about ​How to Grow Food Organically in
Phoenix, Arizona's Supremely Hot and Dry ​Low Desert Climate​

For those new to organic gardening, the best time to start growing your own food was several years ago,
​but now also ​works. ​Even if you start with just one plant, you can learn to grow your own food!​

(​Click on the photographs below for larger images if you want to learn to grow your own food.)

I PROVIDE PHONE, TEXT, & E-MAIL

YOUR OWN ORGANIC VEGETABLE / EDIBLE GARDEN,

AND MY COMPLIMENTARY BLOG FOR CUSTOMERS
​NOW HAS 275 POSTS!

 IN-PERSON CONSULTING MAY BE AVAILABLE IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA 
UPON INQUIRY, BUT PHOTOGRAPHS MAY PREVENT THE NEED.
​​

 SHARE HERE:

(Please note that consulting is presently only available to those in the United States.)

And I Can Give Tips for Growing In-Ground

Most of what I have grown has been potted, but at my last home, I also had a ​large raised bed
 for my organic vegetable / edible garden. I've also done a good amount of research on plants best grown
​in-ground or that can't fit into my relatively small space. And while I grow a number of newer cultivars
 called hybrids (NEVER GMOs), ​my preference is usually heirlooms for the stability they offer. 

​​e.g., Texas, Nevada, California, New Mexico, and other parts of Arizona

I can also help those in climates less hot than Phoenix, Arizona's ​103-122ish-degree ​summers enjoy organic gardening and growing food for oneself ​only or perhaps as part of a community of family and friends ​who each grow ​their ​own ​types of food and share the surplus.

Some of the many foods I have grown that are photographed in this section follow: cherries, sweet peppers, watermelons, hibiscus for tea, cherry tomatoes, melons, guavas, collards, green beans and vegetables that are similar to green beans, eggplant, okra, green onions, parsley, fennel, cactus fruit, moringa, cucumbers, kumquats, kiwano melon, sage, carrots, blackberries, squash, figs, tomatillos, spinach and lettuce substitutes, nopales which are prickly pear flesh of the tastier and more tender cultivars, and kale.
​
To make the most of my desert climate, I am now adding cacti for the fruits and/or the flesh.

​And a Video

OF MY ORGANIC VEGETABLE / EDIBLE GARDENS

I have had my own organic gardens in Phoenix, Arizona (Zone 9b) for 3.5+ years, and below are many photographs from my two organic gardens (one using a raised bed and pots while the other is almost completely potted). I have grown over 100 varieties and types of edibles/food--with more varieties ​being trialed now--of vegetables, ​fruit, ​culinary herbs, grains, seeds, peanuts, cacti, and 'medicinal herbs' (that's what they're called, but I believe that God designed *all* of his foods to create healthy bodies and that there's a spiritual component to health).

OF SOME OF THE FOOD I HAVE LEARNED TO GROW

 "I'm getting my PhD in urban agriculture, and I've never seen a potted garden as impressive as yours. You should be in Phoenix Home and Garden magazine!" A neighbor 
(Glory to GOD for HIS designs!)

A Walk through my
Organic Edible Garden
on april 17, 2021

My Garden Friend

​​Have you ever heard a hummingbird sing? If not, here you go! This one visits my garden almost
daily, sitting on its favorite ​branch most of the time, and now has a family. Hummingbirds help to
pollinate ​some plants; so, I welcome them!

Making organic gardening consulting more accessible

A number of gardening consulting services begin with a roughly hour-long, in-person consultation of about $150 and then cost $50+ hourly after that, but not all of them have an organic focus.

​One of my goals is to help more people than can be helped with those types of consulting services—through e-mail and phone consulting which works for both locals and those outside of my immediate area, plus reducing the amount of time spent driving reduces cost. 

As I have spent hundreds of hours researching answers to my questions and learning through trial and error, it is also a goal to save my customers much time, money, and effort! I’ve documented much along the way for sharing via computer.
​
My experience is with growing food organically—mostly potted and in a raised bed—in a supremely hot and dry, low desert climate (Zone 9B), but I can also help those in climates less hot than Phoenix, Arizona’s 105-118ish-degree summers, and I’ve done a good amount of research on plants best grown in-ground or that can’t fit into my relatively small space.

Five Organic Gardening

for those who want to grow food
and perhaps trade some of that food
​with family and friends ​who grow foods of other types

A Little Help with
Learning to Grow Food

(OPTION 1)

​For those with only a little need for one-on-one help,
 $70 reserves (*) up to 1 hour
​​of phone, text, and/or e-mail organic edible/food gardening consulting per month.

Though set up as a subscription, you can purchase help for only one month by cancelling before renewal if you don't need more. You will receive an automated reminder by e-mail before the renewal date.

You certainly don't have to be a beginner to go with this option, but if you have not yet begun gardening, this option can help you decide whether you want to begin growing your own food. Any gardening including organic requires many purchases and a good amount of time especially in the beginning and when problems arise periodically--e.g. with pests, disease, and storms that can require treatment and additional garden cleanup--and knowing some of what's ahead can help you decide the best course of action.

Please note that it is easiest for me to submit responses by computer/e-mail. So, this is what I prefer most of the time.

(* See the information below these five options.)

Subscribe

I WANT TO LEARN TO
GROW MY OWN FOOD

(OPTION 2)

​$120 reserves (*) up to 2 hours
 of phone, text, and/or e-mail organic edible/food gardening consulting per month.

Though set up as a subscription, you can purchase help for only one month by cancelling before renewal if you don't need more. You will receive an automated reminder by e-mail before the renewal date.

Please note that it is easiest for me to submit responses by computer/e-mail. So, this is what I prefer most of the time.

(* See the information below these five options.)​

Subscribe

I WANT TO LEARN TO
GROW MY OWN FOOD

(OPTION 3)

​$150 reserves (*) up to 3 hours
 of phone, text, and/or e-mail organic edible/food gardening consulting per month.

Though set up as a subscription, you can purchase help for only one month by cancelling before renewal if you don't need more. You will receive an automated reminder by e-mail before the renewal date.

Please note that it is easiest for me to submit responses by computer/e-mail. So, this is what I prefer most of the time.​

(* See the information below these five options.)​

Subscribe

I WANT TO LEARN TO
GROW MY OWN FOOD

(OPTION 4)

​$150 reserves (*) up to 3 hours
 of phone, text, and/or e-mail organic edible/food gardening consulting per three month period.

Though set up as a subscription, you can purchase help for only three months by cancelling before renewal if you don't need more. You will receive an automated reminder by e-mail before the renewal date. Marking your calendar at sign-up time will also help.

Please note that it is easiest for me to submit responses by computer/e-mail. So, this is what I prefer most of the time.

(* See the information below these five options.)​

Subscribe

I WANT TO LEARN TO
GROW MY OWN FOOD

(OPTION 5)

$360 reserves (*) up to 9 hours
 of phone, text, and/or e-mail organic edible/food gardening consulting per three month period.

Though set up as a subscription, you can purchase help for only three months by cancelling before renewal if you don't need more. You will receive an automated reminder by e-mail before the renewal date. Marking your calendar at sign-up time will also help.

Please note that it is easiest for me to submit responses by computer/e-mail. So, this is what I prefer most of the time.

(* See the information below these five options.)​

Subscribe

About my Organic Gardening

for those who want to grow food
and perhaps trade some of that food
with family and friends ​who grow foods of other types

I have been gardening organically in Phoenix, Arizona for 3.5+ years and now provide phone/text + e-mail consulting for helping you grow your own organic vegetable/edible garden in my area or one that is similar (e.g., California, Texas, Nevada, New Mexico, and other parts of Arizona).

​My complimentary blog for customers has much content (275+ posts) for helping to reduce the amount of consulting time that is needed. One blog post (always found at the top of the private blog for easy access) contains consulting ideas/topics for those who don't already have questions ready. In-person consulting may be available in Phoenix, Arizona upon inquiry, but photographs may prevent the need.​

Regarding hours, in general I offer the hours of 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Monday through Sunday, but I can sometimes be flexible (later or earlier) and especially if consulting by e-mail or text.
​​​

*Applicable to All Consulting Options
​
1) I will let you contact me when you're ready with questions each month, but please know that minutes don't accrue if you decide to forego reaching out for help in any given month. 

​2) Please don't everyone wait until the last day or even week of the month to submit your questions--the sooner the better!​
3) Monthly subscriptions are non-refundable; so, when your consulting need ends, please cancel through the link provided by e-mail before your subscription renews. This implies that there is a one-month minimum.

4) If you've not already read the following pages, please do. They give a lot of preliminary information. 
Getting Started Growing Your Own Food Organically
Terms of Service​​

​AND WHY GROW MY OWN FOOD

Ornamentals clearly benefit the planet (producing oxygen, consuming CO2, reducing pathogens and pollution, creating the coolness of shade, providing a habitat that nurtures our diverse ecosystem, and feeding the bees that help to feed us are a few reasons that come to mind), but if you ask me, food is too infrequently planted in our yards. 

Edible plants provide many of the benefits of ornamentals and tend to be ornamental themselves; plus, of course, they provide food. They can also nourish us better than what’s available from stores if fertilized sufficiently and consumed quickly. (Vitamin C levels, for example, tend to drop quickly after harvest—in some foods more quickly than others.) Beyond nutrition and food production, it is vital that we be good stewards of the planet and our resources including water consumption; dual-purpose plants help us accomplish those goals. This combination of attributes is what I believe makes edible landscaping a far superior use of resources!
​
But there are additional reasons that motivate me to grow my own food and help others grow their own food. One is that pollen from GMO fields can be carried by wind and insects to non-GMO fields, making it harder for organic farmers to obtain organic certification for crops started with last year’s seed and making it so that a much larger percentage of God’s edible creation could someday become contaminated with laboratory created, GMO genes. Plants that contain fruit fly or other non-plant genes are something that would never be found in nature as the two cannot mate. Someday many more commercially available foods and even seeds may be GMO. If I haven’t already obtained pure seed and begun growing my own food, then what? Not only that, but some are observing that GMO foods have less nutrition and seem to be incapable of reaching sufficient levels.

We live in an imperfect world, and there will always be some variables that are flat out beyond my control (e.g., smokers transferring third-hand smoke to my garden), but risk reduction is always wise if you ask me.

With my own organic edible garden, I can take control of a number of the variables that affect the quality of my food. I know what I put into the soil or onto the foliage, what I didn’t (the bad stuff like unnecessarily strong/toxic pesticides), and I can consume my food within minutes of harvest--in some cases, for far higher nutrient density--instead of days, weeks, or months after harvest. My food is often prettier (e.g., okra that has not browned) and tastier or more tender partly due to the cultivar (e.g., eggplants that aren’t bitter or tomatoes with the amount of sweetness and acidity that I prefer). I can grow food that is not easily found in stores, I can harvest small amounts at a time (e.g., for a parakeet), and it won’t be touched by numbers of hands by the time I bring it home. But while I do grow mostly in plastic containers (some types of plastic are better than others), I can choose a better hose (even storing it indoors when not in use) and minimize the transfer of its plastic chemicals (and metals from some hoses) to my garden. For those with a bigger budget, it would also be possible to filter out some of the undesirable components of tap water.

But there are additional reasons for growing organically. A big one for me is that it reduces dependence on laboratories as it uses the simple system that God put in place for feeding ourselves. Another is that organic gardening involves a slow breakdown of organic materials by microbes and more to supply the plant what it needs in small bites while minimizing run-off that is common with water-soluble fertilizers. It’s not only loss of nutrients through run-off that concerns me but that the dead zones in our oceans and temporary red coloration in other bodies of water are caused by the deadly algae that proliferates to a large degree in response to excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and chemical waste ending up there from commercial agriculture and other industries. God’s systems may be slower in some ways, but they work for us, for plants, and for the planet.​

your own food ORGANICALLY
(Yes, organic gardening is possible even in a hot, low desert!)

Though focused on super hot, arid climates like the desert I live in, much of what I share in my blog and consulting service can also be applied to edible gardening in more temperate climates.

The temperature in 2018 near my home rose to 118 at the highest and hovered around 110 for most of July. Conversely, the last two summers in Phoenix gave us many 120+ days. Most of the information provided in my organic gardening consulting service can be most easily be applied to a number of parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, and more. If I can grow well in Phoenix, Arizona (a true desert and Zone 9B), you who are in cooler climates with more rainfall can do it even better! 100-degree summers would be a breeze compared to ours as 100-degree heat (perhaps up to 105) is what many people are thinking of for heat-tolerant plants. 
​
Regarding winters, we rarely get freezing weather, and it's usually only for 1-3 hours in the middle of the night. During longer freezes, measures will need to be taken to insulate more of your plants.

For those in a climate like mine, with sufficient knowledge and effort, you truly can grow food (trees with edible foliage, fruit trees, leafy greens, vegetables, herbs, and fruiting plants) organically in even a supremely hot low desert summer! The many sample photographs on this website are of my own organic vegetable garden--herbs, leafy greens, vegetables, and fruit--from May, 2018 onward.

And for those of you with small yards or less (perhaps just a patio), I am well equipped to help you with container gardening. Because my own space is limited, my urban gardening area (once a front yard instead of the usual backyard garden, and it received many compliments from neighbors!) was about 150 square feet with about sixty of that in the form of a raised bed. The rest was in containers. And in my new yard, all but one of my plants are in pots.

Even with my small amount of space, organic vegetable/edible gardening has been well worth the time spent given the knowledge for making it work. But I note that I have also simplified my life in many ways including by not owning a television and by not spending time on elaborate meals. I would much rather spend my time growing super fresh nutritious food than doing many of the things that used to entertain me.​

For those with a budget to consider, the upfront cost of my project was about $1,000 including the bricks for the raised bed, but someone else paid for those. Watering, fertilizer, additional seeds or plants plus soil and containers for them, pesticides, fungicides, and time are the primary other costs. Oh, and the cost of the property with space for growing.
​
My first edible garden was started around March 1st of 2019. It has been said that I have a green thumb, but I say I have a researcher’s nature and patience. I learn what is needed to keep plants happy, I study my plants, and I ask lots of questions. I regularly (every few days, at least--usually while I am watering) take note of what’s going well, what looks a little less than perfect and of the unknowns like new insects. This allows me to catch problems in the early stages and resolve them in time.

Successful gardening also takes nurturance; so, I have to gently warn that if you have many projects far more important than your garden (for the food and education it provides), it will probably fail. This has to be your baby. You are the parent responsible for birthing it and raising it. Nature won't always “do its thing” in your favor--in a desert or anywhere else. The watering amount has to be right, the light, the nutrient levels, the soil type, the temperature, the pruning, the insect control, and more. These things take attention to detail, love, and a good measure of time with more in the beginning as you are learning.
​
The goal of my blog and consulting is to greatly shorten the learning curve for you with details galore! I can cover suppliers, products, raised bed and container gardening, soil, watering, pruning, heirlooms, what to plant and when to plant, productive and fast growing varieties, heat and drought tolerant plants for summer growing, insect and disease management, when to harvest, flavor profiles, plant dimensions, how much to plant, vermicomposting, organic fertilizers, light requirements, and more. 
​
Please enjoy the photos of my garden on this page, and let me know when you are ready to learn grow your own food, Arizona (plus Texas, California, Nevada, New Mexico and others)!​​

​Reach me by E-mail or Phone
ABOUT LEARNING TO GROW YOUR OWN FOOD ORGANICALLY

Please contact me through the form on the Contact page with questions or comments, or you can e-mail jegrowsfoodorganically@yahoo.com. ​If you don't agree to the Terms of Service, please e-mail me instead of using the form. ​I can also be reached at 623-216-2471. 

Regarding hours, in general I offer the hours of 9 a.m. - 8 p.m., Monday through Sunday, but I can sometimes be flexible (later or earlier) and especially if consulting by e-mail or text.
​​

 SHARE HERE:

my Two Organic Gardens!
​(Glory to God for his designs!)

​This is a sample of what I hear regularly, and all are ​approximations
from memory as well as volunteered. I have never asked for opinions.​
 (VISIT THIS page for many photographs.) 

​​
 "I'm getting my PhD in urban agriculture, and I've never seen a potted garden as impressive as yours. You should be in Phoenix Home and Garden magazine!" 

"If I could, I would vote yours Garden of the Year! Seriously, you have it all going on!  (Said in January, 2019) 

"It's like a mini Amazon!" 

"I love all of your plants!" 

"You've done a great job! Seriously, it's all beautiful!"

"I love your yard!"  (waiving while driving by)

"This woman kept her plants alive this summer!" (Bragging to her family as they went for a walk)

"One of our neighbors on October 31 loved your garden and said she wants to come talk with you about your plants."

"I always look at your garden when I drive by, and I've been hoping to catch you while you are outside. I have a plant to give you!"

"Your handmade shade structures held up to four monsoons--some of which broke trees in half or uprooted them all over the city. I watched them through my window, and they kept standing! You did a great job!"

​"I love your garden!"

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