A Farmer I Am Not👩🌾☹️ But You Can Be.
I haven’t done a lot of vegetables or herbs here in Phoenix so unfortunately, I am not a good resource.
But I can tell you this.
Phoenix Metro is becoming a mecca in Urban/Organic gardening, Above Ground/Container gardening and for sure, Hydroponic gardening.
So I know with a little hunting and pecking on the internet that you can find some amazing resources as well as attending our Master Gardener lectures, or visiting the vegetable area in the nurseries, or taking the courses offered at community colleges and libraries, or even joining a local gardening club. I have attended talks in community centers and libraries and have walked away with a wealth of knowledge and some darn good recipes for salads, salsas and pestos.
There’s no doubt the herb and vegetable gardening is growing immensely here in Phoenix suburbia. If you are new to Phoenix or just a winter visitor and you are into herbs and growing your own veggies, I urge you to check out the many resources listed both above and below.
I have planted a few things, and they did well.
The little bit that I have done have all been above ground/container gardening.
A couple of reasons as to why I don’t herb or veggie garden any longer:
Planting herbs/veggies in the ground attracts critters. Up until 4 years ago we always had a small dog and a cat. In an effort to protect our animals, I didn’t want to invite wild things into our yard. We were still working and left our doggy door open for our animals to relieve themselves during the day. Funny thing about a doggy door is that things go out and things come in. We didn’t want unfamiliar animals coming in. I also wanted to protect my flowers from getting nibbled.
Additionally, our soil in Phoenix requires a lot of compost for vegetables and I can’t stand the smell of manure or compost; nor did I want my animals rolling or digging in it.
Due to all the work and expense to maintain the proper soil for veggies, I’d rather spend my time and energy on my passion of floral growth and design and then go to the store for our food (or make reservations).
That being said, I have in the past tried and grown the following with ease: aloe vera, basil, butter crunch lettuce, calendula, cilantro, chives, dill, dianthus, green onions, sage, rosemary, oregano, jalapenos, mint, pansies, thyme, geraniums, lavender, parsley, zucchini, violets, and cherry tomatoes. All were edible and delicious. The cherry tomatoes we grew in a contraption, where we put the plants upside down to hang and watered from the top. They did quite well; we had many and they were tasty. The onions were the cut off portions from store bought, then placed into water for sprouts and then planted in a long shallow, above ground floral planter. They too, did very well. All the other things were purchased as small sprouts/plants and grown in above ground tall planters. I have never done anything from seed with any success. The high planters, of course needed daily hand watering, especially in a sunny location and I found with my schedule at the time I couldn’t always accommodate and my other obligations were winning out. Therefore, I gave up veggies and herbs, with the exception of rosemary, sage, lavender, aloe, pansies, violets and dianthus. I will get to those wonderful plants in another post.
Of course we have had orange, lemon and lime trees, so we have contributed to feeding others in the community, probably in the form of juices but that still helps!
I urge you to dig into the resources out there and continue your vegetable garden passion because it is certainly doable here in the valley.
Here are the more popular herbs grown in the low desert:
Aloe, Arugula, Basil, Calendula, Dianthus, Catnip, Chives, Chamomile, Cilantro/Coriander, Creosote, Dill, Echinacea, Fennel, Garlic, Hollyhock, Lavender, Lemongrass, Lemon Balm, Mint, Onion & Shallots, Oregano, Oregano-Mexican Bush, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage-Culinary, Sage-Mexican Bush, Sage-Pineapple Scented, Geranium, Lavender, Stevia, Tarragon, Thyme, Viola, Pansy, Sweet Violet.
Here are a few of the popular vegetables grown in Phoenix suburbia:
Artichokes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, kale, lettuce, pumpkins, peppers, sugar snap peas.
Due to our mild winters, I know we are fortunate to have 2 full growing seasons; warm and cold.
We also have the long standing citrus industry going for us here in suburbia and we are becoming a force to be reckoned with up north in wine country (Cottonwood/Jerome) and south near the border (Wilcox) with our vineyards of grapes. We are getting national attention with our micro greens and have been established internationally as a leader in the world, for our olives & olive oil industry (Queen Creek).
We have amazing farms just outside the Phoenix metro area with wonderful seasonal festivals so please check them out and support them whenever possible as well as your continued support of our weekly farmers markets throughout the valley. Info is as follows
LocalHarvest.org
Eventbrite.com
TripAdvisor.com
RaisingArizonaKids.com
ArizonaCommunityFarmersMarkets.com
Here are just a few more of the excellent resources for planting here in the valley:
Arizona Herb Association
Maricopa County Master Gardeners
PhoenixTropicals.com
GrowingInTheGarden.com
So gardeners of all sorts, Please enjoy this amazing sunshine state and all it’s amenities.
