k Chapter 10

Ready, Set, Grow

B
uilding good soil can be satisfying, but now the fun really
begins. At times it may seem that we’ve turned upside
down some of the gardening practices you may have
learned in another area of the country. But if you follow these few
basic rules for desert gardening, you’ll be harvesting buckets of
produce and armloads of flowers in no time!

Seeds
Choose varieties that are known to do well in the desert. Give
preference to disease and pest resistant selections. This informa-
tion can be found as letters at the end of the species name, in the
catalog or on the seed packet. For example, “Celebrity VFNT” is
a tomato that is resistant to Verticillium; Fusarium; Nematodes;
and Tobacco Mosaic, all problems that can strike tomatoes. If you
have limited space, use dwarf varieties. In general, select varieties
with shorter growing cycles to help deal with the relatively short
cool- and warm-weather growing seasons in the desert. Plants with
short growing cycles often have “Early” in their name. Many cata-
logs contain charts with this type of information so that you can
compare plant attributes. If this seems confusing, consult your
County Cooperative Extension office, local garden clubs, garden
columns in local periodicals, reputable nurseries and seed compa-
nies in the Southwest. They can recommend varieties that do well
in your area.
Follow seed package instructions for row and plant spacing
or follow the square foot gardening guide. Consider halving the
recommended planting depth since our soil is usually heavier.
Lacking seed instructions, a rule of thumb is a depth of two to
68 Success With School Gardens

three times the seed diameter. As to planting dates, desert garden-

ing references or County Cooperative Extension publications (check
the planting calendars in Appendix F) will provide better informa-
tion than seed packages or books written for other climates.
Gently water seeds to remain moist (not muddy). You can
cover them with old sheets or burlap to keep moist, but check often
and remove the cover when sprouts appear. Commence deep wa-
tering practices (see Chapter 11) when plants emerge.
If plants do not sprout within the expected time frame, re-
plant immediately. Check your seed packs for dates. It’s not that
old seed won’t grow, it’s just that the percentage that will germi-
nate starts to fall as the seed ages. So give some older seeds a
chance, particularly if they were donated. Your students may not
mind a lower success rate if you have taught them the impact of
age before planting time.

Greater supervision, especially of younger chil-

dren, is required when using seeds treated with
chemicals. (Treated seeds are usually colored).
When ordering, ask if seeds are treated or un-
TIP treated. Make sure children wash hands thor-
oughly after planting.

Transplants
When buying transplants, select healthy, pest-free, mid-sized
plants. Do not buy plants too large for the container as the plant
may be root-bound. Leave behind the spindly, yellowed or spotted
starters. You can start your own transplants from seed about six to
eight weeks before planting time. Before planting, “harden them
off,” which is the process of introducing and acclimating the plants
to the outside by increasing exposure over a week’s time.
Transplant on cloudy days or in the evenings whenever pos-
sible. Keep the root ball intact and handle the plants carefully. If
the roots have circled the container (called girdling), loosen the
 Ready, Set, Grow 69

ends of the roots by gently drawing a pointed instrument such as a

nail or pencil down the side of the root ball or by cutting the roots
in severe cases.
Seedlings should be transplanted at the same level in the soil
as they were in their containers. The ground around them should
be level. Don’t plant them up on little hills or in sunken depres-
sions. The hills carry water away from the plant and may erode,
exposing the roots. Depressions will collect water and increase
the chances of water-borne diseases or stem rot. Salts will also
accumulate.
Tomatoes are an exception to this rule. Before transplanting,
remove all the leaves below the top two nodes. Dig a shallow
trench and place the plant on its side in the hole. Bury it up to the
last two nodes. As tomatoes are able to sprout roots along the
entire stem, this method gives the plant an added advantage.
Be sure to soak the ground well immediately after transplant-
ing. Protection from sun and wind for a few days is helpful.
If you are starting your own seedlings, know that not all plants
like to be transplanted. Some are best when directly sown (sun-
flowers, squash, peas, beans, celery, carrots, and most root crops)
while others do better when started in a container and transplanted
(tomatoes, peppers, eggplant).
70 Success With School Gardens

Choosing Crops
Consider the time to harvest against the school year calendar,
making sure you can harvest before the term ends or it’s time to
plant for the warm season. If you are trying to plant two cycles of
crops, select varieties with short maturity dates, often denoted by
“Early” in the plant’s description.
Do you know the easy rule for remembering the time of the
year to grow most vegetables in the desert? Cool-weather crops,
or those planted October through January, are those from which
the food source is a part of the plant itself: roots, shoots, leaves or
flowers. Lettuce, cabbage, spinach, onion, garlic, beets, carrots,
radishes, turnips, broccoli, and cauliflower are some better-known
examples. Peas are also grown then; try some sugar snaps to eat
right off the vine! (This is a short season, so there is generally not
time for the plant to bear fruit. Peas are the exception.)
For warm-weather crops, which are planted from February
to September, think fruits and seeds: tomatoes, peppers, cucum-
bers, squashes, melons, beans, sunflowers and corn, for starters.
The longer growing season allows for the whole plant cycle: seed
to plant to flower to fruit to seed.
If you are planting a lot of herbs and don’t have a separate
bed, consider planting the more invasive varieties (mint, oregano,
marjoram and yarrow) within five-gallon containers. This barrier
prevents aggressive growers from taking over. Be sure to cut the
bottom out of the pots to allow for drainage.

Class Activity
Seed Catalog Poster

Cutting up seed catalogs makes a fun poster to illustrate these

two growing seasons. We guarantee that students will have
to prove that a tomato planted in late September (“Whaddya
mean it’s time for cool crops? It’s 103 degrees outside!”)
will probably not produce. Plant one in a bed as an experi-
ment, but don’t fill the whole plot!
 Ready, Set, Grow 71

Mulch
When your plants are up, mulch, mulch, mulch. Mulching is
the application of organic matter on top of the soil. You will quickly
become hooked on its virtues: minimizing water evaporation, keep-
ing the soil from cooking, providing a protective barrier against
weeds and eventually enriching the soil when you turn it under or
it breaks down. Some temporary nitrogen depletion may occur,
but this is minimal. Remove the mulch during cooler months (Janu-
ary–March), if quick spring crop germination requires warm soil.
You could even heat the soil by covering it with clear plastic.

Types of Mulches
compost leaves straw
grass clippings hay cottonseed hulls
pine needles wood chips sawdust

Materials that decompose more slowly and are high in car-

bon (wood chips, sawdust) temporarily rob nitrogen from
the soil. They are better left to pathways where the soil can
still receive long-term conditioning.

Don’t use anything as mulch that could break down and be

harmful to your plants, such as sawdust from chemically
treated lumber.

Weeds
Control the weeds in your garden, which can compete with
your plants for water, sun and nutrients. But don’t let this year-
round task control you. Mulching is a great way to discourage
unwanted plants by providing a barrier between stray weed seeds
and the soil. Weeds can provide food and shelter for insect pests
such as cutworms or whiteflies. Although scientists have done
some research on weeds serving as food and shelter for beneficial
insects, such as lady beetles, the results are not conclusive.
72 Success With School Gardens

Does every last weed need to be removed? Not necessarily.

You can use weeds as a great teaching tool. What is it about the
weed that helps it survive so well? Deep roots? Voluminous seed
production? Or maybe it has a fast life cycle timed to coincide
with the rainy season. And finally, have your children consider
what Ralph Waldo Emerson had to say on the topic: What is a
weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered.
Be forewarned: most weeds reseed prolifically so if you don’t
remove them before they flower and go to seed, you will have a
huge new crop next year. Pull the weeds before they go to seed
and they are a great addition to your compost pile. Use your hands
(you have plenty of them in class) or tools, but you should not have
to use chemicals for weed control.

Class Activity
Why Mulch?

Examine the impact to the garden with and without mulch.

Use two adjoining planted areas with similar exposure.
Heavily mulch only one area. Use gallon jugs to hand water
these plots so children can track how much water is used.
Check the soil moisture daily with a ruler (or fingers) to
demonstrate how mulch helps to maintain soil moisture.
Which plot has more weeds?

Thinning
The most emotional task your class may have is thinning,
which should be started about two weeks after sprouts appear. There
should be limited need to thin if seeds have been correctly spaced,
but little hands don’t always sow very uniformly. Fewer, appro-
priately spaced plants will actually produce more, not less.
Thin by cutting seedlings at ground level with scissors. There
is less chance of pulling up adjacent plants.
 Ready, Set, Grow 73

Class Activity
Prove the Benefits of Thinning

Heavily sow seeds in two identical spaces. As seeds begin

to germinate, thin one patch according to seed pack instruc-
tions; let all the seedlings grow in the second patch. Have
children examine the plants weekly for differences in height,
flowering, fruit generation and overall vigor. Depending on
the vegetable you choose, determine the difference in yield,
e.g., number of pea pods per plant, or size of carrots.

Fertilizing
If you have prepared your soil well at the beginning of the
growing season, you may not need to bother with midseason fer-
tilization. It depends on the needs of your plants and the fertility of
your soil. Examine your plants for any of the symptoms listed in
Appendix G, “Diagnosing Plant Problems.” If you determine the
need for an extra “boost,” there are several methods for applying
fertilizer at this point. Always apply fertilizer according to the
container’s instructions.
Dilute foliar sprays are mixed with water and sprayed directly
on the plant, which absorbs the nutrients through its leaves.
More concentrated water-soluble fertilizers are mixed with
water and applied to the soil around the plant. Take care not to
splash on the plant itself.
Alternatively, fertilizer can be dug into the soil about four
inches to the side of your plants and worked to a depth of three
inches. If the fertilizer is applied more closely, you will risk burn-
ing the roots. Because of the potential to damage tender plant roots,
this method is not recommended when working with children.
Herbs will produce more oil and have better flavor if not fer-
tilized too often. Periodic supplements of organic matter should
provide sufficient nitrogen. Herbs lose flavor as flowers form (keep
buds pinched), so unless you want massive quantities of seeds for
74 Success With School Gardens

propagation, additional phosphorus shouldn’t often be necessary

either.
Please harvest or otherwise use your plants! Make a salad,
sell bouquets, pop corn, donate produce to a food bank or make
herbal potpourri. But do leave a few plants, particularly cool sea-
son varieties, to show students how the plant eventually reproduces
and dies. Have you ever seen a radish, carrot or broccoli fully
flower? Now just where did all those seeds you planted come from
anyway?

Class Activity
Fertilizer Results

Compare the health, vigor and yield of the same species with
and without midseason fertilization. Did the fertilized plant
produce a greater crop? Did more pests visit one plant over
another? Is one plant greener than its neighbor? Are the
leaves bigger?