ardening in a desert environment can be a tough challenge. Tips and strategies that help create thriving gardens in other parts of the world, like zones, seed packets, and timing your planting, will often fall flat in drier desert climates.
It might be a little tougher to garden in Arizona, but it's not impossible, and there are plenty of beautiful gardens in the area that attest to the fact that it can be done.
There are plenty of challenges to overcome, but there are also many benefits to starting a beautiful and productive garden on your Arizona property. Read on to find out more about the pros and cons of gardening in Arizona and the many gardening benefits in general.
There's much to look forward to when growing in the desert, so we thought we'd inspire you with a few of the most popular reasons many Arizonians are of the green-thumbed variety.
If you love citrus, then you'll love Arizona. Winters in Arizona are like fall weather for the rest of the country. The daytime temperatures are comfortable, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 20s. You will also find that there is more than enough rainfall for all types of plants, but Arizona is famous for its bountiful winter citrus harvests, which thrive in these conditions.
If you enjoy fresh vegetables and growing your own, you should start planting in late October to early November. Get your soil prepped and start sowing those seeds. Roots and greens will do best. Plant the roots first, and when you're a couple of weeks into winter, start with the greens because they prefer the cooler weather.
One thing Arizona is not short of is sunshine, and we all know plants thrive on it. Many gardeners in Arizona take advantage of the desert environment by growing beautiful annual plants that would only bloom for part of the year in other parts of the country. In Arizona, the conditions are perfect for them to grow and flourish for several years.
There are also plenty of vegetable choices that will give you double the growing season if you plant early and protect them against frost. Raised garden beds can save on backache and can be used to grow everything from small fruits, to gorgeous flowers.
Rose gardens thrive under a hot sun and dry air, providing you follow a few simple guidelines, including:
Don't water the plant, water the soil
Always be on the lookout for mold, mildew, and pests
Prune cautiously and mulch deeply
If you'd rather not spend the time taking care of roses, there are many easy-care gardens you can establish in Arizona, including cactus and succulent gardens. You can also design a garden around plants that will attract gorgeous butterflies to your yard, including:
Many types of citrus plants
Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa)
Dill (Anethum graveolens)
Grasses like Fountain Grass Karly Rose
New Mexico False (Hesperaloe Funifera)
Milkweeds
Passion Vine (Passiflora)
Now that you know the specifics about how the Arizona climate can make gardening a fun and interesting challenge, here are a few more general reasons why you should consider gardening.
We should know by now that eating healthy fruits and vegetables is good for our health because there are plenty of studies showing why we should all eat more of them. The best thing about growing your food is that you know that no harmful chemicals have been used, and it's also as fresh as you can get.
Gardening is a way that suburban dwellers can soak up some nature. Numerous studies show that even looking at an image of a natural setting helps reduce stress levels. When you combine that potential benefit with light exercise from weeding, hoeing, sowing, and the other myriad physical gardening tasks, you have yourself a potent de-stressing therapy right outside your door.
If you're into organic produce, you know how much impact it can have on your grocery bill. Gardening is an excellent way to grow cheap organic food from a source you can trust. You don't need a large backyard to manage modest savings, as the average vegetable garden can produce around 10 pounds (4.54 kg) of tomatoes from just one plant. Considering one packet of seeds is comparable to the cost of one pound of tomatoes, the savings can soon add up.
Most of us will think about pollution from fossil fuels or reducing deforestation when it comes to environmental issues. However, if every backyard had a small garden and a composting system, the landfill reduction would be significant.
There are also cost savings in reducing your dependency on trips to the grocery store. It might not be much at a personal level. Still, when you multiply it by millions of cars heading to the supermarkets, we could reduce carbon emissions by a significant amount.
Now that we've discussed the many pros of gardening in Arizona, we should explore some of the challenges you will be facing.
The temperature can often get into the double digits on a summer's day in Arizona. Some plants won't be able to tolerate the full strength of the summer sun. You might find you are restricted from a few of the plant choices available to gardeners in other areas. However, vegetables like Malabar spinach, okra, and Armenian cucumbers are heat tolerant. A few will die, but some plants will lie dormant until the humidity returns in late July and August.
Plenty of plants are ideally suited to a low humidity environment, such as cactus, plants with waxy leaves, and succulents. However, the majority of garden vegetables will need more moisture in the air to survive.
Desert plants have adapted to the abundance of minerals available in the mostly clay soil typical of Arizona's backyards. However, the problem for other plants is that it lacks organic matter and is highly alkaline. More pedestrian garden plants prefer soil that is slightly acidic and loaded with nutrients provided by organic matter. You should not have too many problems if you regularly compost and add garden soil from your local nursery.
Southern Arizona soils can have problems with caliche, which is a layer of soil where the soil particles have bonded together through calcium carbonate. Caliche may form at or slightly below the surface and can be impenetrable to plant roots. If there is too much caliche in the soil, then the calcium carbonate may raise the pH level high enough that iron is no longer accessible to the plants.
When you dig holes for your plants, you can minimize the influence of caliche by breaking it apart or removing as much of it as possible. Your holes should also wholly penetrate through the caliche layer to improve water drainage.
Even the most avid gardeners can have trouble keeping a thriving garden in Arizona, so here are a few tips that should help you get through the hot, dry summers.
The summer sun can be brutal on many plants, so choose heat-loving varieties and plant them at the correct times. If your garden leans more toward ornamental, there are many attractive cactus plants and succulents from which to choose. The other advantage is that these types of gardens are usually low maintenance.
The fall months in Arizona are the best time of year for adding new plants to your garden. The temperatures are cooler, and there is also more rainfall during this time of year. Plants will have a chance to develop a more robust root system before the summer heat rolls around. If you enjoy bougainvillea or lantana, you should hold off planting until spring to avoid the frosty months.
Every yard has microclimates that provide opportunities to grow plants that you otherwise couldn't. Shady areas on the north, east, or south-facing areas of your yard will help plants avoid the summer sun's full glare. Use plants that are native to Southwest for any areas which are always exposed to the sun.
Overwatering can be a problem even during the summer. Root rot can set in on plants that grow in consistently moist soil. Ensure you understand each of your plants' water requirements and create a watering schedule that delivers the right amount. You will need to increase watering frequency during summer, but not so much that your plants become waterlogged.
Whether you would like to grow your food or want a beautiful garden you can enjoy, Arizona may present you with many challenges. However, with a little planning and forethought, there is no reason you can't have a thriving and productive garden in the desert.
References:
[1] https://growinginthegarden.com/vegetable-gardening-in-arizona/
[2] https://apnursery.com/blog/benefits-of-backyard-gardening-in-arizona/
[3] https://www.arizonafoothillsmagazine.com/living/homes/6636-arizona-gardening-tips-.html
[4] https://fillyourplate.org/blog/gardening-arizona-tips-tricks-resources/
[5] https://www.weedemandreap.com/love-winter-gardening-arizona/
[6] https://cals.arizona.edu/extension/ornamentalhort/landscapemgmt/az_climate_soil/calichemgmt.pdf
