September Gardening In The Low Desert:
Get ready! Get set! Grow!
© Pat Kolb
This month begins our lovely fall planting season. Early maturing corn (around 60 days) planted early this month will give you sweet corn for Thanksgiving, weather permitting. You can also plant a late crop of beans and summer squash and if you have a warm spot against a wall, you might want to try a late crop of tomatoes. Provide transplants and seedlings with a little shade. Remember to prepare your soil well and add some type of soil sulfur, phosphorous, and organic matter such as compost or any good commercial product. When temperatures drop below 100 consistently, sow cool season crops -- beets, carrots, celery, chard, endive, green onions, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsley, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, spinach and turnips. We may not particularly look forward to planting while it's hot but this heat can't last forever, can it? It only seems like it!
Now is also the time to plant wildflowers and other annuals and set out perennial plants. The warmth of the soil, and the rains we hope to get, will get them growing in a hurry. Don't forget sweet peas; the vining type will grow high and bloom for a long period. Plant on a trellis or even up a palm tree. I like hollyhocks because they are so old fashioned looking, and marigolds for their long blooming period.
Research at Texas A & M has shown that fall planted marigolds bloom much more prolifically as days get shorter. Recommended plants are MariMums 'Discovery Yellow', 'Discovery Orange', and 'Voyager Yellow'. These varieties can outperform chrysanthemums in both length of bloom and tolerance to wind and rain.
Continue to plant perennials from seed.
Spring bulbs are in the stores this month. Put them in paper bags in the crisper bin of the refrigerator for chilling, for about six weeks. Since most of the bulbs must be dug and chilled each year in the low desert, planting in containers is an easier way to do it.
For many low desert gardeners, finding space to grow things can be a real problem. The obvious solution to this problem is to grow things in containers, both vegetables and flowers. One idea is to grow a mix of lettuce and other greens in a plastic lined basket. Careful watering is the key to successful container gardening in our very dry climate. There are many dwarf varieties of vegetables that won't take up as much room as the standard sizes but it is also possible to grow many regular varieties in containers. Trellising is another tool in the battle for space. Vining crops are normally trellised or simply trained up strings in some manner and some plants may be espaliered against a wall to save space. This is especially effective with small fruit trees. Potatoes may be grown in a large tub. Put the seed potatoes on 4 or 5 inches of soil in the bottom and add soil as the potatoes grow. Tomatoes, squash, peppers, carrots, eggplant, cabbage, rhubarb -- most anything can be grown in containers. Try mixing flowers and vegetables, a chance to be really creative with your garden. Anything that droops over the sides of a container is very attractive with other, upright plants. A strawberry jar looks great with one large plant in the top and smaller ones in the little pockets around it.
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Get ready! Get set! Grow!
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