does note that the index has never exceeded 120 points prior to the price spike between 2007/2008.

Several reasons have been highlighted for the rising prices. However, FAO has possibly for the first time highlighted the 'growing appetite by speculators and index funds for a wider commodity portfolio investments on the back of enormous global excess liquidity', as exacerbating the situation.

This mirrors the view of World Bank president Robert Zoellick who said recently that with so much liquidity in global markets, 'you could see additional moves towards the agricultural commodities sector if there were perceptions of market shortages'.

Speculation in agricultural commodities may not have reached fever pitch yet but with food shortages expected in 2010, it could.

Jim Rogers, one of the world's most astute investors has been bullish on commodities in general for several years. On agricultural (or soft) commodities, he says: 'Food inventories worldwide are at the lowest in decades as the world continues to consume more than it produces. We even have a shortage of farmers now since agriculture has been such a terrible business for three decades. We should all hope prices go higher or there may soon be a time when there will be little or no food at any price.'

Another Food Price Riser: Cap and Trade Laws

2009-12-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

Apparently, under the new cap and trade legislation, money will be available for people who plant trees (to be paid for by industries who need to pollute). The net result: farm land taken out of production to grow trees, so food supply falls, leading price rises. It is also understood by all that increased fuel and fertilizer costs are baked into the legislation as well, which will also serve to drive up food costs.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/29/forests-vs-food-study-worries-agriculture-chief/

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has ordered his staff to revise a computerized forecasting model that showed that climate legislation supported by President Obama would make planting trees more lucrative than producing food.

The latest Agriculture Department economic-impact study of the climate bill, which passed the House this summer, found that the legislation would profit farmers in the long term. But those profits would come mostly from higher crop prices as a result of the legislation's incentives to plant more forests and thus reduce the amount of land devoted to food-producing agriculture.

The legislation would give free emissions credits, known as offsets, to farmers and landowners who plant forests and adopt low-carbon farm and ranching practices. Farmers and ranchers could sell the credits to help major emitters of greenhouse gases comply with the legislation. That revenue would help the farmers deal with an expected rise in fuel and fertilizer costs.

Allison Specht, an economist at the American Farm Bureau Federation, said other studies have largely confirmed the results of the EPA and Agriculture Department analysis. "That's one of the realities of cap-and-trade legislation. The biggest bang for your buck for carbon credits is planting trees," she said.

Food will Never Get this Cheap Again

2009-10-28T09:30:00.000-07:00

Great article by AEP in the Telegraph analyzing the world food commodities market, which has been stuck in deflation, while other commodities are inflating. Increasing high food demand due to population growth in food-importing regions seems to guarantee high prices in the future.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/6432538/Food-will-never-be-so-cheap-again.html

The world's grain stocks have dropped from four to 2.6 months cover since 2000, despite two bumper harvests in North America. China's inventories are at a 30-year low. Asian rice stocks are near danger level. Yet farm commodities have largely missed out on Bernanke's reflation rally in metals, oil, and everything else. Dylan Grice from Société Générale sees "bargain basement" prices.

Wheat has crashed 70pc from early 2008. Corn has halved. The "Ags" have mostly drifted sideways over the last six months. This divergence within the commodity family is untenable, given the bio-ethanol linkage to oil.

The world population is adding "another Britain" every year. This will continue until mid-century. By then we will have an extra 2.4bn mouths to feed.
China and Southeast Asia are switching to animal-protein diets as they grow wealthy, as the Koreans did before them. It takes roughly 3-5kgs of animal feed from grains to produce 1kg of meat.
A report by Standard Chartered, The End of Cheap Food, said North Africa and the Middle East have already hit the buffers. The region imports 71pc of its rice and 58pc of its corn. It lacks water to boost output. The population is growing fast. It will have to import, and cross fingers.
The UN says global farm yields must rise 77pc, which means redoubling Norman Borlaug's "green revolution". It will not be easy. China's trend growth in crops yields has slipped from 3.1pc a year in the early 1960s to 0.9pc over the last decade
"We've all heard the stark anecdotes: precious topsoil weakened by over-farming, dust clouds darkening the Asian skies, parched land becoming desert and rivers running dry," said Mr Grice.
Since 2000, China has lost nearly 1,400 square miles each year to desert. Urban sprawl is paving over fertile land in the East. Water supply from Himalayan glaciers is ebbing. The Yellow River has been reduced to "an agonising trickle". It no longer reaches the sea for 200 days a year.
Farmers are draining the aquifers. Environmentalist Ma Jun says in China's Water Crisis that they are drilling as deep as 1,000 metres into non-replenishable reserves. The grain region of the Hai River Basin relies on groundwater for 70pc of irrigation.
China's water troubles are not unique. North India lives off Himalayan snows as well. Nor can we take fertiliser supply for granted any longer since "peak phosphates" threatens.

One can be Malthusian about this. Grizzled commodity guru Jim Rogers certainly is. "The world is going to have a period when we cannot get food at any price, in some parts." He advises youth to opt for a farm degree rather than an MBA, if they want to make serious money.

Cuba Demonstrates Large Scale Low Tech Farming

2009-09-10T15:29:00.000-07:00

Cuba was hit with massive oil shortages after the fall of the Soviet Union, and their mechanical agriculture industry suffered greatly for it. However, they made the transition after a couple years. Quite an amazing story, providing a blueprint for how low-tech organically-based farming can work on a mass scale.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8213617.stm

Twenty years ago, Cuban agriculture looked very different. Between 1960 and 1989, a national policy of intensive specialised agriculture radically transformed Cuban farming into high-input mono-culture in which tobacco, sugar, and other cash crops were grown on large state farms.

Cuba exchanged its abundant produce for cheap, imported subsidised oil from the old Eastern Bloc. In fact, oil was so cheap, Cuba pursued a highly industrialised fuel-thirsty form of agriculture - not so different from the kind of farming we see in much of the West today. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the oil supply rapidly dried up, and, almost overnight, Cuba faced a major food crisis. Already affected by a US trade embargo, Cuba by necessity had to go back to basics to survive - rediscovering low-input self-reliant farming.

With no petrol for tractors, oxen had to plough the land. With no oil-based fertilisers or pesticides, farmers had to turn to natural and organic replacements. Today, about 300,000 oxen work on farms across the country and there are now more than 200 biological control centres which produce a whole host of biological agents in fungi, bacteria and beneficial insects.

Havana has almost 200 urban allotments - known as organiponicos - providing four million tonnes of vegetables every year - helping the country to become 90% self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables. The organiponico uses raised beds filled with about 50% high-quality organic material (such as manure), 25% composted waste such as rice husks and coffee bean shells, and 25% soil.

As well as marigolds, basil and neem trees are planted around the containers to keep the aphids and beetles at bay. Sunflowers and corn are also planted around the beds to attract beneficial insects such as ladybirds and lace wings. Sticky paper or plastic funnel-shaped bottles are positioned throughout the beds to trap harmful pests that do get into the garden.

At the time of the oil shock, average calorie consumption in Cuba dropped by a third to dangerously low levels. Since then they have bounced back and Cubans eat just a little less than people in the UK. The biggest difference is that a Western diet includes about three times as much food energy from animal products like meat and dairy.

Community Gardens Victims of Theft

2009-09-09T08:24:00.001-07:00

If you don't fence your yard, or put your garden where it is not visible to passers-by, this is pretty much inevitable. I think many upper middle class White gardeners, because of their upscale and moral neighbors, fail to appreciate the how common theivery is, in poor neighborhoods. People walking by will walk into your yard and literally just help themselves to your produce. It is aggravating, to say the least.

This article is from St. Louis, but it can happen anywhere a garden is put in a poor neighborhood. If you don't fence and hide your garden, you are inviting theivery. Sad, but just the reality of the American mentality. It's just a microcosm of our whole social contract: the do-gooders make the wealth, the ne'erdowells take the wealth, without any feeling of obligation whatsoever.

I agree with the biblical dictum, "He who doesn't work, doesn't eat."

http://www.newstribune.com/articles/2009/09/06/news_state/116state37veggies09.txt

Veggie Vandals: community gardens deal with theft

ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Community gardens in St. Louis are becoming less open to the community following a surge of thieves helping themselves to the bounty of fruit and vegetables.

In some cases, the people who pay a fee for the land and volunteer their time to cultivate the plots are being forced to place their gardens under lock and key.

"We've had people come in periodically when the tomatoes were especially ripe and taking a few," said Terry Lueckenhoff, one of the gardeners at the Fox Park community garden. "But this year, people have come in and cleaned the garden out."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the garden's 30 beds, filled with tomatoes, peppers and eggplants, are now locked behind a gate.

When Chickens are Outlawed, only Outlaws Will Have Chickens

2009-08-21T21:35:00.000-07:00

Luckily, chickens are legal in Mesa, Arizona! Up to 10, even with roosters, as long as they aren't too loud. See here http://www.mesaaz.gov/animalcontrol/faq.aspx.

However, some city folk in Indiana are not so lucky, and are forced by the tyrranical government into the Chicken Underground!

http://www.indystar.com/article/20090818/NEWS/908180375/1001

Late Summer Watermelons

2009-08-14T19:34:00.000-07:00

Amazing results for the watermelons, the only crop still standing after all this summer heat. Interplanting with the pumpkins turned out to be not quite the bad idea it looked like at first. The pumpkins have long died off, but watermelon vines are thriving, producing tons of little yellow flowers and lots of growing fruit.

The early variety of watermelon (sugar babies) already produced and died off, now the late variety (crimson) is kicking into high gear. You can see it here growing amid all the dried up corn stalks.

NY Times Notices Chicken Surge

2009-08-05T14:02:00.000-07:00

Apparently there has been a boom market in backyard chickens this past year, nationwide. Makes sense to me! http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/04/business/04chickens.html

My chickens are reaching maturity, managing the heat just fine. They are pretty birds. I've always been a bird person, so they are great pets in my book. The fact that you can eat their eggs (or them!!!) is just a bonus point.

Many people comment on the fact that raising chickens for eggs is not economically profitable, but so far I have not seen an analysis done when the cost of feed is offset using permaculture methods. Raising your own feed can certainly help offset costs.

The main source of money loss that I have encountered is that the little sparrows will fly into the coop and eat the chicken feed! I need to get out there an tighten up the netting, but in all this summer heat, I have not made the effort.

Delicious Watermelons

2009-07-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

Even watermelons are better when home grown! Softer rinds, and juicier. I have fallen in love with watermelons as an Arizona crop. The Sugar Babies produced much better than the other kinds for me. We ate this one so fresh, the juice was still warm from being out in the sun!

Big Max Pumpkins

2009-06-24T21:51:00.002-07:00

The Big Max variety has produced some big pumpkins, as billed, and has also lasted longest into the summer heat. The Jack-o-lantern variety produced more pumpkins, but they are smaller, and the plants have withered up for the most part by now. The Big Max pumpkins are still going strong.

2009-06-24T21:51:00.001-07:00

Sunflowers and Rainbows

2009-06-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Nice little double rainbow popped out yesterday at sunset, against the backdrop of a dark sky. The Creator's glorious handiwork nicely displayed!

The mammoth sunflower packet said 7-12 feet, and by gum, it delivered! Check these babies out, with my own sweet Mother Earth, a six foot lady, in the foreground for perspective.

Mother Earth with Sunflowers

Watermelons: a Great Arizona Crop

2009-06-17T13:19:00.000-07:00

Watermelons are handling the heat best, and they are much less space-intensive than the squash or pumpkins. I also notice they are setting just as much fruit as the pumpkins and squash. Here they are, growing well:

Heat Tolerant Vine Crops

2009-06-17T13:00:00.000-07:00

Planting heat tolerant crops is vital when Victory Gardening in Arizona during the summer. The following is a list in descending order of heat tolerance, among the traditional "summer" vine-type crops.

Most Heat Tolerant
Okra
Watermelon
Tomato
Pumpkin
Squash
Cucumber
Cantelope
Least Heat Tolerant

We have not had the hottest spring on record, its been pretty nice lately, in fact. We hovered around 100 degrees a couple weeks ago, but since then, it has been in the mid/upper 90's. Still, while not yet reaching the scorching 110's of true AZ summer, the crops can show daytime wilt.

The most prone to heat wilt, I have found, are cantelope, cucumbers, and squash, which get stressed out in the upper 90's.

So far, the okra and watermelons have had absolutely zero problem with the heat. The pumpkins are more mixed, but the jumbo variety is standing up the best.

The tomato leaves show some stress when the get a bit dry, but they handle the heat just fine for the most part.

Here is a nice trick I have found to keep the cucumber's happy: interplanting with the okra. The cucumbers seem to like the shade that the okra provides, but the okra is not as dominating as the pumkins or squash, for example. Nice companions, as you can see below, the cucumber is thriving under the okra, but getting burned up on its own.

Cucumber burning up on its own below

Giant Zucchini

2009-06-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

The zucchini is doing well! Not as prolific as I had hoped, but certain plants are producing well, and I will collect seed from them.

Flagstaff Victory Gardens

2009-06-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Here is an article about the community (i.e. government sponsored) victory gardens in Flagstaff:

http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2009/06/14/news/local/20090614_local_198125.txt

Like affordable downtown Flagstaff apartments, plots at community gardens are hot commodities. There are more people now longing to churn their own patches of dirt than garden plots available, says the city. Apartment and condo dwellers are signing up on waiting lists. "In fact, I've been out there gardening and people have stopped by, saying 'Hey, do you know whether there are any plots coming open?'" said Todd Barnell, a gardener who has a space in one community garden.

Reacting to that demand, plus complaints from some that their beloved gardens on donated land come and go at the whim of the landowners, the city has started its first community garden along the Rio de Flag, at Bonito Street and Elm Avenue. It comes in addition to about five community gardens, and could be the first of a few. "You know, the economy has not been all that great, and they're very limited on the existing community gardens," said Joe Haughey, a Flagstaff city councilman who came up with the idea after reading about Victory Gardens grown during World War II. "This is sort of a pilot project to basically create a template so that we could have a bunch of them around town next year," Haughey said.

Barnell and his partner use their plot to grow food, as does another garden member who grinds her own wheat to make bread. "An awful lot of people who use community gardens in this town are using them to supplement their actual supply of food," Barnell said. "... It's not just for fun. It's a way to actually save money on your food." He grows and dries beans, which he eats all winter.

Gardeners at Elm and Bonito pay $35 a year for an 80-square-foot plot. The fee is mainly for the expense of water in a garden that takes up a small fraction of a city block. For groups, it's $65 for 160 square feet. "I think they're going to provide an excellent opportunity for education of school children and get people back to the idea of knowing where their food comes from," said Bob Hoffa, city conservation manager. The first one will likely serve 15 or 20 gardeners and opened May 23.

It is hoped that any excess food could be donated to food banks, and some sort of food contribution could become part of the rent in the city gardens in the future, Hoffa said.

The city spent about $2,000 building the garden, along with water infrastructure. Previously, gardeners using community gardens have become discouraged when their donated land has been redirected for other use, or when land owners have told them they didn't like the sight of certain plants, said Barnell, who also sits on the city's sustainability commission. Haughey is calling the garden a victory or community garden, and a way to cut some of the greenhouse gas emissions generated in transporting food to Flagstaff.

In a time of rationing food domestically to feed troops, Flagstaff was probably home to many Victory Gardens during World War II, said local author and historian John Westerlund. "Because so much food was required for the U.S. serviceman fighting overseas, people in the U.S. were encouraged to grow some for themselves," he said.

To learn more about the city of Flagstaff community gardens, call Bob Hoffa at 213-3600.

Concerns Mount Over Sharp Rise in Food Costs

2009-06-11T13:51:00.000-07:00

The food shortages and price spike of last summer feels like a distant memory at this point, especially after the collapse in commodity prices over the winter. But.... They're baaaaa'aaack! Investor speculation, falling dollar, supply shortages, all conspiring to drive an up-spike again, and here we are at just the beginning of summer. From an article originally in the Financial Times:

After a year worrying about the piggy bank, the world economy is turning its attention to the cupboard. Almost unnoticed, agricultural commodities prices have returned to levels last seen at the start of the 2007-2008 food crisis, prompting concerns about a fresh rise in food costs. The increase in soybean, corn, and wheat prices – to their highest level in eight to nine months and up more than 50 per cent from their December lows – comes on the back of strong Chinese demand, a forecast of lower supply due to reduced planting, and the impact of a drought in Latin America. Traders say hedge funds and other big institutional investors, including sovereign wealth funds from the Middle East, have poured money into the agricultural market, helping to drive commodities prices higher as the US dollar weakens.

The surge in prices is a reminder of how the world’s food security has deteriorated, after years of comfortable surpluses, analysts and executives say. “Agricultural markets are fairly nervous,” says an agricultural commodities analyst at Barclays Capital in London. “We are not in the comfortable food surplus environment of the 1980s and 1990s.” Mike Mack, chief executive of Syngenta, one of the largest manufacturers of chemicals for agriculture, echoes a widely held view when he says that although the “headlines from the past year on the food crisis have been replaced by those on the economic crisis”, the “long-term challenge to produce enough food” has not disappeared.'

The price of soymeal – critical for fattening livestock such as chickens and hogs – has moved above $405 a ton, a level only seen for a brief period in 1973 and during four weeks at the peak of last year’s crisis. The rise has pushed the price of ready-to-cook chicken in the US to the highest in a decade.

In rare public comments, Christopher Mahoney, a director at Glencore Grain, the secretive trading house based in Rotterdam, warned last week that supplies of some agricultural commodities such as corn and soy were “pretty tight”. Lewis Hagedorn, an agricultural commodities analysts at JPMorgan in New York, describes the situation as one of anxiety but not yet alarm. “We are approaching a level of concern with respect to inventories in some areas, although we are not presently in a crisis mode. We are not well prepared from a supply and demand balance sheet perspective to absorb any weather-related surprise.”

The immediate concern is soy, both because of its use as food but even more as livestock feed. Strong Chinese consumption, as the country’s diet moves from vegetables to meat, and the crop failure in Argentina, the world’s third largest exporter, have created extraordinary pressure on US supplies, sending inventories down to the lowest level in 40 years. Soybean prices on Tuesday hit $12.45½ a bushel, a fresh nine-month high. Soy is trading at the level of April 2008, after rising almost 60 per cent from its December’s low. Soya is, nonetheless, still below last year’s record of $16.5 a bushel.

Looking at the 2009-10 season, analysts fear a drop in cereals production, in corn and, to a lesser extent, in wheat, as farmers cut their planted acreage in response to low prices last autumn, higher cost for inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides, and difficulties securing finance in some countries. Production in countries such as Ukraine and Brazil is down because farmers did not have access to credit.

http://www.examiner.com/x-6012-State-of-the-World-Examiner~y2009m6d11-Concerns-mount-over-sharp-rise-in-food-costs

The Future of Food: Factory Buildings

2009-06-08T11:40:00.000-07:00

Great article about "the future of food", practiced in Japan today: completely enclosed in a "food factory" laboratory, with all elements (light, water, oxygen, C02, even dust) controlled like a microchip clean room.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1190392/Is-future-food-Japanese-plant-factories-churn-immaculate-vegetables-24-hours-day.html

Obviously, such food is capital-intensive, and only makes sense in certain economic environments. Such as high land prices, cheap electricity, expensive labor, high technology, and protectionist walls against imported food (i.e. all the conditions that prevail in Japan and Japan only). Given America's cheap land and cheap labor, such food is not going to be cost effective.

But it is fascinating, isn't it? Food that has never touched soil, dirt, or bugs, never seen the sun or felt the wind. Kinda spooky, really. Space ship colonies, here we come!

Small Farm Tractor Advice

2009-06-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Couple of useful letters follow, published over at Surivival Blog:

James,I just wanted to respond to the recent article on small tractors. In 1981 my wife and I bought 12 acres and started market gardening, selling produce locally. I grew about 3 acres of produce each year and put up hay for animals. Our first big investment at the time was a BCS 725 machine with the tiller and sickle-bar mower attachments. We used that machine, and used it hard.
Today it's 2009 and I just finished cutting hay and putting in my green bean patch, using that 725. It's still on the original engine, which has never been rebuilt, only annual oil changes for the last 27 years. It no longer starts on the first pull, these days it starts on the second pull each time, but guess I can't complain too loud about that.

In my life I must admit I've made very few incredibly good investments, but that Model 725 is definitely one of them. It's saved me untold labor and has just simply worked for 27 years without a bit of trouble. It's like an old Ford 8N, it just keeps running and doing what it's supposed to do. Old farm equipment was made to last forever, the BCS machines are farm equipment, not cheap consumer toys. The price reflects it, but from my opinion they're a bargain in the long run. Highly recommended. - Bobalu

Hello Mr. Rawles,Regarding the recent letters on micro-farm tractors, I have another viewpoint for your consideration.

In addition to the Troy-Bilt Horse rear tine tiller and other tools scaled for 1-2 acres, I have also purchased a larger farm tractor to better suit the conditions in and around my retreat. The recent letter mentioned Ford 9Ns and Farmalls. While these are still very common and many 9Ns are still in service, they are of 1940s-1950s vintage. My personal choice was a Massey Ferguson 100 series diesel tractor (135 or 165, for example). These were built between the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, and have decades of excellent service history with much information available online (for you to save on paper now).

There were several factors leading me to this decision:
I obtained the tractor from a seller on Craigslist for a bargain price. This allowed me to retain a budget for maintenance rather than blowing it all up front on a new machine. While the peripheral systems needed attention, the engine and transmission were rock solid. The Perkins Diesel engines are renowned for reliability and durability. My updates and repairs serve two purposes: Restoring the mechanical soundness of the machine and its systems, and forcing me to become familiar with the repair and upkeep now. This is a mechanical restoration only – it needs to work, not look good. Surprisingly, every part that my 40 year old tractor has needed was both in stock and relatively inexpensive. While it’s comforting to “gear up”, eventually you will have to repair what you buy. Two years after TSHTF is not the ideal time to start the learning curve on your life-sustaining equipment. An old tractor you have mechanically zero-timed before the world comes to grief will give years of reliable service, and you will have the experience of your earlier work to guide future repairs.

While a larger tractor is overkill for a few acres, it is compatible with most all the equipment on surrounding farms. 1960s and 1970s tractors will have modern 3-point hitches with the ability to add additional hydraulics. The Massey-Ferguson 165, at 53 horsepower, can run a myriad of equipment that might overtax a smaller tractor. In addition to your own needs, you will have the option of volunteering to help your neighbor prepare his field or bring in his crop, using your extra muscle and standard 3-point hookups. That would be a Grade-A trade for food, fuel, or assistance when you need it, as opposed to showing up with a shovel and asking “what can I do to help?”
A larger tractor will also turn and disk your two acres in a hurry! I have collected smaller 3 point hitch equipment, like a two-bottom moldboard turning plow and a disk harrow, very inexpensively. The equipment is old, but made of such heavy steel that it still has decades of life left in it. Another barter option is to quickly prepare ground for other small-scale neighbors that may have purchased less durable equipment. Attempting to till up hard, fallow ground, even with a rear-tine tiller, is tough on the equipment and the person. Your tractor with plow and harrow would make short work of that fallow ground, allowing the rear-tine tiller to finish much more quickly and without the mechanical abuse.

The other posts mentioned diesel-engined ATVs. I respectfully submit that this may be a case of can rather than should. While you can pull a disk or maybe even a small all-purpose plow, the machine simply does not have the tractor-like durability to stake your family’s future on using the ATV as a tractor long-term. By the time you have bought a rare diesel ATV with ATV-specific implements, you might as well have bought an older, real tractor with standard 3-point implements for the money. Remember, from a duty cycle perspective (if I may anthropomorphize), I’d want my tractor to think: “wow, that was only two acres” as opposed to the ATV thinking: “Wow, that was two acres!”
On the issue of noise, I agree that a stock machine can be heard a ways off. However, the noise can be significantly reduced by using non-standard exhausts. If your goal is to prevent advertisement of your activity, it is time well spent to install a series of mufflers which will deaden the roar of a working engine. That slight drop in horsepower might be worth the relative quiet. This is true of your rear tine tiller as well as any other equipment. As an example, I have an old Onan generator with a high volume double muffler that some guys at a muffler shop helped me rig up. I can stand right next to the thing while it’s running, and carry on a conversation with only slightly raised voices.
Thank you for your efforts, Mr. Rawles! - J.I.C.

Chicken Coops and a Guide to Processing

2009-06-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

Learned an nice tip this past weekend when building your coop: don't use chicken wire, use stucco netting. It is chicken wire, but it is 3 feet high instead of 4 feet, and one gauge smaller wire size. On a square footage basis, it is about 1/3 the cost.

I got mine at Home Depot. The stucco netting is not in same aisle as the fencing and chicken wire. You have to look for the rolls of it in the construction stuff, in the drywall aisle.

My hens have not even started laying yet, but I'm always thinking ahead.

Here is a guide to killing and bleeding the birds:
http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2006/08/processing-chickens-with-my-son.html

Here is a quick guide to ease the process of scalding your own birds, which makes plucking easy:

http://thedeliberateagrarian.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-properly-scald-chicken-my-never.html

Here is a blog devoted to explaining the whole process of processing your own chickens:

http://butcherachicken.blogspot.com/

Okra - the Hot Weather Veggie

2009-05-31T23:04:00.000-07:00

Without a doubt, the okra is doing the best in the early summer heat. While the squash, cucumbers, sunflowers, and pumpkins droop in the daily furnace, nary a sign of wilt in any of the okra. Very impressive.

And to top it all off, the prettiest flowers of all! Really exotic looking.

More info on okra:

The pods should be picked or cut off while they are tender and immature, just 2 to 3 inches long. They must be picked often—at least every other day. When the stem is difficult to cut, the pod is probably too old to use. The large pods rapidly become tough and woody.

Okra seed does not keep well. Buy fresh seed each season, or save seed of non- hybrid varieties yourself by allowing a few pods on your best plant to mature. When the pods turn brown and begin to split at the seams, harvest them and shell the seeds from the pods. Dry seed thoroughly for several days, then store in a cool, dry place in tightly closed containers until next season.

Refrigerate unwashed, dry okra pods in the vegetable crisper. Wet pods will quickly mold and become slimy. Okra will keep for only two or three days.

Okra exudes a unique juice which is responsible for its thickening power in the famous Louisiana Creole gumbo dish. Aside from gumbo, okra compliments tomatoes, onions and corn, shellfish and fish stock. Okra has a subtle taste, similar to the flavor of eggplant.

Okra is a powerhouse of valuable nutrients. Nearly half of which is soluble fiber in the form of gums and pectins. Soluble fiber helps to lower serum cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease. The other half is insoluble fiber which helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy decreasing the risk of some forms of cancer, especially colorectal cancer. Nearly 10% of the recommended levels of vitamin B6 and folic acid are also present in a half cup of cooked okra.

Nutrition Facts (1/2 cup sliced, cooked okra)

Calories 25
Dietary Fiber 2 grams
Protein 1.52 grams
Carbohydrates 5.76 grams
Vitamin A 460 IU
Vitamin C 13.04 mg
Folic acid 36.5 micrograms
Calcium 50.4 mg
Iron 0.4 mg
Potassium 256.6 mg
Magnesium 46 mg

Okra recipes southernfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa081401a.htm

Growing Berries in Arizona

2009-05-29T13:21:00.000-07:00

I have learned this spring one simple lesson with berries in Arizona: if you want thriving plants, water thoroughly every day.

My strawberries and bababerries were beginning to struggle in the late-spring heat being watered only every other day. I am sad to say my blueberry has not survived, probably because I watered it only a couple times a week (as it was in an odd part of the yard).

As soon as I started the daily waterings, the strawberries and bababerries perked up, stopped browning at the edges, and started growing and fruiting again. The loganberry was doing well even bi-daily, but now it is growing even faster.

I keep the strawberry in a protected space, getting less than half a day of full sun. I tried a full-sun strawberry as an experiment, but, as I suspected, it died. The bababerries and loganberry are in full sun.

Great Companions: Wheat & Peas

2009-05-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

The winter wheat and peas I bought from Native Seed SEARCH have done really really well. I planted them in late spring, way after the guides said I should, just because I was excited and didn't want to wait 7 months.

(click on pic for larger image)

Well, somehow, despite them being winter crops, it has worked out pretty good, with the wheat now maturing on the stalk and even the peas surviving in full sun, long after all the other peas and grasses have totally burned up. The trick, without a doubt, was intensive planting, and the surprising companion relationship between the peas and wheat. Being local varieties has probably helped as well.

The wheat stalks have provided a perfect scafolding for the peas to latch on to and grow with. As well as providing some nice shade so the ground stays moist and cool.

To top it all off, this is on totally unimproved Arizona soil. I added absolutely zero fertilizer for this bed, no bonemeal, no bloodmeal, nothin'! It was just a test patch, but it has turned into a great lesson on local varieties, companions, and intensive methods. Next time I will more carefully balance the peas to wheat ratio, plant earlier, and fertilize, and I can't wait to see the results.

(click on pic for larger image)

Chickens Love Beets

2009-05-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

I read it on the internet, so of course, it had to be true! And now I can verify from experience: Chickens love beets.

They really like the leaves. More than lettuce leaves or anything else I've thrown in there, and they like the leaves even when they are young. At some point, they figured out that they also like the red root part.

It's a pretty gruesome sight after the flock gets done eating beets, with the beaks all wet and red!

Corn maturing

2009-05-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

The corn plants are huge, and the corn is forming!

The same goes for the mom, and the baby...

How to Get Rid of Bermuda Grass

2009-05-05T09:13:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, bermuda grass, gardeners' bane, the devil's own anti-victory-garden weed.

Most often you will hear of mulching as a solution to control weeds, but ha! Bermuda grass laughs at your mulch.

Mulch keeps the soil nice and moist for it, and it just pushes right up through the mulch to the fresh air and sunshine above. Yes, mulch, it just helps your bermuda grass grow, and then makes it harder to dig out. Mulch might work if the area was already totally cleared of the bermuda grass, but if you already have no bermuda grass, you don't need this guide, now do you?

For those of us battling the evil scourge, here is how you do it, the number one best anti-bermuda grass method.

It all starts with tilling the soil. If you aren't tilling the grassy area, you are already a step behind. As an Arizona gardener, tilling is not just a way to loosen the soil, oh no, it is far more. For us, tilling is a preemptive offensive strike, the necessary first step in battling a vicious enemy!

You see, bermuda grass is like an iceberg, 9/10 of it underground. If you aren't striking at the roots, you are wasting your time. It would be like trying to cut off the top of the ice berg. Sure, you can whack the top, but more of it would immediately pop right up. Same with bermuda grass.

Shovel-loosening the earth is not good enough. Sure it will loosen the soil. The bermuda grass roots will thank you for the nice loose earth, in fact. If you only have a shovel, you absolutely must run your hands through the loose soil, inch by inch, and remove any and all bermuda roots you find.

The real trick is to shred, utterly decimate and dice, its root structure. Of course, that is just the opening salvo. It will slow it down a little bit, like Wolverine getting shot in the head, but it will come back. But shredding the roots with a deep tilling is a great start, and will set its growth cycle back for a few weeks or longer, a very nice start.

Now, your soil is rich and loose, and your favorite little seedlings are working their happy way up to the sun, stretching their cute stems and precious leaves up to the bright clear sky, when BOOM it happens. Thick, nasty, mean-looking bermuda shoots come up right next to it! You try to pluck it out, but the green part just snaps off in your fingers at ground level. Like a salamander loosing its tail, the main body of grass lies safely underground, snickering at your pathetic attempts to dislodge it. Tomorrow it is back with more shoots, brazenly asserting its dominance of your gardend space. Time, it knows, is on its slide, and it knows you dare not re-dig now, lest you kill your tender young friendly seedlings with your clumsy spade work. It is a nasty nightmare scenario faced by every Arizona victory gardener... You cuss, and sweat, and loath, and fear.... But what can you do?

Put that spade away, friend, there is a better way! For, if you have taken my good advice so far, the soil is nice and loose from your tilling. Now, it won't look like it, this is Arizona afterall, so what you see on top is probably more like hardpan, but trust in your work, friend. Under the top crust, the soil is loose. The key decision comes now. If you attempt to "weed" with the top all crusty like that, the top of the grass will just rip off from the hardpan. Instead, relax, and irrigate. Yup, that's right, just water, nice and high, let that aich too oh just pile up, and sink in nice and deep. Take a few minutes, crack a beer open, and savor your coming victory, for the moment of triumph is at hand.

Now, you can't rush it, you have to let the water sink in, and soften up the top crust back to its gently muddy and silty condition. Then, when the soil is all muddy and soft, irrigate again, covering the garden with anothe inch of water.

Then, and only then, reach down and start your weeding. Grip the grass a bit below the soil level, down where it is white not green, and shake it a little as you slowly pull it. The deeper you grab it, the better, and since the mud is so soft, you can dig your fingers in real easy a inch down if you need.

The bermuda grass, so tough and nasty beforehand, is now as pliant and gentle as a babe. It will rise up out of the mud with no effort at all, hardly even disturbing the soil. Long inches of the white roots will slide right out, and you can pat the mud right back down to fill any hole it leaves.

Your precious seedlings a mere inch away will probably not even notice. You are probably just pulling out short strands at this time, not any big root bunches, because the previous tilling shredded it up so well. If you didn't till, the big root bunches will still be intact, and their removal will disturb the soil much more. But if you previously tilled properly, the strands will come right out, smooth as silk.

It works best when you do it in standing water, not just mud. The standing water lubricates the roots as they are pulled out, letting you get real long ones. Pulling them out from soft mud without standing water will work, but not as well, as more of them will break off in the ground. Plus, the standing water keeps your hands from getting too muddy, which can be a real problem as our Arizona clay clumps up in big chunks on your hands and fingers.

Here I am digging my fingers in to get ahold of the roots:

Check out the length of that root I just pulled out:
(Click on pic for closeup)

Well, that about encapsulates my method. 1- Till, good and deep to shred the roots. 2- Irrigate. 3- Weed only in soft mud, with standing water.

Pretty simple, but pretty darn effective. Pulling the root out smoothly without breaking it will eliminate bermuda from your garden forever. Let me know if you try it, and how it works for you.

Wild Wheat Harvested

2009-04-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

A lot of Arizonans do not water their lawns during the winter, when the bermuda grass goes dormant, but just for the fun of it, I started watering a few years ago.

At first, just an odd and ugly collection of weeds popped up on that barren land, which I would dutifully cut with my lawnmower, hoping I was at least helping the soil a bit with the mulch. But gradually, over a few winters, the content of the winter lawn began to change.

Wouldn't you know it, my winter lawn went from totally wild to semi-tame! The object of my love was definitely the wild yellow clover, which is so soft and sweet looking. (Let's never mind the nasty sharp seed pods it puts out in April when it dries up, for the moment...) I even harvested the clover seed this year, thinking to maybe use it in the back yard coming up, to help restore the garden soil.

All kinds of grasses, for sure, also come up in the wild front year. But this year, most spectacularly, wild wheat! For some reason, tons of it came up this year. Once I realized what it was, I stopped mowing it, and just let it grow. Next year I am going to plant this wild winter wheat like a real farmer, by gum. The grains are as big and soft as the ones in the seed packet I paid three bucks for, it is the real thing for sure.

Radish seeds

2009-04-28T22:50:00.000-07:00

Radish seeds are cool! I did not expect them to look like little pea pods, but there they are!

Update:
The birds ate them all. Every... Last... One... Thousands of tender little seed pods cracked open, seeds devoured. I guess they were as tender and juicy as they looked. So much for saving the seeds this year. But, a great knowledge source nontheless. All in all, a really useful crop. What you don't eat in salads, you can let go to seed and feed your chickens.

Flowering Favas

2009-04-28T22:40:00.000-07:00

The favas have responded to the cooler weather this week, and to being under a peg board for some protection from the sun. They are growing well, and putting out some nice cute little white flowers. Yes, I was crazy to plant favas in late February, but it looks like I'm getting my seeds worth! ha

Broccoli flowers

2009-04-25T22:54:00.000-07:00

My winter row of broccoli was an almost complete failure, producing only one broccoli plant. It is probably our favorite dinner veggie, but I just had to sit and watch it grow mouth-wateringly large, without harvesting it. It's cool though, I love watching broccoli flower.

The Secret to Arizona Gardening: High Berms

2009-04-25T22:42:00.000-07:00

Berms and deep watering.

I just raised up and strengthened my berms this week, to help the plants cope with the extra heat. Small berms are ok for the mild spring months, when just a light soaking will keep the soil moist. But for the 90+ degree days of late spring/early summer, a deeper soaking is necessary.

With only shallow watering, the plant roots only grow shallowly, because the water never really penetrates the soil more than an inch or so. With deep watering, the soil will get moist deep down, and the roots will follow. Those deep roots will keep your plants much healthier when the real hot days hit.

So in order to get those deep waterings, you have to let the water pile up and sit for awhile, and slowly set down in where you want it to go. I recommend berm edges at least 4 inches high all around your growing area. That way you can flood your growing area with 2-3 inches of water at a time, and the water stays right where you want it.

Just be careful to watch that the water doesn't rise above the berm edge. Once the water flows over the edge, it will quickly rip a huge hole in your berm wall and all the water will escape.

Is Amaranth Good for Chicken Feed

2009-04-13T11:54:00.000-07:00

I have run into a couple internet discussions that questioned the wisdom of using amaranth for chicken feed. Someone had mentioned that he found one study that questioned the use of amaranth for chickens, because of of anti-nutritional factors (tannins, trypsin inhibitors, lectins, and saponins) that can actually lead to weight loss or sickness in chickens.

However, after having researched a number of scientific papers on the subject, it seems those negative results only occurred when over-feeding amaranth, above 20% of total feed, to very young chickens. When used as a reasonable portion of a balanced mix, amaranth has been shown to have a number of beneficial effects.

For example, one study concluded:

It follows from the results of our work, that amaranth has a high nutrient value, low toxicity and makes an essential positive influence on productivity, integrity and physiological state of egg-laying hens of practically all age groups, without the increase of both cost and consumption of forages. Such effect of amaranth is exclusevely the result of normalization of metabolic processes and intensification of functional activity of basic organism systems. The positive effects, which were revealed by us, are related, on the one hand, to the high content of irreplaceable amino acids in amaranth, and on the other hand, to the unique vitamin, lipid and mineral composition of amaranth.

A second study found: The suitability of amaranth grain or green parts for animal diets has been tested in trials on rats, lambs, rabbits, ruminants, pigs and broiler chickens. In most of the trials, no negative effects on feed intake, feed conversion and live weight gains were recorded. Our results showed that amaranth can fully replacemeat-and-bone meals in the diets for broiler chickens.

A further study concluded:
High content of crude protein, favourable composition of amino acids and fibre of raw amaranth grain and high coefficients of apparent digestibilityof nutrients in a diet with 10% amaranth grain predetermine raw amaranth grain to be a suitable supplement of conventional feeds in feed mixtures for broiler chickens.

The original study above points out that even if young chickens who are overfed amarath have slight problems, full grown chickens don't have any problem with it: "results from a trial conducted during one stage of growth need not reflect the response at some other stage due to the systematic changes that took place as the bird aged. The improved performance of older birds on amaranth diets in the current study indicated that the grain might be more suitable in broiler finisher diets."

The study concluded that the anti-nutrative factors of raw grain amaranth were not significant: "Utilisation of the grain improved with age of the birds demonstrating that raw grain amaranth would be more suitable as an ingredient for broiler finisher diets. Histopathological changes of the internal organs were generally moderate and could not be attributed to the feeding of amaranth."

The positive benefits of amaranth on chicken diets have been well-established, even finding that amaranth can replace protein supplements:

Nutrient digestibility of feed mixtures with 10% crude, heat treated amaranth grain or of amaranth-free diet was studied in balance trials on male broiler chickens. Higher coefficients of nutrient digestibility (crude protein,ether extract, NDF, ADF, and gross energy) were recorded in the diet with crude amaranth grain compared to amaranth-free diet. Sensory indicators of meat of chicken broilers fed diets supplemented with 10% amaranth (crude or heat treated amaranth grain and dried biomass) were examined. Meat samples from chickens fed amaranth in the diet showed better in all sensory indicators under testing (taste,tenderness, texture, colour) compared to the diet containing fish meal.

No negative effects of diets with amaranth on the above indicators were observed. Higher content of fibre in dry amaranth exerted no effect on the studied indicators. Similarly, other studies did not find differences in live weights of broiler chickens fed diets with amaranth both heat treated and untreated, compared to the control.

Experimental groups of chickens fed amaranth containing diets gave results that were comparable in all performance characteristics with the control group fed animal protein.

Amaranth

2009-04-09T16:55:00.000-07:00

So far, most disappointingly, my amaranth crop has been a near-total failure. Out of the thousands of tiny seeds deposited in 3 rows, I have seen a grand total of 3 seedlings, only one of which surives. But boy, if I can only get one of them to thrive, they do produce seeds in abundance! I may have to order another seed packet, 'cause I do love the sight of those tall purple amaranth stalks!

I was really hoping to produce a big heap of chicken feed out of all those seeds. The nutritious leaves would be perfect for chickens and rabbits too. Here is some info on why the amaranth grain could be so useful, although not part of our traditional American gardening culture.

Amaranthus grain contains a high level of protein, between 16%-18%, much more than the cereals of the Poaceae family (grass family: wheat, barley, oats, rice, corn, etc). On the other hand the protein found in Amaranthus is one of the most balanced known and this fact alone is sufficient to consider the Amaranthus as one of the most promising plants for the nutrition of mankind.

If the ideal protein (according to the values of the FAO) is placed at 100, it is very interesting to compare the values of the most widely used proteins. The protein in Amaranthus (as well as in Quinoa) reaches a value of 75, corn reaches a value of 44, wheat a value of 60, Soya a value of 68 and cows milk a value of 72.

The protein of cereals used in the West is very poor in lysine, one of the amino acids essential for good health. Amaranthus contains twice as much lysine as wheat and 3 times as much as corn. The National Academy of Science in the USA has established that a mixture of corn flour and Amaranthus flour would give the ideal protein level of 100.

The nutritional value of Amaranthus grain is one of the essential qualities of indexing, of the evaluation and improvement of thousands of plants used by all the peoples of the planet. Thus at the NBPGR in Shimla, in India, researchers have discovered varieties of Amaranthus containing as much as 22% protein and as much as 7% lysine in the protein, although the average was 5.5%. Once again it should be stressed that this level of lysine in Amaranthus grain is essential to the diet of the Third World whose basic foodstuff is nearly always cereal.

As well as its protein, Amaranthus grain contains a lot of calcium, phosphorous, iron, potassium, zinc, vitamin E and vitamin B. It is this nutritional wealth which places the value of Amaranthus leaves above all other leaf vegetables. The leaves of Amaranthus are in fact an excellent source of carotene, iron, calcium, protein, vitamin C and other trace elements. By way of comparison there are for example in the leaves of grain Amaranthus, 3 times more vitamin C, 10 times more carotene, 15 times more iron and 40 times more calcium than in tomatoes. The leaves of Amaranthus contain 3 times more vitamin C, 3 times more calcium and 3 times more niacin than spinach leaves.

Let us take for example Amaranthus palmeri, widely eaten by the Yaqui, Papago and Pima peoples of the Sonora desert in America. It contains 3 times more calories, 18 times more vitamin A, 13 times more vitamin C, 20 times more calcium and 7 times more iron than lettuce!

Amaranthus, whether grain or leaf, constitutes a veritable solar factory. It is one of the privileged plants of the planet, which use a system of photosynthesis called C4. This means of photosynthesis is particularly efficient in conditions of drought, extreme heat and great solar intensity. It allows these plants to convert twice the amount of solar energy into ‘growth’ than plants, which use the system called C3, and with the same amount of water. The productivity of Amaranthus varies considerably according to the variety, climate, richness of the soil, etc.

It can yield between 500kg and 5 tonnes a hectare. The varieties introduced into USA by the Rodale institute and other centres, such as Plainsman and K432, are said to produce on average 2 tonnes per hectare. Yields up to 6 tonnes a hectare have been achieved on certain experimental plots.

The seeds of the Amaranthus plant are incredibly tiny and so a gramme will contain 1,000 seeds and possibly as many as 3,000 seeds. It is not unusual to have magnificent panicles of more than 100,000 seeds. It has even been reported that 1 plant contained as many as 450,000 seeds. This is hardly surprising when you see a self-sown plant, unimpeded by other plants, reaching 3m in height with a width of 1m and with stems 5cm across at the nose.

from: http://www.kokopelli-seed-foundation.com/amaranths.html

Beet Update!

2009-04-07T23:49:00.000-07:00

Beets, doing well. Why am I even growing them? I have no idea. I have never eaten a beet in my life. I hope they are good. Because my beet bed is smokin!

Favas dealing with heat, and flowering broccoli

2009-04-07T23:38:00.001-07:00

Well, the hot weather the last couple days is definitely stressing out the favas. It's cool to see them turn up their leaves in the heat of the day. So far they are doing remarkably well for what is supposed to be a winter-only crop. Not wilting, just turning up their leaves.

Other heat signs: broccoli going to flower!

Bababerries ripening!

2009-04-07T23:35:00.000-07:00

We shall see how these cute little hot weather raspberries taste! The first fruit ripening of the year, beating even the strawberries.

Pumpkin & Watermelon

2009-04-03T00:11:00.000-07:00

My pumpkin vines are going nuts. I interplanted with corn, and the corn is having a hard time keeping up. I actually have had to thin a handful of the pumpkin plants, as well as whack off a few of their big leaves to give some of the corn some light.

Thriving pumpkin plants:

Pumpkin/Corn interplanting:

The pumpkins are also leaving the watermelons behind. Luckily, I did not interplant them, so the watermelons have time to grow a bit before being totally dominated.

Little Watermelon plants:

Stawberries Doing Well

2009-04-03T00:07:00.001-07:00

My strawberries are doing well in the partial shade raised bed environment. I put one out in the field in full sun, just to see how it does by comparison, and the raised bed/partial shade ones are definitely doing better, even though they get far far less sun.

You can see the little green berries forming! I hope they are as sweet and sugary as I remember.

Nasturtium

2009-04-03T00:03:00.000-07:00

Hi Stacey, here is a pic of my wild nasturtium. You can see it came up in the little crack between the patio and the raised bed. It is in a protected place, getting mostly shade all day, filtered through a tree, and gets full shade in the late afternoon.

It is doing better there then the ones I planted out in full sun! Go figure.

Corn, Wheat, and Soy

2009-04-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

The typical gardening book is focused on vegetables, and maybe herbs and flowers. But the serious Victory Gardener might also be concerned with the basic staple foods known as grains. Grains are the basis for much of what we eat, and can be used to feed livestock and chickens as well.

I just found this cool little knowledge tidbit, maybe it will help you, related to calculations on your fertilizer inputs for the three big staples:

Corn consumes roughly 5.6 times more fertilizer than soybeans and 2.5 times more nutrients than wheat. Wheat consumes roughly 2.2 times as much fertilizer as soybeans. Nutrients being measured by pounds per acre, combined nitrogen + phosphate + potash.

Orchard Update

2009-03-27T00:16:00.000-07:00

I am frankly amazed and gratified at how well my first year trees are doing! All of them, in fact, survived, and all of them have now sent out shoots and flowers.

Pomegranate, one of the last to shoot:

Plum, the very last to green up and flower:

Cute little peach:

Nectarine, such pretty flowers:

Aprium, oddball apricot/plum mix, on a peach rootstock:

Apple tree, coming nicely:

Almond, an incredible tree:

Light, Medium, and Heavy Feeders

2009-03-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

Light Feeders (minimal fertilizer required)
Alfalfa, Beans, Clover, Carrot, Garlic, Leek, Mustard Greens, Onion, Peas, Peanut, Soybeans, Sweet Potato

Heavy Feeders (fertilize soil well before planting)
Amaranth, Asparagus, Beet, Cauliflower, Celery, Lettuce, Okra, Parsley, Pepper, Potato, Radish, Spinach, Strawberry, Sunflower, Wheat

Super Heavy Feeders (fertilize at least 2x)
Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cantaloupe, Corn, Eggplant, Pumpkin, Tomato, Watermelon, Squash

Expected Yields per crop

2009-03-24T23:21:00.000-07:00

Vegetables - Average Crop Expected Per 100 Feet

Bean Crops
Beans, Snap Pole 150 lb.
Beans, Snap Bush 120 lb.
Beans, Lima Pole 50 lb. shelled
Peas, Southern 40 lb.
Beans, Lima Bush 25 lb. shelled
Peas, English 20 lb.
Soybeans 20 lb.

Vine Crops
Watermelon 40 fruits
Squash, Summer 150 lb
Cucumbers 120 lb.
Eggplant 100 lb.
Muskmelon 100 fruits
Pumpkins 100 lb..
Squash, Winter 100 lb.

Veggie Crops
Corn, Sweet 120 cobs
Broccoli 100 lb.
Cauliflower 100 lb.
Okra 100 lb.
Tomatoes 100 lb.
Brussels Sprouts 75 lb.
Peppers 60 lb.
Celery 180 stalks

Leaf Crops
Cabbage 150 lb.
Lettuce, Head 100 heads
Cabbage, Chinese 80 heads
Lettuce, Leaf 50 lb.
Spinach 40 - 50 lb

Root Crops
Beets 150 lb.
Carrots 100 lb
Onions (plants/sets) 100 lb.
Onions (seed) 100 lb.
Potatoes, Irish 100 lb.
Potatoes, Sweet 100 lb.
Radishes 100 bunches.
Garlic 40 lb.
Turnip 50 - 100 lb.

http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/guide.html

No one Should Go Hungry - Community Gardens

2009-03-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

In 1947, two years after world war II ended there were 20 million small gardens in the United States. They provided 40% of the produce in the American Diet. The gardens started during the depression. During the war, they were called “Victory Gardens.” Even the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt, had a garden.
I grew up in a garden; we grew tomatoes and zucchini. By age seven, I knew how to remove the suckers from the tomato vines, how to pull weeds and how to pinch off the multiple yellow blossoms. Blossoms had to be 4 inches from each other to get the largest fruits.
The people in Kirkwood, Missouri liked large tomatoes and zucchinis. When the depression started in 1929, the city fathers’ got together and declared that “No one in Kirkwood would go hungry.” They organized the town and, “though,” as my grandfather said, “the whole damn town of 18, 000 didn’t have $500 between them,” no one went hungry.
Next door to me was the lettuce lady. In her flowerpots, she grew all the lettuces, spinach, chards and greens. She used flowerpots to keep the snails and caterpillars off her plants. When we wanted to make sandwiches or a salad, my mother would send me off with a scissors to Mrs. Ball’s house and I would carefully snip off the outer leaves and bring them home to wash and put on the sandwich or in the salad. The shortest food chain in the world. I never saw lettuce in a ball ‘till I was a teenager and a supermarket came to town. What’s more, Mrs. Ball just loved my tomatoes and zucchini. I was so proud when I took them to her. They were my greatest accomplishments in my young life. Across the street was the onion lady. She grew every onion, chive, shallot and garlic known to mankind at the time. She sprouted them in her basement and people picked them up for their own gardens in the spring. Grandpa Van raised chickens and rabbits and had fruit trees - apples, apricots and a cherry tree that was in the back of the chicken yard. Every time a cherry fell off the tree, the chickens would race over to eat it. Gustof Franks had the two cows and we traded him eggs for milk and butter.
No one threw anything away. Table scraps and other uneaten food would go in the “slop” bucket. Neighbors came by and threw them to the chickens while they picked up a few eggs. The tops of carrots and lettuce scraps and greens went to the rabbits.
There was a trading system. A basket of apples could be traded for a skinned rabbit or a basket of grapes or apricots. An apple pie could be traded for milk or eggs. Another man grew corn. He had about 10 rows and he cracked some for my grandfather to feed to the chickens. He also gave it to the women who headed the canning committee. For his fresh corn, he could get canned peaches, applesauce, canned corn, potatoes or apricot syrup. Oh yes, we had potato people. They had raised beds and raised potatoes better than any I’ve ever tasted in my life. And there were peas, beans, and herbs. Everyone grew something, raised something and traded something. My other grandfather, although a natural stone quarryman, also kept beehives. A pint of honey went a long way in trade, as did a full honeycomb. Once every two months our butcher would take some meat or fish: pig, calf, chickens or rabbits into Saint Louis and trade for salt, flour, coffee, paraffin and soap.
And then there was hunting. The men went hunting on Saturday and whatever they shot, quail, rabbits, possum or deer, was eaten on Sunday. There was also the Merrimac and Mississippi river to fish in. Catfish, Sunfish, and Perch. They could be traded for canned fruits, vegetables, eggs, you name it.
I don’t think I ate an orange till I was almost twelve, after the war, and I marveled at this miraculous fruit, and then I was even more astounded with bananas. I was so used to this culture that after the war when I heard that the Greeks and the Russians and the Chinese were starving, I wondered, innocently why they didn’t plant gardens. Even today, when I hear that one in 8 children goes to school hungry, when I hear pleas for food donations for the poor, I wonder why we don’t have community gardens. Instead of talking on phones or watching TV or playing video games, couldn’t the children use their energy to weed the garden and harvest the food?
So, plant a garden and tell your neighbor to plant a garden and share. Mobile Home Parks and Apartment Complexes could create community gardens. Why waste the gas to have your tomatoes shipped in from California or Mexico when they can be grown just as easily in your backyard and taste much better picked off the vine.
They say dark days lie ahead for the economy. But, whatever happens, we don’t have to go hungry. We can feed ourselves. Come on my Beloved Country, let’s get organized. Let’s start digging. Let’s do something economically beneficial, wonderful, brilliant and powerful. Let’s all plant gardens.
Shirley

http://survivingthemiddleclasscrash.wordpress.com/2009/03/15/why-im-planting-a-garden/

Urban Sharecropping

2009-03-06T22:45:00.000-08:00

Many people now foresee the need to acquire personal food security, but do not have an adequate space to garden. Other people are interested in the economic advantages of being a food producer in the upcoming times of food shortages, but again, are stuck in the city with no real land to begin growing on.

Sharecropping is a potential solution to the problem of lack of personal wealth, capital, or land. In short, you don't have to own your own farm, or even your own equipment, to become a farmer. Sharecropping means that you rent someone else's land to produce the food on. The rent can be a cash payment, or, more traditionally, cutting the land owner in on a share of the profit when the harvest is sold. Or you can simply offer them a certain amount of the food harvested.

Usually, the percent you pay to the landowner depends of how much you bring to the table versus how much they are supplying, in terms of equipment and supplies. Sharecropping as a widespread economic feature of American pretty much died off in the first half of the 20th century, so there is no comparative market today. In short, you will just have to negotiate with whoever you can, and come to any agreement that seems reasonable.

For example, in the ritzy part of your town, there are well-off people living on large plots of land, who are growing nothing but grass. You could approach them and ask if you could grow food on their property. They might be willing to do so, merely for the promise of the fresh organic vegetables you will grow. If they are enthusiastic about it, they might even cover the cost of a tiller, or let you use their tools, or cover the cost of your seeds or fertilizer, or whatever. You can easily imagine how this would work, and the possible benefits for all parties. Good luck, and let me know what systems you work out.

In short, just because you are young and poor does not mean you cannot join in the urban food revolution. Becoming a sharecropper could also be a wise choice if your are otherwise unemployed. Instead of sitting around all day doing nothing, get out and get some economically productive work done. It will also get you out in the community, meeting people, and establishing networks of support, which might prove vital in tough times, or an emergency.

AZ Agriculture Day

2009-03-02T22:01:00.000-08:00

The 27th annual Arizona Agricultural Day is being held this Saturday (March 7), out at the Superstition Springs mall, in east Mesa.

Looks cool, I will definitely be there. Check it out:
http://www.azagday.com/index.html

Spring Sprouts

2009-03-02T21:21:00.000-08:00

Corn!

Wheat!

Beets about 1 inch high:

Winter Weeds Blooming and Seeding

2009-02-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

I love winter weeds. I have the most beautiful winter front lawn thanks to 'em. I call it clover, but I really have no idea if it is a true clover or not. Whatever it is, it makes the nicest most soft lawn. It is coming up with these pretty little yellow flowers right now. (I love it now, but it will produce these nasty sharp pointed seed pods later.) Here it is:

And this weird grass stuff, that if you let it grow, is more like sorghum or wheat stalks. This stuff is just awesome! I am totally going to harvest its seeds this year. If anyone knows what it is actually called, let me know. Here are some pics:

Winter Crops Coming UP

2009-02-24T19:42:00.000-08:00

By gum, if I can can do it, anybody can.

Peas getting large!

Cauliflower doing well.

A row of lettuce and something else (ooops, I forgot to write it down. Cabbage maybe)

Radishes!

Summer Garden Madness - the Arizona Raised Bed Method

2009-02-22T22:59:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I went nuts today in the backyard. We aren't supposed to plant our summer crops here in Phoenix until March 1, but we are having a warming trend already, so why wait??? I planted corn, watermelons, pumpkins, cucumbers, beans, okra, peppers, onions, turnips, and leeks.

I also invented the Phoenix Raised Bed Method. It is a take off on the French Bio-Intensive Double Dig Method. In the Bio-Intensive Method, you dig down a shovels-worth, remove the dirt, then dig again, before replacing the original earth. Thus, you have up to 1 and a 1/2 feet of loose soil to plant in.

Well, in the Phoenix desert, the farther you go down, the harder it gets. Once you get past the sandy dirt layer, you might just hit caliche, which is literally rock hard. Not the mention all the actual rocks you will have to dig out. In other words, digging down sucks. So here is what I did:

I tilled the ground pretty good, producing about 8 inches of soft fluffy soil. Then, instead of continuing to dig down, a la the Biointensive way, I started shoveling UP, making big piles of soft earth. In other words, removing about 6-8 inches of top soil, and putting it right on top if the soil next to it. I then leveled off the top of the pile, leaving little berm walls around the edges for flood irrigation.

Viola! A foot and a half deep garden bed of soft fluffy soil for the plant roots to luxuriate in. I added some blood meal (for nitrogen) and garden sulfur (to lower pH) for good effect.

I created one big plot that way, about 6x8, and four smaller plots, about 2x6 each. Here's a pic of the smaller ones.

Sorghum in Arizona

2009-02-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

Got my seed packs last week from Native Seeds SEARCH, including one pack of Sorghum, called Gila River Kana.

Here is the basics on sorghum:

Sorghum came to be adapted to, and popular in, areas where it was too hot and dry to grow corn. It’s adaptation to dry conditions is due to the fact that it is able to remain dormant during drought and then resume growth; its leaves roll as they wilt thus presenting less surface for transpiration; its waxy leaves and stems protect from drying; and the large fibrous root system extracts moisture from soil.

Fertilize the soil before planting because sorghum is easily burned by fertilizer. Try to get a low pH in the soil for the sorghum to do well. Seeds are typically planted at the time the soil is safely between 65 to 70 degrees F at a depth of 4 inches. Once the seed is planted, cover it with 1 inch of regular soil or 1 ½ inches of sandy soil. The seeds should be from 6 to 8 inches apart and in rows that are 3 to 3 ½ feet apart. Don't worry about watering too much. Sorghum is very tolerant to both drought and flooding.

Growing the sorghum cane is just the first challenge. Then comes the processing. Press the cane to extract its juice, then boil it down until it thickens into dark brown syrup. After cooking, the sorghum syrup is about 80 per cent sugar.

Here is a nice report on an heirloom sorghum test: http://www.kerrcenter.com/publications/sorghum-report.pdf

Raised Bed Gardening in Phoenix

2009-02-14T21:56:00.000-08:00

If you have the money to set up the proper soil mixture in a raised bed, this is a nice way to go. The cool thing about the raised bed method is that you can set it up on any surface, even concrete, which is what our soil seems like anyway. The amount of labor setting up a raised bed is almost certainly less than a in-ground Arizona garden, because pouring in your own perfect, spongy and rich soil from bags is definitely easier than having to break up and dig down into the Arizona's high-alkaline hardpan and caliche, fighting indestructable bermuda grass every step of the way. It might even be more cost effective in the long run than trying to improve the junky Arizona soil, especially when you consider the fact that you are getting higher crop yields.

I set up one raised bed in my backyard, and the radishes planted there are ginormous, much bigger than the ones in the field. I used the basic soil recipe from Square Foot Gardening, but I actually didn't have vermiculite (not being totally sure where to get any), so I just substituted top soil. So my mix was 1/3 organic compost, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 top soil, all from bags from Home Depot. So far so good, the radishes I planted there are big, and the strawberries look real healthy.

Here is the website for the Square Foot method for further inspiration: www.squarefootgardening.com

Global Food Crisis Looms

2009-02-12T22:20:00.001-08:00

I hate to harp on this too much, but the word needs to get out somehow: the world may be facing a major food crisis soon. Reading the following article, I get the impression even I didn't realize how bad things are:

www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=DEC20090210&articleId=12252

Planting Guide for southern Arizona

2009-02-11T00:02:00.001-08:00

Got this great planting guide from Native Seed SEARCH, which collects heirloom seeds from the Southwest, based in Tucson. Click on it to get the full-sized image.

I just ordered a bunch of exotic stuff from them, stuff you don't normally see on the seed rack: (Sonoran) amaranth, (Gila River) sorghum, (Guatamalan) fava beans, (Tahono) maize, (Pima) wheat, (Oodham) peas, (Apache) sunflowers. A bit on the pricey side at $3 a pack, but it should be worth it!

Severe Drought in China affects wheat crop

2009-02-10T17:59:00.000-08:00

There is an extremely severe drought affecting China right now, as you can see below, which will further exacerbate the upcoming food shortages. You may not realize, I sure didn't know, that China is the world's leading producer of wheat.

Northern and central China have had little precipitation since November. Many places have not had rainfall for more than 100 days. In the drought, more than 4.3 million residents face a shortage of drinking water, as do two million livestock, officials said The drought has hit at least 12 provinces, including the wheat-producing areas in Henan, Anhui and Shandong provinces. Chinese media says the total area affected has reached 1,370 million hectares (3,385 million acres).

Over the weekend, Chinese soldiers loaded rockets with cloud-seeding chemicals and fired them into the sky over drought-stricken areas in the effort to produce rain. Over the long term, China plans to divert water from its two longest rivers to drought-stricken areas. However, it is still going to be difficult to get water to mountainous areas and remote farmland. Many farms in China rely on rain, because irrigation systems are poor. Some places are getting 80 percent less rain than they normally do, according to the Flood Control and Drought Relief Office.

U.S. wheat futures extended gains on Friday, supported by a drought in China that has threatened the crop and prompted the government to declare an emergency in key wheat-growing areas of the country. "One of the reasons it made those gains yesterday and today is the announcement from China regarding the severity of drought which I think is going to tighten the global wheat balance sheet for 2009 and 2010."

China, the world's largest producer of wheat, has declared an emergency over a drought which could damage its important wheat crop, threatening further hardship for farmers amid slumping economic growth. The absence of rain or snow since November has affected 9.5 million hectares of farmland -- 37,000 square miles, or 43 percent of the winter wheat sources.

As the world's top consumer of wheat, China has bought Australian, British and U.S. grain in recent months because of lower international prices and the nation could tap the international market again.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/reuters/2009/02/06/2009-02-06T071210Z_01_SP80611_RTRIDST_0_MARKETS-GRAINS-UPDATE-2.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/02/10/china.drought/

Food Prices Rising

2009-02-08T20:38:00.000-08:00

I am growing a Victory Garden because I am putting my money where my mouth is. Two months ago, I foresaw worldwide food shortages this summer, with a spike in prices here in America. The evidence continues to mount.

www.marketskeptics.com/2009/01/world-food-prices-are-rising-fast.html

Food Commodity Prices Rising

2009-02-07T22:31:00.000-08:00

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/schmidt/2009/0129.html

Agri-Food commodity prices are not falling. They have fallen, and are now rising. Reality is that the world continues to move over time into an era of global Agri-Food shortages. And since Agri-Food cannot be produced in a factory, neither governments nor charismatic leaders can change that situation.

The growth in the underlying demand for Agri-Food varies little with short-term economic cycles. Rather, longer term trends will dominate the future prices for Agri-Foods. Each year for the foreseeable future about 15 million people will move into the middle class in China. That will happen regardless of what happens to Chinese exports to the U.S. in the coming week. Of course, the actual number might be less in one year and more in other.

Over time the compounding effect of their demand for Agri-Food will place a considerable strain on the global Agri-Food balance. At times the question dealt with how China would feed itself. With the changing income demographics in the next decade, the question will change. How will the rest of the world afford to eat? Is your portfolio ready to ride this Agri-Food Super Cycle?

Victory Gardens Returning in Force

2009-02-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

An article from the Financial Times:

Americans are turning in increasing numbers to their back yards to save money, with leading US seed merchants reporting a dramatic surge in early sales of carrots, tomato and pepper plant seeds.

George Ball, chairman of W. Atlee Burpee, which sells directly to gardeners and via retailers such as Home Depot, told the Financial Times that sales of vegetable seeds had grown 20-30 per cent this year.

The increase, he said, follows a similar jump in sales last year, and compares with previous annual growth levels of about 12 per cent.

Mr Ball said belt-tightening and economic concerns were the dominant factors driving demand, which had been stimulated last year by the high cost of petrol, and food safety concerns, following a scare over contaminated store-bought salad greens.

Richard Chamberlain, president of Harris Seeds, which supplies both commercial growers and gardeners, estimated that sales of seeds to gardeners were up by 50 per cent this year, with the company seeing a surge in first-time customers on its website.

“You’ll be seeing people digging over their lawns and planting vegetables,” he said

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f0acf186-f2e0-11dd-abe6-0000779fd2ac.htm

The Importance of Orchards

2009-02-07T18:06:00.000-08:00

Having an orchard as part of your Victory Garden is a good idea. For one, letting a tree grow your food is pretty darn easy. For two, your trees roots go deep into the soil, and will bring up many nutrients. You can then access those nutrients in the fruits and fallen leaves, using them to compost and enrich your garden. Trees can also help moderate your yard's micro-climate, providing shade and cool against our scorching heat.

An amazing variety of fruit trees do well here in Phoenix. Take advantage of the sales going on in the nurseries right now, like Moon Valley's tree blowout.

A bunch of my trees put out blossoms this week. The apple blossoms are a real pretty pink.

The almond tree is just plain amazing. The whole tree just exploded in blooms.

The lemon tree is also putting out tons of flowers.

The other trees are a bit slower. I am, in fact, worried about my aprium tree, which looks as dead as can be. The peach is greening up, but the plums are still totally dormant. The cherry is putting out shoots, and the nectarine is greening up a bit too. The figs are bare and sad looking, as well as the pomegranate.

Fava Beans

2009-02-07T00:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a nice article on Fava beans, they look like a great crop to help our nitrogen-poor soil. Fava beans are not that heat-friendly, and should be planted in October/November or January/February here in AZ. (Why not December? I don't know! I am going to try it this year, just to see what happens...)

Fava beans are classified as legumes because they produce a "bean," and because they fix nitrogen in the soil. Garden beans (p. vulgaris) and peas will fix 60 to 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre, clovers up to 100 pounds, and fava’s the best of all-- up to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Sixty pounds of nitrogen per acre is enough to feed a succeeding crop of beets, carrots, etc. One-hundred pounds will feed corn, lettuce, or squash. Two-hundred pounds of nitrogen per acre is sufficient to grow the heaviest feeders.

Fava’s are excellent at rejuvenating older garden sites. One-third of the plot can be overwintered with fava’s twice, with the second season's crop being tilled under in spring as green manure, followed by row crops. Then another third of the garden can be rotated into favas, etc.

Fava beans may grow 6 feet high by early spring, and make excellent silage or green manure. They are very tolerant of heavy, wet winter clay soils. Their extensive root system breaks up soil to 2 feet deep, and brings up soluble nutrients from 10 feet deep.

For human consumption, fava beans can be harvested very early (say February or March) and eaten as with peas, pod and all. As the beans mature in the pod, they can be eaten as shelled lima beans. When mature and dried, they can be preserved easily without any special preservation techniques or energy consumption, and used in place of lima beans in any lima recipe. Since fava’s usually require little fertilizer or irrigation, and can be consumed at various stages in their growth, they may well considered an excellent survival food crop.

High pH Crops

2009-02-05T19:17:00.000-08:00

Arizona soil is high pH, so if you are creating a victory garden, it is probably a good idea to choose crops that tolerate the higher ranges of pH. After a bit of research, here they are:

Beans (6.0-7.5)
Beets (6.0-7.5)
Broccoli (6.7-7.2)
Celery (5.5-7.5)
Leeks (6.0-7.5)
Okra (6.5-7.5)
Onions (6.0-7.5)
Orach (7.3-8.0)
Spinach, Malibar (6.0-7.5)
Spinach, New Zealand (6.5-7.5)
Sunflower (6.0-7.5)

Those are the highest, but there a bunch of other popular crops that go almost as high:
Amaranth (6.0-7.0)
Carrots (5.5-6.8)
Cauliflower (6.0-7.0)
Garlic (6.0-7.0)
Lettuce (6.0-6.8)
Melon (6.0-7.0)
Peas (6.0-7.0)
Pepper (6.0-7.0)
Pumpkin (6.0-7.0)
Radish (5.5-6.8)
Spinach (6.0-7.0)
Soybean (6.0-7.0)
Tomato (6.0-7.0)
Turnip (5.5-6.8)

By the way, high pH (called alkaline) is problematic because it makes iron and phosphorus unavailable to your plants. To lower your pH, add sulfur. Peat moss is also a common acidifying addition.

Compost and organic material in general also moderate pH, not to mention adding some all-important nitrogen to the ground. When preparing your victory garden, start hoarding leaves and grass cuttings. Till it into the soil for best results, about a month before planting if possible. If you have already planted, make a compost pile out of it for future use.

Creating Garden Beds for Beets

2009-02-02T18:07:00.000-08:00

Created a beet bed today. With my tiller, no problemo! I love my tiller. AZ gardening is soooo much better with a tiller. I have done gardens solely by shovel, but let me tell you, a tiller is worth it. Creating garden beds is a snap. I till about a 5x12 area, then take a hoe to it, then level it out, building up berms around the side to keep the water in. Here is a pic of my tiller turning AZ hardpan into soft fluffy soil.

Must have berms when AZ gardening! Otherwise the water just rolls off the dirt. With berms, you can give your crops and trees a deep watering. It is extra important to get those deep well-watered roots in our climate, so your crops can survive the heat. With shallow roots, they will burn up fast. Here is a pic of my beet bed I made tonight.

Making the perfect irrigation bed is easy: till the dirt loose, hoe it fluffy (and take out the rocks and roots), then rake it level. Make it as level as you can, it is worth it to avoid water run-off and pooling. The best effect is little waves in the dirt, to help the water settle evenly, as in the pic below.

California drought may raise lettuce prices

2009-01-28T21:21:00.000-08:00

Consumers may pay more for spring lettuce and summer melons in grocery stores across the country now that California farmers have started abandoning their fields in response to a crippling drought. California's sweeping Central Valley grows most of the country's fruits and vegetables in normal years, but this winter thousands of acres are turning to dust as the state hurtles into the worst drought in nearly two decades.

The giants of California agribusiness are the biggest economic engine in the valley, which produces every cantaloupe on store shelves in summer months, and the bulk of the nation's lettuce crop each spring and fall. This year, officials in Fresno County predict farmers will only grow about 6,000 acres of lettuce, roughly half the acreage devoted to greens in 2005. That alone could cause a slight bump in consumer prices, unless lettuce companies can make up for the shortage by growing in areas with an abundant water supply, or the cost of cooling, packaging and shipping the crop suddenly goes down, experts say. "Lettuce comes off the field and goes straight into the market, and if there's nothing coming off the field then the marketing chain goes dry, and prices go up," said Gary Lucier, an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

While the dry weather has exacerbated the problem, farmers' water woes are not all drought-related. Supplies for crops and cities also have been restricted by several court decisions cutting back allocations that flow through a freshwater estuary called the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the main conduit that sends water to nearly two-thirds of Californians. Environmental groups and federal scientists say the delta's massive pumps are one of the factors pushing a native fish to the brink of extinction.

Last year, federal water deliveries were just 40 percent of the normal allocations, fallowing hundreds of thousands of acres and causing nearly $309 million in crop losses statewide. That prompted Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to issue a disaster declaration, ordering state water managers to expedite any requests to move water around the state, in part so high-value crops like wine grapes, almonds and pistachio trees would stand a chance of surviving. Federal reservoirs are now at their lowest level since 1992.

With such a grim outlook, many California farmers including Giacone are investing millions to drill down hundreds of feet in search of new water sources. Depending on how much it rains this winter, federal water supplies could be slashed down to nothing this year, forcing farmers to rely solely on brackish well water. But the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation won't make an official decision until late February, said Ron Milligan, the agency's Central Valley operations manager. The state Department of Water Resources, which also ships farmers water, has promised to deliver 15 percent of the normal allocations in October, but conditions are so dire that that's now in doubt, too.

"The consequences are expected to be pretty horrible in terms of farmers' revenue, but what's really disconcerting are the possible job losses," said Wendy Martin, who leads the agency's drought division. "Those communities that can least weather an economic downturn are going to be some of the places that are hit the hardest." Richard Howitt, a professor of agriculture economics at the University of California, Davis, estimates that $1.6 billion in agriculture-related wages, and as many as 60,000 jobs across the valley will be lost in the coming months due to dwindling water.

Analysts haven't yet provided any estimates of crop losses this year. But Bill Diedrich, an almond grower on the valley's parched western edge, said he's already worried he may lose some of his nut trees in the drought. "The real story here is food security," Diedrich told Milligan and other officials speaking at a conference in Reno, Nev. "It's an absolute emergency and anything to get water flowing quickly is needed."

In the meantime, the forecast appears to be worsening: Meteorologists are predicting a dry spring, and a new state survey shows the population of threatened fish is at its lowest point in 42 years, more imperiled than previously believed. "This has devastating effects not only for the guys out there in the fields with the weed whackers, but it affects the whole farming industry," said Thomas Nyberg, Fresno County's deputy agricultural commissioner. "I'm just praying for rain."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28843318/

Bartering for Food and Looming Shortages

2009-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

A spike in food prices is looming, along with massive shortages throughout the world. Food security will become a mainstream concern in the months to come, and we will almost certainly see a repeat of the food riots again this summer. Prepare now!

From the Financial Times:

In a striking example of how the global financial crisis and high food prices have strained the finances of poor and middle-income nations, countries including Russia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Morocco say they have signed or are discussing inter-government and barter deals to import commodities from rice to vegetable oil.

The revival of these trade practices, used rarely in the last 20 years and usually by nations subject to international embargoes and the old communist bloc, is a result of the countries’ failure to secure trade financing as bank lending has dried up.

The countries have not disclosed the value of any deals, and some have refused even to confirm their existence. Officials estimated that they ranged from $5m for smaller contracts to more than $500m for the biggest.

Josette Sheeran, head of the United Nations’ World Food Programme, said senior government officials, including heads of state, had told the WFP they were facing “difficulties” obtaining credit to purchase food. “This could be a big problem,” she told the Financial Times....

The countries’ struggle to obtain credit to import food is boosting the price of domestic crops. Ms Sheeran said that prices of crops in some African countries were rising sharply even as international food commodities prices had fallen from last summer.

In addition, agricultural commodities prices have recovered in the past two months on the back of lower winter plantings in the US and Europe and a severe drought in Brazil and Argentina, two of the largest producers of food commodities.

Since December, wheat prices have risen 15 per cent, corn 17 per cent and soyabean 22 per cent. In contrast with other raw materials such as oil or aluminium which have plunged back to the levels of 2002-05, agricultural commodities are trading higher than they were 12 to 18 months ago.

During the medium term, the report states that "long-term resource scarcity trends, notably climate change, energy security and falling water availability", will put pressure on prices and production, together with "competition for land and higher demand resulting from increasing affluence and a growing population". The report recommends investment in farm production and international aid.

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/01/credit-crunch-leads-nations-to-barter.html
http://www.economicdiscourse.com/2009/01/nations-barter-for-food-amid-credit.html

Dealing with Weeds and Grass

2009-01-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Everything got massive this week. The spring heat, I guess. The radishes, the lettuce, the peas, the weeds, everything! It like doubled in size overnight. Crazy.

I am harvesting the weeds for my compost pile. I am also letting it grow, a natural green manure crop to be tilled under in a couple weeks.

It'd be cool to identify these little buggers. They look like nasturtium leaves, except with ragged leaf edges instead of the nice round ones of the nasturtium.

The bermuda grass, now that is another story. That stuff will take over your area, any area that is watered, in summer. Years ago I used them to my advantage, keeping tomotoes going through August by letting them become a ground cover to keep the garden floor cool and moist as I irrigated every day. The downside is, all that work you did is totally undone, as grass has totally colonized your garden again. I am a big fan of bermuda grass for a lawn, but it is tough to garden with that stuff around.

This year, I am just tilling it under. I am doing an experiment to see how well that works. In a couple beds, I am just tilling, but in a couple others, I am tilling then running through the loose soil by hand to remove as many of the cut-up roots as possible. I honestly don't know how much of it will survive the tilling process. I'd love to say, none of it, but more like, all of it.

That stuff is tough, and the underground root structure is incredible (as you can see in the picture). You could look at a bare patch of dirt and think you were clear, but underneath, its all grass roots, just waiting for a drop of moisture. Luckily, it doesn't go much deeper than 4-6 inches, so a tiller is enough to thoroughly shread the root structure.

When getting rid of it by shovel, here is a nice trick: Get the spade under the roots, then just dump it upside down on the ground. Don't try to remove the roots from the dirt right away, the moist soil just clumps around the roots. Wait a day, till it has dried a bit, then step on the clumps. The soil just falls away, leaving the big nasty roots sitting there on top. I gather them up and burn them at that point. Mwah ha ha, revenge at last!

Shooting Bababerries

2009-01-24T21:00:00.000-08:00

My bababerries are the first to shoot! Beating everything else, faster than the grapes, boysenberries, blackberry, or blueberry, or any of the fruit trees. Sweet.

Burning Your Crops?

2009-01-24T20:43:00.000-08:00

Ever hear about people burning stuff on their land, "slash and burn agriculture", torching the trees and grass, in order to enrich the soil? I've heard about it plenty, from colonial America, the Brazilian rainforest, rural China.

In Arizona, forget about it! Ashes do have some nice mineral additions, but their biggest effect is to raise the alkalinity of the soil, decreasing the acidity. Nice in an rain forest, very bad idea in Arizona, or anywhere in the mountain West. Our soil is already high pH, way too alkaline. From what I've read, applying ashes is the best way to drastically up the pH of your soil, so, fellow Arizona Victory-Gardeners, just say no!

Soil Analysis, and Rain!

2009-01-21T22:13:00.000-08:00

Yup, its actually raining tonight! After such a warm day too.

Picked up a soil test at Home Depot, nothing fancy. It was fun to involve my daughter in helping me with the little science project! My results: highly alkaline, low nitrogen, high phosphorus, low-to-med postash. No idea why phosphorus is high, it does not seem to make sense.

After some research in my old gardening books, I found: To decrease alkaline, I need to add sulfur. Nitrogen increase requires ammonium or bloodmeal.

Of course, to help handle both, I am going to plant-and-plow some legumes. Green manure, the books call it. My row of peas has come up really well so far this spring, so I think I will go with that. I also bought a pack of soy beans at Home Depot tonight, so I'll thrown those in too. No idea where to get the stuff to innoculate them. After I plow that in, and throw in a bunch of compost, the soil should be much more supportive of crops.

Read that blueberries prefer acidic soil, which is crappy for my one blueberry rootling! We will see how it does, as at least its planting hole is well fertilized.

Grapes

2009-01-20T19:10:00.000-08:00

Finding the best site for grapes is similar to that for deciduous fruit trees. They prefer: abundant sunlight; deep, fertile, well-drained soils; and a slight slope (preferably south facing) to drain cold air on chilly nights. Grape vines should be planted 6 to 8 feet apart and will need support of some kind. Backyard gardeners often use old-fashioned wooden arbors or the more economical wires stretched between metal fence posts.

At planting, grapes should be pruned back to two buds per vine. Roots should only be pruned if they are damaged. It is important to keep roots moist at all times before and during planting. Planting holes should be wider and deeper than the root system. Spread the roots evenly over a low cone of soil sighting the plant so that it will be at the same soil height as it was when growing at the nursery. Cover the roots with native soil (not amended soil) and bring the finished grade up to the aforementioned planting height. After planting, mulch the vines with compost, well-rotted manure, straw, hay, or leaves to conserve soil moisture.

First year care is critical to grape vine establishment. Irrigate newly planted grapes often enough to keep soil moist but not waterlogged. Do not fertilize grape vines during the first year. The roots are tender and easily burned. Weed control is also important because competition for resources will slow growth.

Newly planted vines should be pruned back leaving only the most vigorous cane. This single cane should be pruned back to leave only two buds. During the first growing season, stake the plant and leave the stake until the trunk can stand without support. Select the most vigorous one and prune off the other closely. Once the cane reaches 60 inches, cut back to 40-50 inches to promote branching below the cut. During the first dormant season, select four lateral cane near the top and prune off all others. The four remaining canes should be pruned back to two buds. These will develop into fruiting canes.

Mature grape vines should be pruned yearly during the dormant period for maximum yields and maintenance of good growth form. To prune, select two vigorous canes near the top of the plant and two farther down. Next to each of these, choose another cane and cut it back to two buds (these are renewal spurs). After selecting four canes and renewal spurs, cut off all others closely. Finally, prune the remaining four canes back to 8-15 buds. These will produce fruit the following year. During the next dormant season, remove the fruiting canes from the previous year and follow the same procedure.

After the first year, irrigate deeply (3-4 ft.) every 2 to 4 weeks. Soil should be allowed to dry out between waterings. Nitrogen fertilizers should be applied to bearing vines. About one-half pound of ammonium sulfate (21% nitrogen) should be applied to each vine. If you choose to grow your grapes organically, then you must know the percent nitrogen of the organic fertilizer you plan to use. Steer manure is usually about 0.5% nitrogen or approximately one-fortieth the amount found in ammonium sulfate. Apply about 20 pounds of steer manure to get the same amount of nitrogen (40 times as much by weight).

cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/grapeculture.html

Pomegranates

2009-01-20T18:47:00.000-08:00

Pomegranates (Punica granatum) are native to southeastern Europe and Asia and have been cultivated in ancient Egypt, Babylonia, India, and Iran. The Spanish brought them to Mexico, California, and Arizona in the 16th century. Although pomegranates have not attained the popularity of other fruits, they are worthy of a place in your backyard garden.

Pomegranates are easy to grow, have beautiful flowers, are well suited to our desert environment, and have the added benefit of producing delicious fruit. The fruit has flesh-covered seeds can be used as a garnish in fruit cups, salads, desserts, and as a snack. The juice is used in making jellies, puddings, desserts, wine and fruit drinks. Grenadine, made from pomegranate juice, is indispensable in flavoring some beverages. More recently, pomegranates have become increasingly popular for their healthful antioxidant qualities.

Pomegranates grow on woody plants that more closely resemble shrubs than trees. Mature plants are usually 6 to 12 feet in height and can be trained to a tree form. Pomegranate plants are deciduous, have small oval leaves, and are somewhat thorny. They require full sun, tolerate alkaline soils, summer heat, and winter lows to 10 degrees F. They are somewhat drought tolerant, but should be irrigated similar to other fruit trees for optimum fruit quality.

Mature fruits are 2 to 5 inches in diameter, have purple to reddish skin (some varieties are pink), which contain hundreds of seeds. The fruits resemble apples but are actually berries and ripen between September and December. Inside the tough outer skin are seeds, each surrounded by a membrane that encloses a juicy pulp: this is the edible portion of the fruit. The juice is somewhat tart and the seed has a slight nutty flavor. Pomegranates are often juiced and are sometimes used to make jelly.

Handle pomegranate fruit carefully as they bruise easily. Properly stored fruit will retain its freshness and flavor over an extended period of time. Harvested fruit should be stored in a cool area (40-50 degrees F). Ripening will continue to full flavor at these temperatures. Fruit stored at 32-40 degrees F will keep for weeks/months, especially at high relative humidity (80% or greater).

Pomegranates are usually available from nurseries but you may need to call around to locate them. ‘Wonderful’ is a common fruiting variety suitable for the Verde Valley, but there are several other suitable varieties. There are also flowering varieties available but these produce small, inedible fruit. Pomegranates can be grown from seed, but should be propagated from cuttings to ensure consistent fruit quality and characteristics.

As stated above, pomegranates often have a shrubby growth form. This is because they produce many suckers from the root and crown area. If a shrub-type plant is preferred, leave five or six main shoots. Each year, remove one of the old shoots and leave a new basal shoot to replace it. Plants trained to multiple trunks require less frequent care and pruning and come into bearing sooner than plants with only one trunk. To encourage a tree-like form, you can select one trunk and will need to remove suckers on a regular basis. Three to five scaffold branches should be selected starting about 10 inches above the soil level and spaced 4 to 6 inches apart along the trunk.

Pomegranate trees are self-fruitful, so a second tree is unnecessary for pollination. Severe fruit drop during the plant's juvenile period (3-5 years) is not uncommon. Mature trees seem to set and hold fruit better than younger trees. Once established, a very light application of nitrogen fertilizer in the spring can enhance fruit quality and plant vigor.

Pomegranates also have other uses. For instance, a red dye can be extracted from the flowers, a yellow dye from the skin of the fruit, and a black dye from the roots. The wood is also very hard, close-grained, and durable. The plant also contains several alkaloids and tannins in the bark and roots and has been used medicinally for more than 3,000 years.

cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/pomegranates2008.html

Cover Crops to Improve Arizona Soil

2009-01-20T18:40:00.000-08:00

Cover crops fall into two categories: legumes and grasses. Legumes include peas, beans, clover, alfalfa, vetch, trefoil, and medic. Legumes can be annuals, biennials, or perennials and have the added advantage of being able to fix nitrogen (converting nitrogen in the atmosphere to plant available nitrogen in the soil). Some legumes can fix as much as 200 lbs of nitrogen per acre per year. To ensure an adequate level of nitrogen fixation, legumes must be inoculated with the appropriate strain of Rhizobacteria. These inoculants are inexpensive and the process is simple.

Annual legumes are ideal for short-term plantings in fall or early spring. Biennials grow much more vigorously in the second year and are best planted on areas that will not be cultivated for one year. Perennial legumes, such as alfalfa, grow deep taproots that are very good at improving compacted soil conditions but can be difficult to eliminate from the garden once they have served their purpose.

Grasses do not fix nitrogen, but have a fine textured, fibrous root system that is efficient at stabilizing soils and is easily decomposed to add organic matter to the soil. Some common annual grass cover crops are barley, oats, rye, and wheat. Perennial grasses are usually used in orchards, vineyards, and other areas where tillage is unlikely to occur. These include fescues, orchardgrass, bluegrass, ryegrass.

Many varieties of cover crop seeds may be purchased from organic gardening suppliers through catalogs or the Internet. A simple mix of annual grass (rye or barley) and clover is a great place to get started with cover crops. Annual grasses germinate quickly and act as a nurse crop for the legumes. As time goes on, the grasses provide a scaffold for the legumes to grow upward and spread. Plant about one ounce of annual grass seed mixed with one half ounce of clover seed per 100 square feet. Inoculate clover seed (and other legumes) or purchase freshly inoculated seed. Broadcast onto raked soil, and then cover the seed to a depth of 2-3 times the width of the seed and firm the soil with a rake. Irrigate 1-3 times after planting to establish the cover before cold weather sets in.

Before the cover crop has started to form seed, it should be tilled into the soil as green manure. Green manure adds organic matter, nitrogen and other nutrients that were contained in the leaves, stems and roots of the cover crops. The green manure should be allowed to decompose for at least three weeks before planting. Legumes add nitrogen and decompose easily while grass roots add easily decomposed organic matter. The grass leaves are less easily decomposed and will contribute organic matter over a longer period.

Most cover crops are not allowed to mature and then tilled into the soil as “green manure” prior to summer planting. Once incorporated, the cover crop decomposes in three to four weeks releasing the organic matter and nutrients over the summer growing season.

Cover crop plants can be a single species or a combination of species suited to your climate and gardening objectives. Legumes are almost always used as green manure cover crops because of their ability to convert unavailable nitrogen in the atmosphere into plant-available nitrogen in the soil. Legumes are plants such as alfalfa, peas, beans, clover, vetch, and their relatives (including mesquite and palo verde trees). Many gardeners are aware of this phenomenon, but for those that aren’t, the process is called nitrogen fixation and carried out by bacteria (Rhizobium) that live in the roots of legumes. This is a symbiotic relationship where the legume receives nitrogen from the bacteria and the bacteria receive sugars from the plant.

Quite often, cover crops also include grasses to increase soil organic matter. Grasses have fibrous root systems that utilize nitrogen released by the legumes and decompose readily to contribute organic matter. When tilled in, the tops of the grass plants also contribute nutrients and organic matter.

Legume cover crops can add up to 300 lbs per acre of nitrogen. Some cool season annual legumes suitable for cover crops in north central Arizona include common vetch, hairy vetch, sweet clover, red clover, medic, and fava beans. Alfalfa and other perennial legumes are sometimes used as cover crops. These plants penetrate more deeply in the soil, but may become persistent and difficult to control. All legume seeds should be inoculated with the proper strain of Rhizobium bacteria to ensure successful nitrogen fixation. This information is available in seed catalogs that sell cover crop seeds.

I seeded half of my vegetable garden this fall with a mixture of hairy vetch and cereal rye. I used an inoculant purchased from the supplier that was recommended for hairy vetch. After digging up a vetch seedling this morning, I found that it had nodulated. My plans are to allow this cover crop to grow until 50% of the flowers are in bloom before I mow it and incorporate it into the soil as green manure. The usage of cover crops and green manure is an important sustainable agriculture practice that adds nitrogen and organic matter to the soil and reduces the need for chemical fertilizers.

cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/plantacovercrop.html
cals.arizona.edu/yavapai/anr/hort/byg/archive/growinglegumestoincreasesoilnitrogen.html

Economic Value of Crops

2009-01-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

Economic value of crops
It is difficult to evaluate the economic value of crops grown in the vegetable garden due to the different lengths of time they require for maturity and harvest, the availability of varieties and vegetables types not generally found in the marketplace, and the lack of comparison values for vegetables that are not acceptable by commercial standards (cracked tomatoes, crooked cucumbers, etc.), but which are perfectly usable by the gardener. Nevertheless, several studies have attempted to determine which crops bring the most value per square foot of garden space, partly to aid small-space gardeners in making decisions about what to plant. Of course, if no one in the family likes beets, there is no point in growing them just because they are economically valuable, but this list may help you determine which vegetables to plant and which to buy. Perennial crops are not on the list below because each of the studies was on a one-season basis. Asparagus, rhubarb, horseradish, and other perennial crops do also have considerable economic worth. Fruit trees and shrubs are also valuable producers, especially considering the long-term.

Top 15 Vegetables in Economic Value:

Tomatoes, Beet, Green bunching onions, Carrots, Leaf lettuce, Cucumbers, Turnip (green + roots), Peppers, Summer squash, Broccoli,,Edible pod peas, Head lettuce, Onion storage bulbs, Swiss chard, Beans (pole, bush)

Values based on pounds produced per square foot, retail value per pound at harvest time, and length of time in the garden.

Low-Value Crops (not recommended for small spaces):

Corn, Squash, Melons, Pumpkins

Miniature varieties or trellising may increase value per square foot.

ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/intensive.html

Blackberries

2009-01-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

Blackberries produce best in full sun, but they can tolerate partial shade. However, plants do not grow or produce well in heavy shade.

Blackberries are sensitive to wet soils. Therefore, drainage is an important factor to consider when you're selecting a site. If blackberry plants are in waterlogged soils for more than a few days at a time, they normally die a slow death from lack of aeration (oxygen) or from subsequent attack by root diseases. Plants do best in a well-drained, fertile, loam soil with moderate water holding capacity. Avoid heavy clay or sandy soils.

Preparing the soil. You should be able to keep your blackberry planting productive for 15 to 20 years, so choose and prepare a site carefully before you establish the planting.

Almost any soil type is suitable for blackberries as long as the drainage is good.

Blackberry plants require about 1 inch of water per week from mid-June through harvest. When rainfall doesn't provide this amount, you should irrigate. Extremely warm and windy conditions make greater amounts of water necessary

A good guide for fertilization is to observe plant growth. Leaves should be a healthy green; a pale green or yellow color may indicate nitrogen deficiency. Canes should grow well and be stout rather than spindly.

Blueberries

2009-01-19T22:50:00.001-08:00

I picked up one blueberry at Home Depot as an experiment. Here is some info:

Blueberries could make a good fruit crop for home gardens since they require small space. At present, blueberry plants are not common in home plantings because the plants require highly acidic soil conditions for best results. Few backyard soils in Ohio are naturally acidic enough to grow quality blueberries. The grower of blueberries must, therefore, make extra effort to acidify the soil before plant establishment. Then, the acidity level must be maintained over the life of the planting. Due to the special concerns associated with the rather demanding soil requirements of growing the crop, the soil must be amended with organic matter and the pH must be corrected before proceeding to establish the planting.

Blueberry plants begin to produce fruit in the third season; however, they do not become fully productive for about six years. Once in production, it is necessary to protect the fruit from loss to birds.

Watering

Blueberry bushes have very shallow root systems and are very sensitive to water fluctuations. They need at least 1 to 2 inches of water per week. In dry seasons, supplemental watering is essential to obtain good yields of high quality products. However, do not apply water after early September unless soil is very dry.
Pruning

Blueberry plants normally do not need to be pruned for the first three years. Remove blossoms that appear in the year of planting and second year after planting to stimulate vigorous growth.

It is important to know the anatomy of a blueberry bush before attempting to prune blueberries (Figure 2). During the fourth year, the dormant plants should be pruned in mid-March. At this time, remove dead and weak branches and thin, terminal wood with small buds. Prune interior crossing branches to admit light to the center of the plant.

In the second through twelfth years, apply 1 to 1.5 pounds of ammonium sulfate (2 to 3 pounds of 10-10-10) per 100 feet of row each year for fertility and acidity maintenance. Apply 0.5 pound of the ammonium sulfate at bloom, and the remaining 0.5 pound 4 to 6 weeks later. If plant leaves become chlorotic, apply 2 to 3 ounces of ferrous sulfate or iron chelate around the base of the plants each year.

UPDATE: A summary of my berry-growing efforts is here http://arizonavictorygarden.blogspot.com/2009/05/growing-berries-in-arizona.html

Me and the ancient Egyptians

2009-01-19T22:33:00.001-08:00

Damn fine engineers, both of us. We both moved giant heavy things with sheer brainpower. That, and the help of rollers.

My jacuzzi was the problem, taking up most of my back patio, and blocking the sun to my raised bed. Dumbasses who built the patio did not reinforce the concrete with rebar, so the weight of the full jacuzzi totally cracked the slab, so I needed to move it if I ever wanted to use it again. I thought about hooking it up to a truck and just pulling it out the way, but it would be tough to get the vehicle in there properly, so I used brainpower instead of horsepower.

I scrounged some old plastic pipes, that I had purchased but not used in my house addition, and used four sections as rollers underneath the jacuzzi, and just pushed it across the ground. Got the edges off the ground in the first place with a crow bar, and with some help from my daughter, boom! Just like the ancient Egyptians, who moved their pyramid blocks on rollers... Brilliant!

Sweet. I feel like a backyard genius. I can hook the jacuzzi up there an use it, or, as I am thinking, use it as a cistern, since it is close to the garden beds over there. Maybe even catch some roof rainwater in it.

Bababerries

2009-01-19T22:20:00.000-08:00

I planted three of these things, purchased from Home Depot. Some info on 'em:

One of the largest raspberries, the Bababerry is red, sweet, firm, and has an excellent flavor. This berry is great for hot regions and mild winters. It bears large crops in early Summer and a small crop in the fall.

'Bababerry' needs some chilling in the winter and is a heat tolerant cultivar. Fruits are borne in late spring and fall. Raspberries are biennials that perform best in full sun with plenty of water and a good fertilizing when blooms begin. A slow warming spring, such as in the Pacific Northwest, is required for optimal flower and fruit production. Staking is also usually necessary. White flowers are borne from late April to June followed by the much anticipated red or sometimes yellow fruit which ripens in late summer. Birds also love the fruit, so you may have to share the harvest. Plants should be placed 3' apart in rows between 7-9' apart. Fruit is produced on one year old wood. For best results, cut down all fruited canes to ground level at the end of the season. The Rubus genus is also made up of flowering, ornamental shrubs, either evergreen or deciduous, some of which are native species.

Any of many species of fruit-bearing bushes of the genus Rubus in the rose family. When picked, the juicy red, purple, or black berry separates from a core, whereas in the related blackberry the core is part of the fruit. Both so-called berries are actually aggregate fruits. Red raspberries are propagated by suckers (see suckering) from the roots of the parent plant or from root cuttings. Black and purple varieties have arched canes and are propagated by layering of the shoot tips. Raspberries contain iron and vitamin C. They are eaten fresh and are also very popular in jams, as a pastry filling, and as a flavouring for liqueurs.