Went to a gardening class at the AZ worm farm this morning and learned a lot. They use a no till method so the plants are cut off at the ground leaving the roots and a new crop is then planted, then topped with compost and much. All of their seasonal food crops are under 50% shade which is up all year, except artichokes which get full sun. Those are planted between separate shaded gardens. I learned a bunch about tomatoes, including how they are planted and the difference between determinant which are bushy and non determinant which grow as vines. Plus how to grow them for a longer period of time than just one season. We got a few starts and some worm castings with the class fee
I also got a perpetual calendar that’s specifically for my USDA zone showing what to plant or harvest each month
One thing I found interesting is that they use bins to feed worms in their raised bed. Essentially it’s the same process as an indoor bin, but it gives the worms access to the whole garden. I put this bin between the two thyme plants where it will get afternoon shade from the Star jessamine I planted in the middle trellis.
A few pics from the garden today
These are the chaste trees
This is the beach party lilac
I have a banana plant, a night blooming jessamine and an apple tree still coming at some point. The elephant ears are struggling with our lack of humidity and even morning sun is burning the leaves so I’m pulling them out and moving the chaste trees to those larger pots, then mulching with rock. There’s a nice big area of bunny poop in their yard so I’m going to move that out to spread among the plants to encourage leaf growth on everything. I have to trim the yellow bells against the east wall of the yard so the lantana can spread out as a natural ground cover over there. Plus, tomorrow I have to go to my moms and two weeks after that she needs help with a yard sale. I’m going to have to work on the yard every day next week to try to beat the heat. The weather folks are predicting 89 by Friday. I have a different type of soaker hose on order from Lowe’s to try in the shade garden, which means I’m pulling out the cardboard that’s in there to block weeds. I also have some Velcro tape on order to prop up a few things including the Carolina jessamine that keeps falling off the trellis in the wind. I think that’s it.