Vegetable Planting Guide, Page 3

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page 3
Different Seasons, Different Crops
Now that we have a spring start date we should have a finish one as well. That's because Tucson gardeners are fighting with our weather. It's going to get hot, really hot and dry, somewhere down the road. You need to get as much out of your plants as you can before the heat sets in. The same goes for winter crops. You need to know when to stop planting so that the vegetable will grow and mature before it's time to plant the warm season crop.

If you've ever read the back of a seed pack you've probably seen the suggestion to plant another row two weeks after the first and then again after that. Why? So you won't have to harvest all your crops in the same basket. Crops have different maturing times. For example, under the right conditions, small, quick growing radishes can grow to edible size in less than a month. If you do just one planting your radishes are all ready to harvest in about the same week or two. You harvest, you eat, they're gone. What kind of vegetable gardener is that? You want to spread out your harvest so you can enjoy the vegetables of yours, and Mother Nature's labor, over a longer period of time.

Fortunately the planting season, that start and stop date, for radishes is several months long. It just needs to be done in the cooler time of the year for the Tucson climate. The Ag. Extension Master Gardener Manual states you can plant from August 5 through May 1st in the Tucson area. That's a long time. For my radishes I usually start in late September and don't plant after February. That's because I need the garden's space for warm season crops and somewhere between cool season and warm season I have to prepare the beds by adding organic matter, fertilizer and giving the hard working soil a bit of a rest.

I also grow oriental radishes called daikons. What's nice about them, is not only their mild flavor and their large size, but they can stay in the ground for a very long time without getting woody like regular radishes. I'll usually plant three or four rows in late September or October and still be able to harvest in February or until they show signs of flowering. It was one of those crops I thought I'd try one fall several years ago and have been growing them every cool season since.

Seasonal Overlap
As fall rolls around and the days get shorter and the nights cooler a whole different set of vegetables can go into the garden. You can even have overlap where there are still some warm season crops nearing maturity while cool season crops are either just sprouting from seed or the transplants are ready to go into the garden.

The hard part is to have enough vegetable garden space so that you can still have tomatoes, beans and peppers growing until that first killing frost and enough room to plant lettuce, chard, onions, garlic and whatever you like from the cool season crops. (2006)

Different Season, Different Crops continued on page 4

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