Hard Freeze kills watermelons - Sunfowers survive!

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!

Chickens Love Beets

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!

Beet Update!

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!

Spring Sprouts

Corn!



Wheat!




Beets about 1 inch high:

Creating Garden Beds for Beets

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.