Man, It’s Stupid Hot Out There!

No matter where you stand in the climate change conversation, it is undeniably HOT out there these days – outrageously, hellishly, suffocatingly hot! 200 million Americans are currently experiencing record-breaking heat, with many places expected to reach temperatures higher than those we’ll have here in Arizona. And don’t give me the “it’s a dry heat” refrain, an oven is also a dry heat. I have lived in places with high humidity and know how debilitating it can be and most of the places dealing with this heat wave will also have that humidity. The combination of heat and humidity is just plain miserable.

Never touch metal that's been in direct sunlight.

We Arizonans take pride in our ability to muddle through our summers. Most of us accept the heat as payment for having such mild winters. There are many strategies to get through, but when asked how one copes, my favorite response is “Live like a desert creature”. Simply put, avoid the sun at all costs, don’t over exert yourself and drink plenty of water. Seeking shade is a competitive sport around here in the hottest months; I’ve seen groups of people clumped together under the thin strip of shade a telephone pole offers.Even local reptiles know this game. Having said all that, many (probably most) Arizonans, myself included, are lucky enough to travel from air-conditioned homes in our air-conditioned cars to other air-conditioned locations. But, getting to that car in the parking lot and getting it cooled down can be pretty gnarly!

 

"Facekinis" in China - not creepy at all. 

People can wear lighter clothing (or add questionable sun protection like the image on the left) and adjust their routines in answer to excessive heat, but what is a  plant to do? The higher the temperatures, the more need for water; finding ways to stretch your water is key. In Arizona, Xeriscaping has long been a widely appreciated model for growing. With its emphasis   on water conservation, mulching and using heat   tolerant plants, it is an ideal solution for areas like   ours that experience heat and drought.The elimination or reduction of turf is also a key factor in Xeriscapes. Many people around the country still love their lawns, but in cities like ours where water is at a premium they have become less socially acceptable. I encourage every reader to reconsider their lawn and either eliminate or reduce them; it is a small but important way to serve the environment.

Backyard Xeriscape, Tucson, AZ

Adopting a Xeriscape approach to landscapes and gardening takes some planning ahead. This works well in Arizona because we always know it will be hot and dry. With current climate conditions being what they are, excessive heat and/or drought is a reality now for non-desert parts of our nation and, if you want to grow something, planning ahead is for everyone. Here are some ways you can build a heat tolerant green space; some take planning, but others offer heat help right away:

Soil Amendments – Building a soil that holds and properly distributes water and water-borne nutrients to plants is a solid foundation that gives plants the tools to fight the heat. You can chose something like Earthshine, a soil enhancer mix that contains biochar and other beneficial additives. Or a powder like Harvest Gold Organics Premium Soil Conditioner, which contains silica and micronutrients. Or even a single ingredient additive like the Elemite, also known as ARBICO Organics™ Soil Replenish™. Another (very affordable!) option is ARBICO Organics™ Rice Hulls. The bottom line is that any type of high quality soil amendment will bring you healthier soil, which means healthier plants that can better handle heat and drought stressors.

Composting & Mulching – You can increase your soil’s water holding capacity by up to 7 times by simply adding compost. You can use ready-to-go compost or begin making your own; we have options for you here. Mulch, mulch, mulch – in any form, by any name, just do it! Mulching options are many: coco coir like Prococo Coconut Coir, Hulless Oats and other cover crops and biodegradable weed block paper, which provides weed control as well as mulch. Another interesting option is Slug Gone. This sustainable slug (and snail) control product is made from wool and is placed in and around garden beds. It will swell from the moisture and make a scratchy mat that slugs will refuse to cross. In performing its slug control duty, it also retains moisture and reduces water usage.

Yucca in its native environment

Adjuvants – Another way to protect plants from heat stressors is to add adjuvants to their water. Yucca (Yucca schidigera) is a desert native and knows all the tricks to survive in such a harsh environment. Adjuvants like RAW Yucca Flow and Therm X-70 that use extracts from these plants deliver the secrets of the Yucca plant to your backyard. You can give your plants immediate heat relief by adding these adjuvants right away.

Covers – Use covers to protect your plants from the pounding sun. Here are many versions to choose from, or create your own. Here is a video to show you how.

Containers – Consider moving plants from beds to containers. Container planting makes water conservation easier and gives you the ability to move plants in and out of the sun.


Embrace heat-loving plants – Seek out and cultivate plants that are well adapted to hot weather. Here are some great heat-friendly plants that you are probably familiar with:
Sunflowers – with a name like that…
Amaranth - pretty – and you can eat it!
Echinacea – beloved by pollinators – and check out these cute earrings
Yarrow - native to temperate North America

Yarrow blooms

Unless you live in the far northern regions of our country, you may be surprised to find there are native summer species waiting to be loved. Here in the Tucson, we have a fabulous source for desert-adapted native and heirloom plants thanks to Native Seeds/SEARCH. They have a remarkable variety of interesting seeds and stories that go with them.

Stay cool out there.
                                                                                                                         Submitted by Pam

Prepping Your Spring Garden For Success

1.) Plan Your Garden

Sketch, Plot and Plant

First things first, you should pick seeds and transplants that will do well in your area. There are tons and tons of seed outlets online offering the common, the obscure and the useless. Do your best to match your crops’ preferences with the local climate and the types of soil media at your disposal. In other words, make decisions early on that will make your life easier later on. Browse our full catalog of organic and heirloom seeds here.

Creating a basic sketch of the cultivation area(s) helps to visualize the space prior to planting. This is an easy method to design a space-efficient garden bed, properly space plants and estimate what you’ll need to grow through the year (fertilizers, amendments, beneficial nematodes, etc.). A piece of graph paper can be a gardener’s best friend. The grid pattern makes it easy to plot plantings and pair plants that offer benefits to one another. Examples of this include planting legumes (nitrogen fixers) nearby nitrogen-needy plants like cruciferous vegetables and using aromatic herbs to keep pests away from their favorite plants. Try ARBICO's free Garden Journal to start planning your spring garden.

2.) Build Your Soil

Get Your Hands Dirty!

Soil is the soul of our gardens. It forms the garden’s foundation for the following months (or years). Soil prep starts with knowing what you’re growing and how you want to grow it. You’ll want to think about plant preferences, possible pitfalls, local pests and crop types. Some common soil amendments and additives include the following:

• Earthworm Castings
• Humic Acids
• Biochar
• Phosphorus 
• Wetting Agents/Surfactants

The natural ingredients in organic fertilizers break down over time, freeing up additional nutritional content and making it available to your plants later in the season. This slow release nourishes the plants with what they need when they need it instead of giving them a drink from the firehose. Most of this breakdown also feeds naturally occurring (or introduced) microorganisms helping maintain soil structure and more closely resemble the natural soil biome. 

3.) Place Sticky Traps & Buy A Notebook

Note-Taking Doesn't Stop After School

Often underestimated, sticky traps are a simple and pain-free way to monitor pests in the garden. Yellow traps attract the widest range of insects and are superb for establishing a baseline for ongoing control. They help us spot things early, reduce plant damage and plan for success moving forward in the season. 

Now that the traps are placed, get a notebook and make notes of what gets trapped and when. Pests or beneficials give us insights into what to expect and how to move forward. Keeping a log of information is one of the easiest things to improve our gardening efforts season on season. 

Found a bug, but don’t know what it is? Let us help you ID it!

At the end of the day, gardening should be a fun experiment. You're not going to get it perfect the first time, but consistent improvement is remarkably achievable. Following the steps above should get your garden started on the right foot and move you closer to the eagerly awaited harvest. Gardening gives us a chance to grow with our plants, so let’s take advantage of this spring season for just that! 

How Pumpkins Replaced Turnips at Halloween

We can thank Irish immigrants for bringing us the tradition of having a Jack O’Lantern on All Hallow’s Eve. The practice dates back to ancient Celtic cultures when they carved scary faces onto turnips and potatoes. Once carved, the root vegetables were hollowed out and put on a windowsill with an ember placed inside – all this was done to ward off Stingy Jack and other evil spirits while guiding the good spirits to them.

The Legend of Stingy Jack

Stingy Jack was an Irish farmer who made a deal with the devil. A miserable old drunk, he reveled in playing mean-spirited tricks on anyone. On All Hallow’s Eve, he ran into the devil at a local pub. Jack tricked the devil by offering his soul in exchange for one last drink. The devil turned himself into a 6-pence to pay the tab but Jack snatched the coin and pocketed it with his silver cross. This rendered the devil unable to change back. Jack made a deal, he would only set the devil free if he promised not to claim Jack’s soul for 10 years.

Ten years on, Jack came across the devil while walking on a country road. The devil wanted to collect his due. But Jack, ever the conniving sot, replied, “I’ll go but before I do, will you get me an apple from that tree?”

The devil jumped up into the tree to retrieve an apple. Jack quickly placed silver crosses around the trunk of the tree. Once again, the crosses trapped the devil. This time, Jack only released the devil when he promised not to take his soul until he died from natural causes. 

The devil had no choice but to agree.

When Stingy Jack passed away, he was refused admission to the Gates of Heaven because he'd spent his stingy, tight-fisted life as a deceitful drunk. So, Jack was relegated to trying to enter hell. But the devil would not let him enter and sent him back to where he came from.

The way back was windy, scary and perpetually dark. Stingy Jack pleaded with the devil to give him a way to light his path. The devil tossed Jack and ember from the fires of Hell. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out turnip – his favorite food and one he could easily steal. Since that time, Stingy Jack has been wandering the earth, without a resting place and with only his turnip and ember to light his way in the darkness.

The practice of warding off spirits with carved out vegetables spread beyond Ireland and Scotland to England, where they adopted the practice using beets. When the immigrants arrived in the United States, they found a plentiful supply of pumpkins and, although still somewhat messy, they provided a cleaner and more convenient vessel for the carving and for embers.

As a child, I remember that the night my dad carved our pumpkin was a big event. Much planning went into the plan for the face and the expression that would work best. Putting that pumpkin out on the porch with a lit candle seemed to signal the beginning of all of the light and food-filled celebrations that we had to look forward to in the coming months. It was both the end of summer and the beginning of celebrating the new and incoming possibilities of the high holidays.

Submitted by Deb N.