Here is the video tour on YouTube!

Here is a link that might be useful: Video tour

Wow, beautiful garden! I especially like the tunnel you made - very nice.

How cute, look at the mole peeking out of the hole in the bottom picture! He doesn't eat anything? Wow, you did great. I'm jealous!

NICE ... very nice, thanks for sharing

just an FYI, there's a forum dedicated to Arizona gardeners right here on GW:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/azgard/

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening in Arizona - Garden Web

Thanks guys!

I'm not sure what type of animal it is Scarletdaisies (it's some kind of desert rat) - there are a few families living around the property. They don't seem to be a problem so far. I've only got melons, squash, peppers and cucumbers outside the cage and they haven't done any damage to those. Rabbits have nibbled at new growth and coyotes/javelinas have gotten to a few squash/cantaloupes but I haven't noticed those guys damage anything. They've actually become quite familiar with me now, they sometimes hang out just outside their holes watching me instead of running and hiding right away!

Thanks mangledmind, I occasionally read and post in the Arizona forum but it doesn't seem to have much traffic recently. I'll look again.

WOW, the garden is fantastic! This your first garden, ever?? Your success is really, really impressive.

I have to say, your video literally just made the words "Oh crap" come out of my mouth just now, though (yes, out loud...). I have 2 buttercup squash plants that germinated this morning, and I was planning on planting them out in the next couple days, but I had NO idea they got so big. I'd planned on trying to trellis them, but if they get that big, they're going to swallow my trellises and then some. Is the one that's sprawling really just one plant? You mentioned having just harvested a bunch of squash from it - how many did you get? The burgess variety I bought said it would put out 3-4 squash of around 3-4 lbs. per plant.

Thanks Spaghetina! I've spent a ton of time researching and reading these forums as well as picking the brain of my girlfriend's brother who is a Master Gardener....that and a lot of trial and error!

I actually have 4 Buttercup squash plants in total. 3 on the ground, 1 on the tunnel/trellis. I tried to direct all the branches out into the open area but lost control of that one. So what you actually see, is 3 plants...one of them just completely dominates in size. Most of the arms went one way and one arm went in the other direction along the cantaloupes so really, the arms stretch about 20 feet from the base of the plant. I said 40ft in the video because that's what it measures from the tip of one arm to the tip of another. The one that I have on the trellis goes up about 8 feet and then sideways another 12-15 feet...and it's still growing quite rapidly but not setting much fruit anymore.

I think that enormous plant is an anomaly, I've picked 4 and there are another 4 still on it ranging from 2.5-3.5 pounds. The others have produced much more like the seed packet said it would - 4 squashes weighing about 3 pounds. I'm growing Spaghetti, Butternut, Gem, and some unknown cross as well. Buttercup is BY FAR the largest plant.

You, your friends and family should be proud of yourselves. Truely a fine job.

Doh. Of course...I would pick the biggest variety to put in the smallest garden space ever, lol. Thanks for the 411. ;)

Don't be discouraged...it's definitely one of the best tasting squashes I've ever tasted! Maybe try trellising it and letting it sprawl? If you can direct it into the right places it might even work as a ground cover around other taller plants. One of my butternuts that's trellised also started sprawling into my pepper patch and its almost working like a mulch!

Very nice! I really liked the arch with the squashes!
I thought the weight of the butternut would make it fall to the ground.
I will have to try trellising it next year.
Thanks for sharing!

Wow! What an incredible garden! As a newbie myself, I am inspired by your success! :)

What a great garden, so lush. Looks very organised too. Very nice!

Hey Spaghetina, don't panic on the buttercup squash, at least the individual fruits are fairly light (a little over a kilo each...maybe 3 pounds) so the weight is fairly evenly distributed over the trellis area. I grew two plants last year on a pretty flimsy trellis, and they grew and fruited like crazy, and I started to think the trellis wouldn't take it, but it did survive. The flavour is well worth it.

Thanks for the reassurance, guys. I'd originally planned to put them in the front yard, but I'll try 'em out in the back, where they'll be free to take over the lawn if they feel the need to sprawl after filling the trellis. Can't wait to plant them out now - all this buttercup talk has me excited!

VERY impressive garden! I've never heard of a "veganism" style of gardening (did I get that right?). Even from many vegetarians that I know!
Personally, I love my poo! (or the poo I put in the garden!) LOL

very nice indeed...

Thanks everybody! It's really one of the most satisfying things...eating something immediately after you pick it!

Lsst, I was a little worried about the weight of the squash as well but their hasn't been a problem with using concrete reinforcement wire.

Nancyjane, they call it "veganic" gardening - the practice of organic gardening without the use of animal products. I had never heard of it either! I thought I was doing something relatively unique but I found a whole bunch of farms around the country that currently practice "veganic" farming including a commercial farm here in Arizona called "Sunizona" farms. I was vegan for 7 years but now I occasionally eat eggs that I get from someone I know with backyard chickens. I'm not really opposed to using manures but I have not found a source that I'm happy with yet...and it seems to be working without it!

Kingkongos, well, first off , wow!, veganic, I think you mentioned this in post recently, say a month or so ago, I had never heard of it either, I immediately, sent a FB comment to a Vegan friend of mine in the UK, vegan since 16 She is 40) and last time we hooked up 7 years ago she still was, she admitted due to her travels abroad lecturing, she had to give up on being Vegan, as she was living on lettuce :) and losing weight and stamina fast, so now she is vegetarian, but avoids animal product in the UK and as much as much as possible abroad, and she said she had never heard this type of gardening either, she said it had never occurred to her about veg using animal products.
But one thing as well as your Garden which was amazing stood out for me was you accent? I have no Idea what an AZ person sounds like, but Egg Plarnt and Tomarto? I Know New Englander's are half and half on the tamato, tomarto issue, it just interesting to me, if you are American born and bred that there are pockets of America that sound very different in sound.
good luck it looks fantastic :)

Heather, veganism can get quite difficult when traveling but if you go to cities with fresh vegetable markets, it makes it a lot easier! Not only can you buy your own fruits and vegetables but it generally means the surrounding restaurants will have vegetable options or will be able to accommodate you. The difficulty for me is in the temptation to try all the great cheeses etc in certain countries in Europe! :)

My accent is a strange one...I was born in London to an Arizonan mom and a South African dad who lived in England for 20+ years. I then lived in South Africa till the age of 10 and moved to Arizona in '96...have been here since. My accent comes out in certain words....and even more when I'm around South Africans. When I watched the video back, I realized at times how strange it sounded!

Three words "FA - BU - LOUS" !!! Lovely garden.

DL

Nice garden!

Kingkongos

I really enjoyed touring your garden, what a wonderful ideas and you are getting great results and being this your first time, the future looks very bright on your gardening adventures. Congratulations!

Silvia

That is so awesome! Thank you for sharing!!

A beautiful and well organized garden. It's good to see other desert growers out there to converse with. I/we live in a similar climate at the north end of Lake Mead in Nevada. Every three weeks I travel to Goodyear AZ which is not far away from Phoenix. They do quite a bit of farming around there and it's always great to check-out the farms. My favorite hot sauce company "Ass Kickin Hot Sauce" is in Goodyear. I'm told they grow all their own chili peppers right there.

When I saw my girlfriend's brother's garden here in Phoenix a year ago, I was in awe. I had no idea you could grow such a variety of things in the desert and have them flourish. I kinda got hooked after that. There are some AMAZING little farms around this area. Peppers and Chiles are supposed to do great here. My thai chiles and pepperoncinis are really prolific. Some of the bells and others are not producing very well though...I have to figure out why. Thanks for the kind words everyone!

You ARE the MAN.... of course, I already told you that....Great Job Brother, Everything looks absolutely Wonderful ;-)

{{gwi:68671}}

Is it allowed to adopt and kidnap Garden web members to do your Garden? if so first dibs, on kingkongos and Jon Hughs, also speghetina and digdirt, digit, and well the rest of you. Kingkongo, sorry it was such an amazing garden, and I am glad you listened back and saw how good it is, it was truly interesting to watch, I watched it 4 times before I picked up on the accent, anyway I award my self 2 marks as I told my husband the accent was either due to living in England or South Africa, didn't expect the double wammy.
unfortunately for Helena, she is basically flown in sleep, lecture, lecture, lecture, flight home.
keep it up, I am so inspired by you. wish I had found the Joy at your age, instead of my age :)

I join the others here in commending you for a wonderful job. How satisfying this is for you.

Will you be freezing a lot of your harvest or just finding friends and neighbors to share with?

Thank you so much for posting the photos. I live in Prescott in the summer and Tempe in the winter and know nothing about vegetable gardening in the valley of the sun. When did you plant your garden? Do you also grow things in the winter? I have a wonderful garden here in Prescott and am curious what I can do in the winter down south. But on the other hand, doesn't Mother Nature give us winter so gardeners don't kill themselves all year round... lol?!

Thanks again everyone! I'm inspired to expand, and to try to become more and more self sufficient. I will most likely cultivate the 900 sq ft area outside the cage in the fall or next spring.

Socks, right now I've been sharing basil and Armenian cucumbers with friends as those are incredibly prolific and we are having trouble keeping up. As for the other vegetables, my family and I will have no problem eating everything - there are 6 of us and we're all vegetarian.

Canyonsister, I started all my tomatoes, peppers, basil, and eggplant by seed indoors at the beginning of January. I then started all the cucumbers, squash, cantaloupes, watermelons in mid February. I transplanted everything in mid March and directed seeded beans, more squash and cucumbers. In April I direct seeded okra, tepary beans and more cantaloupe. With heavy mulching, close planting, and shade cloth most things are holding up very well to the 100+ degree heat right now.

In the winter, I wasn't as well organized but I did have a small selection of greens (kale, broccoli, rapini, arugula, lettuce etc) as well as beets, carrots, spring onions, peas, bok choy etc. You can start seeding the fall/winter vegetables as early as August and September if you provide some protection from the heat incase it stays in the 90's all the way up to November as it did this last season. Basically, you can seed, grow and harvest something in Phoenix year round!

Very nice garden, Kinggongos :) I think that little animal is a prarie dog (cute!!)

Thanks ancfan! I actually just spent the last few minutes trying to find out exactly what they are and I came across what is called a "round-tailed ground squirrel". On wiki it says they choose most of their food based on water content which explains what has been happening these last few days. I spoke too soon about them not doing any damage! They have eaten new growth on my watermelons.

Here is a link that might be useful: Round-tailed ground squirrel