How to Build Gardens in Arizona and The Tools you will need to do it
Do you love taking fresh vegetables and herbs? They can only be fresh if you pick them from your own garden. If you have some little space, even if it is a few square meters, you can create a vegetable garden where you will be harvesting quality herbs and vegetables for your family. If it is large enough, you can sell some of the produce to your neighbors. Here are steps to creating a garden in Arizona.
Determine the Best Crops to Grow in Arizona
You can grow crops such as green peas, green beans, radishes, carrots, onions, peppers, herbs, sugar snap peas and tomatoes among others. Arizona has about two seasons in a year helping you grow enough vegetables for a year. The best time to plant your seed is between November and March. There is frost in January; thus, you need to cover all your vegetables to prevent damage from foul weather.
Get the Required Tools
Some basic gardening tools that you need include a spade and a shovel. You may also need a spading fork for digging hard soil and breaking the ground. You may also need a hoe, a wheelbarrow, and a garden rake. All of these items can be rented if you don’t already own them.
Find the Right Spot for the Garden
Start by looking for a perfect spot to build your garden. It should be a place that receives not less than six hours of the sunshine, a place where the soil drains well, away from high winds and an area you can make a partial barrier, especially during the summer season.
Determine the Size of the Garden
You can have a garden as large as you desire. This depends on the place available and the amount of time, resources, and effort you commit on the garden. Ideally, you should make a raised garden to enable good drainage. Moreover, build small sizes of raised gardens that you can work on without stepping between the vegetables. A size of about 4.5 feet width and 10 feet length is ideal with about 18 inches high is ideal.
You can raise the garden by using blocks to raise the area or digging up paths around the blocks of raised gardens. If you have clay soil, add some sand to the soil to help improve drainage.
Prepare the Soil
The native soil in Arizona is rarely nutrient sufficient to give good results. You need to mix with some compost or gardening soil and fertilizers. Use of organic matter is better than the fertilizers.
Plant the seeds as per the recommended depth and spacing for specific vegetables. You can get assistance from the agricultural extension officers.