To achieve a great garden in the Valley of the Sun you may want to prepare the soil by spading the garden bed to a depth of 8-12 inches, turn the soil, and break up the clods. Another good procedure to follow is for every 100 square foot of garden area add the following mixture and water it well:
- 2 lbs of 16-20-0 ammonium phosphate
- 5 lbs sulfur
- 5 lbs ironite
- 8-10 two-cubic-foot bags of compost, mulch, or manure
Let the soil dry to where it is just moist and then get ready to plant. Seeds and transplants are best done when the temperatures drop below 100 degrees.
If you accomplish the above earlier in the year you can cover your garden with sheets of clear plastic for six weeks and this will kill or drive out many of the soil pathogens.
Transplant tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, onions, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, chard, and lettuce. If you have onions in your garden it may be best to use gypsum in place of sulfur in the mixture above because the sulfur makes the onions strong and hot.
The following can be directly seeded in your garden (when temperatures drop below 100 degrees) : beets, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, chard, collard greens, cucumbers, endive, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce, leeks, mustard, onion, peas, radishes, snap beans, spinach, turnips, anise, caraway, chamomile, chervil, chicory, chives, cilantro, cumin, dill, fennel, and parsley.
Thank you to The University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Science and John Chapman’s Southwest Gardening for their great information.
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