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!

Glenda, Trail of Tears beans are DH and my favorite. We've been harvesting them for about 3 weeks now. Don't have to string them and even when the beans are starting to fill out they are still quite good. Alisande I'm another in love with your ice house, the beans make a very attractive picture growing against the stone. I've got zucchini and cucs growing in the top of composters, pole beans growing on teepees amongst the flowers also up one of the pergola posts. Winter thyme (I use a lot) growing in pathways, next year I plan to plant a lot more veggies in amongst the flowers. I have spearmint running along underneath the rhubarb and I grew shallots in the same bed as some english roses. Chives clumps can be found all over the garden. You know what they say if you can see a bit of bare earth...Plant it :o). Annette

Thanks for keeping this thread updated. I just transplanted squash that came up too close together about a month ago. What I found was as long as you get that AS SOON AS you see them come up out of the ground, you've got a great chance of not disturbing their roots too badly and getting 100% of your plants to survive the shock. At least that is what I just got, and that's how I did it! It appears yours are doing VERY well, too.... nice pictures! I hope it was delicious! ~Angela

Thank you all so much for the kind words! For those of you who thought Jammer and I were already married....well, we were in heart. Now we are just doing the legal stuff. I have felt guilty ever since I made this post because I felt I didn't say enough about Tatum. It's just so hard to say how much she meant to all of us and how much we miss her. I have told stories here about her. She kind of reminded me of Marley in the book Marley and Me. She was soooo hyper and soooo big! She broke two of my toes on two different occasions just because she was running around me and I was barefooted. I quickly learned to always have something on my feet when around her! And when I took her on the leash, LOL, was like seeing a cartoon. Tatum trying to run and me being dragged behind! We didn't even use a typical leash, we used a horse lead rope. LOL She loved socks and we had to make sure none were laying around if she was in the room. One time she grabbed a thin black sock and then making sure she was just beyond my reach, she stared deep into my eyes and proceeded to swallow the sock. I could tell she felt so satisfied to do that. Anyway, she has left a big hole in our lives, but we have some great memories. As far as the wedding plans....we are getting married tomorrow in our church. Just Jammer, me and the preacher. I am still not feeling well and don't feel like being around people.