I attached a collection of advice on monthly planting from Cathy Cromell that I keep. There are links to monthly planting calenders at the end. You might check these out as well: http://ag.arizona.edu/pubs/garden/mg/vegetable/index.html http://squarefootgardening.org/ - You can use your native soil...it will just contain weed and grass seeds. The good news, if you are using you native soil it is superb. High pH but not so high as to keep the garden from producing. Low in carbon and there lies the rub. You should completely mix in a finished compost into the soil. Plants only need about 2% free carbon to do very well. Unfortunately our soils are often around 0.5%. 5% is considered ideal, but considerably more is fine. Generally our soils are low in nitrogen too but adding the finished compost can correct that too. Pioneers Sandy Loam should have adequate carbon and nitrogen and few contaminating seeds. Row or Square Foot? Mulch lightly and build up (add) as plants grow taller with straw. Drip irrigation: Recommend using in line emitters with built in pressure compensation as they don't clog. This is just an example, not an endorsement of this vendor: http://www.wateryourlandscape.com/dripirrigation/products/emittertubing Local seed: Seed Trust, VPA, Native Seed Search Growing season is year round here. As you surmised some things at different times. Some annuals will even survive the winter and summer and keep on producing for 2, 3 or more years. As a very general rule pick seeds with a 75 day or less plant to harvest as out warm season turns to hot and back to warm in fairly short order. The link below and the instructions on the seed packet with regard to planting depth are likely all you need. Mel Bartolomew's paperback on "Square Foot Gardening" (can be found at $12 in Walmart's Garden Center section) has some pretty great general gardening for beginners advice in between his touting SFG to death. This too: http://www.amazon.com/Desert-Gardening-Beginners-Vegetables-Flowers/dp/0965198723 You should start a compost pile or two for replenishing nutrients removed when you harvest/remove annuals for replacement. Otherwise gardening becomes very expensive over time with fertilizers and amendments that are unnecessary unless you are in the business of selling such things. Hopefully you don't live too near the edge of town or rabbits and javalina will be a problem. Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Monthly Planting Maricopa Co. This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Thu, Feb 20, 14 at 21:09

Carol, I wonder if it was Bluebonnet Feed? We went in there once looking for some sort of supplies for our chickens or guineas long, long, ago. I don't even remember seeing seeds but it was a big, cavernous feed store near downtown and it did have gardening supplies. The only other off-the-beaten path feed-and-seed store I found there in Ardmore was Agri-Products, which also is a feed-and-seed, and the first time I went in there, they had Willhite Seeds hanging on a seed rack on the wall in Willhite's distinctive plastic bags. It was the first time I'd seen Willhite's seeds in a store in a long time. I guess that was about a decade ago. Shelly, Most places have a guarantee of some sort. I didn't look to see what theirs was. Normally it is a guarantee that the seeds will meet the minimum federal standards for germination, which is the minimum germination rate (by percentage) that is required. I look forward to seeing how their seeds grow for you, and I imagine they'll grow just fine since any reputable seed company will do germination tests for each batch of seeds before they package them and ship them just so they know they are sending out seeds that meet the germination standards. I know that some of the seed companies I buy from will send you seeds from a batch that failed a germination test, but they'll double the seed count and note on the packet that you need to sow more seeds because that batch has a low germination rate. When I've gotten a batch with that note on it, I'll usually sow twice as much as usual....and sometimes all of them sprout, which makes me wonder why they failed the test to begin with. Dawn

It is never too early to buy seeds. I try to get all my seeds purchased before Christmas. That way, I'm not anxiously watching the mailbox for deliveries in January when it is almost time to start seeds. I like knowing that I have them on hand and won't be left hanging if the seed companies get overloaded and are behind on shipping their orders. I've always purchased lots of seeds, not just of tomatoes but of many other types of veggies, and herbs and flowers as well, from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. I like the Sample Seed Shop, which is owned and operated by a Garden Web member named Remy. The seed packets are small and very well-priced, which makes it easy to try lots of new varieties. Since it is a particular favorite of mine, I'll link it below. At Remy's very reasonable prices, I always order far more seeds than I intended to order, and I have found some great varieties that were new to me by doing just that. Pinetree Garden Seeds also is a terrific choice, as is Tomatofest. Seed Saver's Exchange is probably the first place I found heirloom tomato seeds, other than Burpee's line of heirlooms. I love Victory Seed and Johnny's Selected Seed. I think I first bought seeds from Johnny's in the mid- to late 1980s and have been a customer of theirs ever since. I also love Marianna's Heirloom Seeds because I always find something new (to me) and interesting to grow. This year, I grew her TexWine and DixieWine and have been happy with both. I really loved Gleckler Seedsmen, which was a very old and defunct company reopened around 2009 by some members of the family. Unfortunately, it was not their main family business and they just didn't have time to run their main business and the seed company as well, so it has shut down again. That's a real shame because they offered great varieties that were true to type. I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Tomato Grower's Supply Company too, which has an awesome mix of heirlooms and hybrids, and carries lots of pepper and eggplant varieties as well. Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Sample Seed Shop

Johnnieb, thanks for the info, I really don't know much about this plant other than loving how it looks. The winter here was pretty bad too, but I think it was protected being against my garage wall? A few of the fruits are just now starting to turn purple. Mark, my email is activated now, I had it turned off for a long time because I was concerned about getting spam. I will leave it up for a bit so you can email me. As I mentioned above there are only a few that are purple (right now). So I am assuming that it would be bad to remove the unripe ones now for you, best to wait until they are purple according to Johnnie?