July Gardening in the Desert: Stay Cool, Finish Summer Planting

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Jul 1, 1997

Summer Planting Well, after a not-so-terrible June, it is finally HOT! This month and next are the months we will water, weed and harvest, and try to conserve our strength for fall planting. However, you can still plant pumpkins early in the month for Halloween and set out beans, corn, and all kinds of squash. Also, you can sow tomato seeds around mid-July for fall-until-frost bearing. Close to a heat retaining wall or fence is a good place but they will probably need some shade through the rest of the summer.

For better fruit set on squash and melons in the heat, use a small brush to transfer pollen from male flowers to female flowers (female flowers have swollen bases).

Save Your Seeds One thing I find about living in the Phoenix area is that, come fall planting time, many stores and nurseries are more interested in holiday merchandise than fall planting items so try to save seeds of your favorite veggies and flowers whenever possible. I save leftover seed, purchased and home grown, in the bottom bin of the refrigerator in plastic jars or other sealed containers. Old medicine containers are good for homegrown ones.

An Old Idea With A NewTwist

I collected several articles over the years about using old tires as planters. These suggested stacking old tires of the same size two or three high, filling them with soil or planting mix and planting in them. But here is a new twist - while I was in England recently I watched a gardening program in which the host made a cut all the way around the tire at the tread line on one side and about halfway down on the other side, using a small saw and of course, sawing away from his body - for obvious reasons. Then he knelt down with one knee on each side and turned one section inside out. Turning around, he did the same for another section and repeated for the other two sides. This made an easily stackable piece and several could be stacked not only for planting but for compost bins as well. He made it look so easy, though I haven't tried it yet. I like to conserve my efforts for cooler weather but will try it in the fall, and perhaps paint them with ordinary white exterior paint. I wonder if it might be possible to make a planting tower by cutting holes at intervals in a high stack and insert various plants for growing, a sort of spin-off of tower growing. If anyone has any experience with tire planters, I would like to hear from you. This might be something that gardeners with limited space could adapt for their use.

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