An update and one more question on chayotes.... We prepared a whole lot of stuffed ones for Thanksgiving, made more stuffed halves to keep in the freezer (just bake at 350F for 20 minutes and it makes a very easy entree or main dish), gave a bunch to family over the holidays, brought a bunch to work on a couple of occasions (liked by my Chicano and Vietnamese co-workers), my partner also brought some to work a couple of times. There are 7 of them in my crisper now and a few more on the vine. We got a slight freeze and the vine looks affected, but we are not expecting any freezes in the next week. Anyway, i love this since our peppers are dwindling, only some tomatoes producing, all the squash is done, but here we have a bunch of new fruit! (well a vegetable I guess). OK, we have peas and lettuce coming in, but we had chayotes WHILE waiting for the peas and lettuces. As far as other things to do with them, I added some to a lemongrass soup and I created a 'cream of chayote soup". We really liked it and soup sounds so good now with the cold. I will post it here and then I'll ask my question.... Spicy chayote cream soup 3 medium chayotes, steamed and chopped 1 large baking type white potato (baked or steamed) 1 large orange sweet potato (baked or steamed) 1 large onion, chopped handful chopped fresh dill (I have used basil also) few smoked peppers, minced 1 can (~15oz) black eye peas, or equivalent frozen, or freshly cooked 1/2 to 1 cup ground almond (soak 1/2 cup almond slivers in water and grind with blender or food processor, drain, use liquid for milk, use solids here, or use the whole thing for this soup) quart veggie broth olive oil for saute Salt to taste Sautee onion in olive oil. Add dill and smoked peppers, stir a few minutes and add remaining ingredients. When it has boiled a couple of minutes, take immersion blender to the pot and puree. Season with salt to taste. This is even better the next day. __________________________________________________ OK, now for my question. I understand that these are even more productive on their second year, and I also understand that the roots are edible. We are able to handle the production this year, but if it gets even more, it will be too much! So I was thinking, if I harvest some of the root, maybe this will control the plant and prevent it from getting much larger (and fruitful?). So any of you have done this? when would i harvest the root and how? How do I cook it? Do I wait until the vine appears to die down? I do have to take some action or it will invade the whole neighborhood. _____________________________________________________

Wow, sumognat! You have your own horse manure factory!!! When I dig my beds, I take out the depth of a shovel and replace it with everything you mentioned. Perhaps if I were younger and stronger, I'd go 2 feet deep, but I feel like a wacko as it is. Though the soil does become black in several months from all the added organics, my big question has always been "what happens when the roots extend beyond the amended area into the native sand?" So I guess I'm saying to go for the 2 feet if your back and pocketbook can hold up. I'm sure you can get good topsoil & compost in bulk. It's cheaper that way. I get my horse manure compost for free from a horse farm down the road. This year she said she "sanded" her stalls more which made the compost very heavy. I know she thought it was a good thing (and I don't know for sure that it wasn't), but I gasped at the word 'sand'. After all, I worked hard to get rid of the sand, and now I'm adding more! I don't know anything about horses or their bedding needs, but I do know the straw will pull nitrogen from the soil so you need to add extra nitrogen. I use a lot of Milorganite. The worms love it. I use Rose-Tone or Holly-Tone because that's what Lowe's carries, but I occasionally get a big bag of Purely Organic from a man in the local rose society. I use cottonseed meal, blood meal on occasion and lots of alfalfa in preparing the bed. Last year I used up a 50 lb bag of greensand in the beds I dug. It adds potassium (N-P-K: 0-1-6). Florida sand is typically very deficient in K. I found a company called Fertrell who had a local rep who sold their organic products out of his home so that's where I got it. I use Mycorrhizae - microorganisms that you add at planting that greatly enhance root growth. I sprinkle them directly on the roots before I put the plant in the hole. I also use "Vitamin B-1 Plant Starter" by Lilly Miller (from Lowe's.) This is very unscientific, but I forgot to use it once and several of my potted up roses withered and died. :(( At least it's cheap. I have limey sand so I use soil sulphur. I mostly grow own-root Old Garden Roses. I have a few on Fortuniana but 20 times as many on their own roots - Chinas, Teas and Noisettes. Hope this helps. Sherry

When we don't have snow on the ground, I've been more or less continuously creating lasagne beds since Fall '06. It is my preferred way for creating new beds and I have plans for a couple new beds, large woodland gardens, a large shrub border, etc. so it is an ongoing process. I start with 3 basic layers - Cardboard, coffee grounds, leaves (brown-green-brown). I lay down sheets of cardboard, 1 or 2 layers thick. Then spread 1-2 inches of used coffee grounds (with filters). Then I spread 2-3 inches of leaves. Then perhaps grass clippings, garden debris, compost, partially finished compost, manure etc. Anything goes on top of the 3 basic layers. I prefer to wait awhile before planting, because I am trying to smother a thick layer of weeds underneath. Apparently you can plant right away if you dig some soil into the planting hole. If I want an "instant bed" or an instant planting hole I use the "break your back" method - because I have to dig out weeds, rocks and roots. No simple turning over, pile a little on top, and that's it! Lasagne smothers the weeds (or grass) underneath. It adds organic matter to the soil. It raise the soil level some, depending on how deep your layers are, but for the most part the layers break down and settle a lot more than you would think.

Assuming you're in the Phoenix or low-desert area given your post... One of the first things you're going to want to decide is if you want to grow in your native soil and work around/with it...or amend your soil (recommended for broader crop choices). If you want to amend your soil you're going to want to find a good supply of top soil and/or compost and dig/till some of that into your native soil and/or use a raised bed which will eventually (though weathering, watering, roots, worm, etc. activity move that "good" soil deeper into your native soil). Even if you don't want to dig/till and just top-apply...you might want to stick a shovel into your planting area to check for hard pans of rocks or caliche deposits that would impede root growth. Myself, I would highly suggest a raised bed or semi-dug-raised bed as a starting point...at least enough to give the crops a good first 6-12" of quality soil. I would also suggest starting a compost pile if you have the room in order to give your beds a consistent source of organic matter (which will degrade much faster in this climate once applied to beds). Once you've picked out a space and you know what kind of soil amendment you're going to use (if any at all) then you need to get your plant choice and rotation down. While you can grow year-round in the climate, there's some stuff you won't be able to keep productive during the "hell of summer." There are plants that don't mind the intense summers and will provide you with harvestable food...okra, black eye peas, yard long beans, some corn, melons, armenian cukes, and squash. There's other stuff that will produce during the summer, but benefit from shade cloth...smaller tomatoes, some eggplant, peppers, etc... Planting time is important. While you may get lush greenery growing if you plant late, you don't want them to get to a point where it's too hot or too cold to properly fruit after flowering...the window on some stuff (especially pre-summer) can be quite picky. There's a few good planting calendars for the area...especially the "Low Desert Planting & Harvest Calendar" or the "Vegetable Planting Calendar for Maricopa County" which can be found via a web search. A proper watering schedule and pest control issues are also important, but others can give you better advice that I can on that.