The spring is barely here and we are ready for it. This represents the second wave of warm season vegetables we have available right now. Since there could still be a frost, we DO encourage you to make plans to cover plants if it gets cold. Temperatures in the 40s will make plants limp in the morning, but they will bounce back and this won’t harm them (they bounce back up in the afternoon). But if the temperature approaches frost, cover the plants with cloth (so the cloth does not touch the plants). These crops will be available by Friday, February 25 2022. We will have a lot more varieties av ..read more

Artichoke flower Cynara is a genus of thistle-like perennial plants in the sunflower family. They are native to the Mediterranean region, the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and the Canary Islands. The genus name comes from the Greek kynara, which means "artichoke". There are 11 species, but two are commonly available to grow in the garden. The two main cultivar groups are the cardoon (C. cardunculus var. altilis), selected for edible leaf stems, and the artichoke (C. cardunculus var. scolymus), selected for larger edible flower buds. The wild species that these two edible plants were selec ..read more

The Brassicaceae is one of the most important families to the human food supply. The species Brassica oleracea represents most of the plants in this group though a few are of the species B. juncea and B. rapa, and the taxonomy can be a bit squirrely—only a big deal if you care about taxonomy. Cauliflower and broccoli are also B. oleracea but those are dealt with in another post, since the edible portion of these crops are the flower buds. This is an overview of the leafy members of this group which we use as greens, stems, and roots. The leafy brassicas are eaten raw, pickled, and cooked. Som ..read more

It’s pretty incredible what humans have done with the chicory and endive plants. There are a few wild species of Cicorium that are the progenitors of our domestic varieties, or related to those progenitors. Especially wild versions of Cicorium intybus and C. pumilum. A total of ten species are recognized by science. Wild chicory is edible raw, but wild chicory leaves usually have a bitter taste, especially the older leaves. The flavor is appreciated in certain cuisines, such as in the Ligurian and Apulian regions of Italy and also in the southern part o ..read more

The vegetable that is a fruit Some of you know that the tomato is technically a fruit—which means that it is a seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. But the tomato defies this definition because what we generally consider as a fruit is usually sweet. The tomato can impart a sweetness of sorts, but it has so much more versatility as an ingredient than fruits usually possess. Of course, it also has more versatility than most vegetables too. I promise you, we’ll get to the part where we discuss how to grow a tomato. But you should know some of this fru ..read more

seasonal notes January 2021 APPRECIATE THE SEASON It’s winter. January always feels like a strange time for us gardeners—there is this sense that you should be preparing for a season change soon. Perhaps you will start some seeds indoors (or in a greenhouse or coldframe if you have one) of tomatoes, peppers, or squash for early transplant outdoors. This is especially helpful for those long season crops which take some time before they fruit. But, it’s still very much the cool season. You can still plant many crops from seed or transplant—all those greens, root crops, parsley, cilantro, dill, i ..read more

A concept that sometimes needs to be reemphasized for the northerners, used to frozen winters, is that the vegetable garden is active all winter long in Tucson. We often get remarks like “but planting season is done right?” and of course it is not. We can grow something in the vegetable and herb garden any time of year. The winter season has only begun, and throughout that season, you can plant successions of crops. There are considerations though, and we are here to tell you what they are. One of the unique problems in the cool season is dealing with cold snaps or frosts. We will go over wh ..read more

Wolfberry is the common name for a number of plants in the genus Lycium, which includes the famous superfood goji berry which can be the fruits of either Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense. In the desert southwestern United States and Northern Mexico we have many species of Lycium, 11 species just in Arizona. The fruits on their own have a complex flavor. They also possess many of the same positive medicinal and nutritional attributes that goji berry possesses. Lycium fremontii We think wolfberries are best made as a syrup. And since we have a three-year-old plant of the one of our native sp ..read more

Every spring there is a buzz about a purple-flowering plant in landscapes where we live, “What is that plant with the clusters of dangling purple flowers that smell like grape flavored Kool Aid” The Texas mountain laurel (Dermatophyllum secundiflorum, formally known as Sophora secundiflora) is a large shrub or small tree normally with glossy, evergreen leaves. The flowers are reminiscent of wisteria flowers, with a very powerful scent that is likened to grape flavored Kool Aid or grape soda. A member of the bean family (Fabaceae), the flowers are followed by pods that contain orange to red ..read more

A ..read more