It's SOIL Not DIRT!

Happy peppers at Singh Farm, 2015

Ken Singh, working his magic at
Singh Farm with huge
compost mounds in background.

Earlier this month in the Master Gardener program we learned about the soil-food web and it brought back memories of spending time with the guru of soil-building, Ken Singh, at his oasis in the desert - Singh Farm.  In less than 10 years Mr. Singh transformed a bare plot of reservation land into an absolute Garden of Eden by building the soil up naturally.  I wanted to do the same in my own backyard so back in 2016 I asked Mr. Singh about picking up a truckload of his dirt.  He immediately corrected me, with his big bearded smile he said "Peggy, it's SOIL not DIRT!  Dirt is dead, soil is ALIVE!".  I never forgot those words, and I did move a few truckloads of  his amazing living soil to my yard.  What a transformation it has made!

My garden in April 2016 just after the first few layers of Singh Farm SOIL -

My garden in April 2017  -

In class at the Master Gardener program we delved into N-P-K - Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, oh my!  Those dubious three numbers that appear on all packages of fertilizer. What do they mean, and why should we care?  It can all be very overwhelming.  We should care about those numbers because Nitrogen promotes leaf growth, Phosphorus promotes fruit and bloom growth and Potassium promotes stem growth and overall plant health. Each number represents the percentage of that element in the fertilizer. So for example, in newly planted gardens you initially need nitrogen and potassium to develop big healthy leaves and strong stems so you would look for fertilizers with N-P-K 10-2-8  or 10-10-10.  Then later as plants start to develop flowers (which leads to fruit) you want plant energy going into the fruit so an N-P-K of  2-10-6 is needed.  ( FYI - The N-P-K percentages don’t equal 100 percent because there are other nutrients and filler product in fertilizer mixtures. This filler helps to apply the nutrients evenly over an area. )  

This is all fine and dandy but do we really want to add all of these salt-rich commercial fertilizers to our already alkaline desert soils?  NO.  When all is said and done, the best solution for our alkaline clay-textured soils is to build our own healthy living soils.  How?  Simply put - compost, compost, compost, mulch, mulch, mulch, and deep water to flush away salts!  A great example of what can happen when you build up a living soil is Jay Barringer's Edible Food Forest in Mesa, AZ.  On just 1/8th of an acre Jay has over 300 edible fruit trees and vines, producing lush crops of mangoes, apples, peaches, plums, passion fruit, grapes, you name it and Jay has got it!  You can see this incredible food forest this Saturday, February 24th from 9am to 11am.

Garden Tour & Fruit Tree Workshop w/ Jake Mace & Jay Barringer Saturday, February 24 at 9 AM - 11 AM Jay Barringer's Home is incredible. Only 1/8 of an acre of plantable land yet there are over 300 fruit trees and other gardens. This is a must see gardening event! In this tour and class Jake Mace and Jay Barringer will lead everyone through fruit trees, raised bed and in-ground gardens, where to get compost, how to make the best soil, wood chips, and the best edible trees to grow in the Phoenix area heat/cold! $30 per person. Location: 41 S 83rd Pl Mesa, AZ 85208

A great opportunity this weekend to see another style of soil-building called HugelKulture is at Agriscaping's Tour also on Saturday February 24th starting at 8am.

Agriscaping Edible Garden Tour Saturday Feb 24th at 8am in Gilbert - Tour Agriscape's Residential Research Facility and at 3 of their FAB 5 families' homes. Recent upgrades that you need to see include:  Loads of new fruit trees, a new elegant Greenhouse and a new Hugelkulture in progress.  Admission is $20 per person

Compost area at Singh Farm, Scottsdale, AZ

Local sources for compost and mulch -

(These are small operations, call or message to make arrangements)

Jay Barringer - Phoenix Fruit Growers

GreenLife by Shamus O'Leary

AZ Worm Farm

Greg Peterson - The Urban Farm
Singh Farm - must call first to arrange for pick up,
Farm is no longer open to the public :-(

When planting add in some Mycorrhizae (fungi). It is a critical link between the roots and the soil.  Mycorrhizae allows nutrients to move into the plant and produces plant growth hormones.

Local sources for Mycorrhizae-

GreenLife by Shamus O'Leary 

Longevity Garden -  Jake Mace

Hold the moisture into your living soil by adding thick layers of wood chips.  Contact a local tree trimmer and ask for a "clean load" of wood chips.  They will be happy to drop off a truckload for free, it saves them from paying to unload it at the city dump.  Or you can sign up for ChipDrop - then arborists in the field can quickly look at a map on their phone to find dump spots for their chips. By filling out a simple form, you can add your home to the map, which all the tree companies in your city can see.

www.getchipdrop.com

My Photos of Singh Farm -

AZRFG Fall Plant Sale 2016

  Last Saturday was the Arizona Rare Fruit Growers Fall Plant Sale, held at Mesa Community College's Rose Garden - a perfect venue for selling tropical plants!  There was plenty of shade and the garden seemed to have its own little micro-climate.

There was quite a variety of dragon fruit plants for sale, and experienced growers on hand to give great (and in my case - much needed!) gardening advice.

Plenty of happy customers searching through a huge variety of rare and tropical plants.  I should have taken notes but was busy gawking at plants I had never seen up close before - Okinowan spinach, starfruit, banana plants, pineapple, jujube, panache tiger stripe fig, shangri la mulberry, white mulberry, jaboticaba, coffee tree, cinnamon tree, sugar apple, and an enormous variety of pomegranate trees.

They even had moringa trees, seen on right side of the above photo.

This young gardener had his hands full tending to his new trees and soil amendments!

Jake Mace was there with his new best friend - his selfie stick!  Jake has started broadcasting live, catch him at Jake Mace Live Stream on YouTube.

Happy customers leaving with trees from Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees.  

If you missed out on this opportunity to buy from Shamus, you will have one more chance this coming weekend at Jay Barringer's Food Forest Exploraganza and Workshop 
Saturday Oct. 22nd, 9am - 11am, in east Mesa at 41 S 83rd Pl, Mesa, AZ 85208  Also available will be Jay's Orchard Gold Mix,
Shamus's compost/lava sand mix,  Shamus's Foliar Feed, Azomite, and
Mycorrhizae. 

Kudos to the Arizona Rare Fruit Growers for putting together a magnificent plant sale and having so many helpful and knowledgeable members on hand to assist buyers!  This is a great group to learn from, so consider joining and attending meetings.  Meetings are held on the 2nd Thursday of every month at MCC from 7:30 PM - 10:30 PM.

New Arizona-Grown Avocado Tree!

  It was well controlled chaos Saturday morning as eager gardeners met at The Farm at South Mountain to pick up their pre-ordered Aravaipa Avocado Trees from Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees.  Don Olson (a.k.a. Shamus) picked a perfect location in the grassy shaded area next to the farm's parking lot so it was easy loading up these 6 ft. beauties.

All of the trees were gorgeous, in 3 gallon pots, but the trees themselves were as big and sturdy as a 5 gallon tree!  I was a bit nervous about picking out just the right one, they all looked healthy.  I was relieved to see Ruth Brown from Jay Barringer's fruit tree forest in east Mesa, assisting customers purchasing Jay's magical compost.  Ruth came to my rescue and helped in choosing from the very long line of Aravaipa Avocado trees. 

This pup was there having a good time, not sure of what all the fuss was about over just a bunch of trees.  But these aren't just any old tree, or any old avocado tree for that matter.  These "Arizona Avocado" trees originate from a very old, very large (50 ft. wide x 50ft. tall) avocado tree found in Aravaipa Canyon in the Globe/Superior of Arizona.  The hope is that its offspring will be just as hardy and acclimated to Arizona's harsh climate.

I will be posting photos tomorrow of planting Alice the Avocado tree.  For now, here are the basics recommended by Shamus-  Plant using 1/3 native soil, 1/3 Shamus mix (compost, lava sand, sand), 1/3 Jays compost (super black, alive, fungi growing) plus shovel full of worm castings, and a tablespoon Mycorrhizae.  Dig roughly a 2ft. x 2ft. x 2ft. square hole.  See the super-informative videos below by Jake Mace to learn more.

The Farm at South Mountain is an old pecan farm with a few rustic on-site restaurants serving farm fresh fare.  We dined at the Morning Glory Cafe out on their patio.  The food was great but I couldn't really relax, I kept worrying about my precious avocado tree, left unguarded alongside my open van, several yards away.

I felt like a bad plant-mom, abandoning my newly adopted baby Aravaipa Avocado as I dined
nearby at the Morning Glory Cafe.  We had a good talk on the way home, and I named her Alice.

It was a beautiful way to spend the morning, soaking up the warmth and energy from the farm.

I'm thinking this is Purple Hyacinth Bean, forming a hedge between the cafe and the garden.

If you missed out on the pre-sale you still might be able to get one if you go to the FaceBook page for Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees and message Shamus.  If you still need to pick up your pre-ordered tree, they will be available for pick-up next weekend at Jake Mace's Garden Tour and Workshop in Tempe (RSVP here), and again the following weekend at Jay Barringer's tree tour in east Mesa (more info coming soon).

How to plant...






Where to plant...



How to shade... see https://youtu.be/WQiSgou3ZCQ

Special thanks to Don Olson of  Shamus O'Leary's Tropical Fruit Trees for giving all of us Phoenix-area growers an opportunity to grow these special Arizona Avocado trees, and the many other super-healthy organically-grown tropical trees he has available!

Also, thank you Jake Mace (VeganAthlete) and Jay Barringer (Yes It Will Grow Here) for passing along your knowledge of desert gardening to us via your awesome YouTube videos and garden tours!