Making organic gardening consulting more accessible

A number of vegetable 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 of Phoenix, Arizona, 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.
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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.

I did not set out to grow my own food

My love for God only grows as I continue to learn about his designs, and I’ve become more committed to using them (naturals) in my life the more I learn. But though I’m tremendously blessed by the turn of events, I didn’t set out to grow my own food.

My journey began with the discovery that the electric rate in Phoenix was higher than in Seattle and that my cooling bill in the summer would be far bigger than I’d planned for. It was in asking around for plants that would quickly shade my windows that I fell in love with the idea of growing my own food, but the potted fig trees that were suggested hardly met my original need of shading windows. 

A seed company told me of another fast-growing tree to try, and it worked much better partly because it truly does grow quickly and partly because it doesn’t mind staying in a pot. It is also highly unusual in that it fruits a good deal in less than a year when grown from seed! Most fruit trees take several years to fruit for the first time and even longer if started from seed.

But it wasn’t until the third year of growing food organically (I note that my garden was funded by a “starvation” diet and long-term planning: 1. buying seeds, young plants, pots, soil, fertilizer, trellis supplies, and more instead of most groceries and 2. by eating little more than what I’m able to grow), when I’d already moved out of the home with the many windows that needed shading, that I found the perfect solution--an edible vine that laughs at the Phoenix heat! It grew up my wall (trellising recommended especially if shading a window) with ease and speed--to the roof in perhaps less than six months.

​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. 
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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.
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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.
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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. 
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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)!​​

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