A 'No Cactus' Post

Zucchini

Until this year, my only attempt ever at vegetable gardening has been one or two tomato plants every spring. But, I suppose to be technical, tomatoes don't even qualify as a vegetable, so this is truly my first veggie experiment! I got the idea to try my hand at vegetable gardening after I read an Arizona newspaper article about growing vegetables in containers. That seemed a lot easier and simpler than having a whole garden. I purchased a few types of squash and sweet pepper bedding plants in March, and placed them in large containers with potting soil. I also planted some carrots and radishes from seed. It's going to take a lot of effort keeping the containers moist enough in the coming heat, but I'm like a kid, watching the tiny vegetables forming. The most interesting to me is the Pattypan squash, identifiable even at thumbnail size.

Pattypan Squash

Cherry Tomato

Usually I buy the 'Early Girl' variety of tomato, but I couldn't find one this year, so I settled for a cherry tomato. As far as I'm concerned any tomato, if homegrown, is good!

Zonal Geranium

I always have a few Zonal Geraniums in pots around my garden. Each year, I get a different color, and this is what I chose for 2009. Normally I go for the hot, bright colors, but I found these pale pink flowers quite pretty and got them for a change. My maternal grandmother always kept geraniums in pots on her window sill. I loved the fragrance of the leaves when she watered them. I only visited her three or four times as a child, but to this day, the scent of geraniums still reminds me of her.

Callistemon 'Little John'

In very early spring I gave all my Dwarf Bottlebrush bushes a dose of chelated iron. This is something occasionally necessary as bottlebrush becomes chlorotic in our alkaline soil. Iron chlorosis is a condition more common with these plants in areas with highly alkaline soils, high soil temperatures, and high light intensity. The leaves really greened very quickly, and now the bushes are covered with dozens of the bright red "bottlebrush" flowers.

Tecoma stans 'Yellow Bells'

Finally, my Yellow Bells shrub is established and is growing rapidly. I was concerned that it wasn't going to make it as its growth really lagged for months. This is a popular landscape plant in Arizona, as well in many other states in the Southwest. It doesn't get as large as the Tecoma stans 'Orange Jubilee', but it will provide some needed afternoon shade for several cacti as it matures.