2 days after starting seeds! Take a look at the germination



Seed packets and what the seeds look like that go into your garden

I recently startedplanting seeds indoors to get ready for the spring growing season here in Arizona. I thought I would post some  pictures showing what the seeds actually look like inside the packets.

Mini garden just for fun

So here is our mini garden. We did this for a fun indoor experiment, but soon changed our minds and put it where the large garden is since it has no soil yet.

We have:
Row 1: Sweet Basil
Row 2: Cat Nip
Row 3: Sweet 'N Early Cantaloupe
Row 4: Garlic Chives
Row 5: Blue Lake Bush Snap Beans
Row 6: Zucchini
Row 7: Cucumber
Row 8: More Blue Lake / Crimson Sweet Water Melon

Our plan is to transplant these into our garden when they are big enough and when we get some soil. We just couldn't wait to start growing something!

It's been about a week since they were panted. I will post and update with pics when there is any growth.

Basil starting to sprout

Can you find the basil pushing through?

Here it is!!!

Small I know...let's hope it keeps growing :)

Basil and catnip sound fun!

While we are in the process of building our Arizona raised bed garden in the sweltering heat of 110+ degree's, lol, we thought it would be fun for all involved to give growing some potted basil and catnip a try in the down time.

It's been about 3 days since we put in the seed and we can't wait for te next 7-10 days to see if we'll get anything :)

I'll try and post weekly updates on these fun items that should be able to grow in the super extreme heat of an Arizona summer.

Let's build our garden bed

OK let's get started!

It's early in June, 2010, Location is somewhere near Phoenix, Arizona. The temperature is around 105 or so. The idea of building a raised garden sprouted in our heads as our family searches for an escape from over processed and chemical filled foods. With disease and sickness part of everyday life, it only made sense to start with the food we eat. This starts our adventure to live healthier, more fulfilling lives.

Our Arizona garden project begins by building a raised garden be approx. 20' x 3' x 12". It started out being two stacked 1" x 6" pine boards, wrapped in a protective 6 mil black plastic to keep the chemicals in the wood from leaching out into the soil. We soon added another 1" x 6" pine board to make the overall height approx. 18" high with 2" or so buried in the ground. We read that this would be the optimal height for growing most everything here in the desert.

Here are a few photos from the building phase of the raised garden bed:

(This took two of us about half of a really warm Saturday)

We used three 4" x 4" x 5' posts to support our raised garden bed. We buried these approx. 12" deep seeing that this would be deep enough for support while allowing us a little break from having to dip down really deep in this hard compacted Arizona dirt. The wood we used for the border was 1" x 6" x 10' pine. Along the wall we covered 1/2" plywood with the same 6 mil plastic to help keep any water run off from sneaking through and/or under the wall.

We added a lattice at the entrance of the garden to help support a few cape honey suckle plants - extra shade is always nice in the hot summer :) The plan is to irrigate this raised bed with a drip system running along the back.

The start of the Arizona Sunshine Garden Project

Welcome to the beginning of the Arizona Sunshine Garden Project!

You'll soon be reading and viewing images about our Arizona garden adventure in which we have started from scratch, with very little gardening knowledge at all. A vision of eating our own home grown, chemical free food peeked our interest and we took off running...

Maybe not the most enjoyable time to plan and build a garden, but what else is there to do mid June in Arizona, lol!

I didn't care about a little hard work and sweat, I wanted to start eating fresh, great tasting produce as soon as possible. The few peppers and tomatoes we had always grown tasted so good, but it always seemed that life got in the way and we went back to the fast food preparation of microwaves and drive-thru's so quickly; not this time however!

Follow our journey and please feel free to comment and ask questions as this helps all of us find answers.

Happy Harvest!!!