Working in the Garden

Lately, I have developed a a passion for gardening. I have been reading up on the subjects of permaculture and sustainable farming, and I personally find the information to be extremely grounding and worthwhile. 

Growing up in a desert has biased my view of gardening. I always figured there wasn't a lot I could do with the land I had available to me besides growing cactus and some drought resistant plants. Well, it turns out that I couldn't have been more wrong. There are MANY varieties of plants that not only grow in the desert, but if properly cared for can thrive here. Apparently, because the growing season is so long in AZ, we can grow all year long!

I wanted to learn more about gardening, so I recently joined a gardening club at my university. The club provided gardening plots to all of its members as well as seeds, equipment, and and extensive array of knowledge on keeping all varieties of plants. Although the best perk of being a member, in my opinion, is that all the food that is grown is shared among all of the members. 

Yesterday, I received my key to the garden and spent some time there with a few of the other members. I did some weeding in my plot, took a few pictures, and helped build a trellis that will eventually be used for running cantaloupe and squash. Since summer is finally coming to an end, there isn't a ton of produce being grown in the garden at the moment. With the extreme temperatures, summer is the hardest time of year to keep plants alive in this climate zone. However, I did manage to find some very beautiful squash on their way to maturity and a few gigantic watermelons. We also harvested some very nice looking okra (sorry, I forgot to take a picture). 

I'm so excited to make fresh salads with greens I grew and harvested myself. Pretty soon I will put together some fresh pesto, because the garden already has a large assortment of herbs, including a huge amount of basil. In the spring I'm planning on planting some elephant garlic (which I'm told is about three times the size of a normal garlic stalk!) so that I can make pesto with fresh garlic and basil. Sooo delicious!

This will be an ongoing post, so keep checking back for updates on the progress of my gardening :)

What kinds of plants are all of you growing this year???

Love,

Kasey