It's Hot

I've been reading Dave Owen's book Extreme Gardening, in which he describes how to grow vegetables in Phoenix. He goes through many of the popular vegetables and tells when to plant them based on soil temperature, so today I went out to the garden to measure it.

It's hot. At around three in the afternoon the soil temperature varied from 92 degrees to 120+ degrees F, depending on whether I measured underneath mulch, in the shade, in the sun, and the depth (2 - 5 inches). About the only thing I am ready to plant that Mr. Owens says can handle those temps seems to be cucumbers (and maybe sunflowers). I may get around to planting those this week. Most things for a fall Phoenix garden seem to want to wait a while yet.

Due to it being too hot to direct seed much in the garden, I did the next best thing: I started some seeds in some seed starting mix inside.

If you look closely you may see that I am starting some broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, nasturtiums, alyssum, and marigolds. The flowers are for "companion planting" and organic insect control. We'll see. Something should start to sprout in a week or two and then I will remove the plastic wrap (which helps keep the humidity up and the soil moist).