Gardening: The Range: The Tucson Weekly's Daily Dispatch, Tucson Weekly

Resolve this Summer - No Empty Pots

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:07:00 -0700

Don’t let your pots go empty all summer. There is still plenty of time to plant everything!!…

Five Minutes of Gardening Makes a Big Difference - Especially in the Desert

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 13 May 2013 09:05:00 -0700

Do you know that 5 minutes of gardening improves both self-esteem and mood as well as making you feel more tranquil, generous and hopeful*?

To me this is both surprising and makes so much sense. I know when I go out to tend my potted garden in my back yard, I quickly feel better than before I went outside and wonder why I don’t get out there more often.…

What's Your Purple in Your Desert Potted Garden?

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:00:01 -0700

It is interesting to see how people prefer their colors together when combining flowers in a pot. I have a purple pot at home and plant purple flowers in it each season.…

Add Summer Color to Your Landscape With a Potted Garden

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:32:48 -0700

Color in the summer in pots! You bet!…

Watershed Management Group to Hold Educational Rebate Session

Megan Merrimac — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:00:00 -0700

The Watershed Management Group holds several educational sessions throughout the year to help citizens of their community to be smart about their water usage.

"Almost every weekend we’re running a workshop for two that’s free and open to the public to come and sit in," said Catlow Shipek, co-founder and senior program manager with WMG.…

Take Caution When Using Geraniums in Your Desert Pots

Marylee M. Pangman — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:35:00 -0700

Desert Dwellers - There is an abundance of geraniums in the nurseries now. Geraniums are absolutely beautiful many months of our year in the desert.…

Spring into Summer with Your Potted Garden!

Marylee M. Pangman — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 10:16:19 -0700

The desert has finally started to heat up this week. However, the night time temperatures are staying true to form at 30 degrees less than the day.…

Desert Potted Garden Tidbit — Shoulder Season Flowers

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 10:03:52 -0700

Last week I talked about using shoulder season flowers for your post-freeze winter pots. Dianthus is a great full-sun flowering plant as it is truly a perennial and can handle our extreme seasons in the desert.…

Spring Is Here!

Marylee M. Pangman — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:00:00 -0700

Your gardens are ready — for cut backs, new plants, it is time! The next week will be unseasonably warm but then we get back to average temperatures in the 70s and the long range outlook is great!!

Now is the time to cut back your damaged plants.…

Mid-Winter Blooms

Marylee M. Pangman — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 08:00:53 -0700

As they say, pictures are worth a thousand words!

Here's a couple to try to inspire you to always grow your winter desert potted garden.

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Spring Gardening Workshop with Native Seeds/SEARCH

Jerry Morgan — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:00:18 -0700

Now, I know I am usually going on about food trucks, or beer events, but where our food comes from is also very important to me. Nothing says "I care what I eat" more so that growing your own food. With a little bit of knowledge desert growing here in the Southwest is so easy and fun.…

Don't Prune Back Your Freeze Damaged Plants Yet!

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 09:17:48 -0700

Yes - we are tired of the cold in Tucson. And we are tired of our sad looking plants.…

Desert Gardens for Small Spaces - Frost Protection

Marylee M. Pangman — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 09:37:02 -0700

With so many new homes in Tucson and similar desert cities creating small loft apartments, patio homes and remodeled barrio homes, I thought it time to concentrate on how potted gardens fill the desire to have a garden - regardless of limited small outside spaces.

We are experiencing our cold December and therefore it is important to be mindful of the micro-climate of our home.…

Growing Your Own Garden? Add Tilapia to the Mix

John deDios — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:00:30 -0700

Written by Drew McCullough/Scicats

When you eat salmon or carp or tilapia, you might imagine that the fish had once been swimming free in the wild. In recent years, however, more and more of the world’s seafood have grown up on a farm.…

Out With the Orange, In With the Red! Holiday Potted Gardens in the Desert

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 09:03:34 -0700

Halloween and Thanksgiving have now become sweet memories. If you have not already started, it is time to think of your pots as your holiday decor.…

Preparing Your Potted Plants for Winter Cold

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:42:48 -0700

No sooner than we get past the summer heat and here I am talking about the winter cold. I believe the first frost in 2011 was on November 10.…

Desert Tortoises and Your Tucson Potted Garden

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:06:02 -0700

Desert tortoises need a diet that can come right out of your pots using some of the same flowers that I mentioned last week as edible for humans!

Needing a diet with moderate protein, low fat, high fiber and water, captive desert tortoises will eat flowers such as pansies, violets, nasturtiums, hibiscus, geranium, evening primrose and globemallow.

The diet can be supplemented with vegetables like spinach, green beans, and lettuce.…

You CAN Eat The Flowers!

Marylee M. Pangman — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 08:30:05 -0700

With so much (understandably) emphasis on sustainability, I thought it time to talk about flowers in our gardens that can also come to the dinner table. Those of us who want our colorful gardens and also want to grow some vegetables and herbs, can mix the two knowing that it all can come together in our food.…

Visit 'Green-Living' Homes This Weekend

Irene Messina — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 09:15:55 -0700

Want to go green at home but need some ideas? The Watershed Management Group is conducting their second home-scape tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 20.…

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It's Time to Plant Tucson's Potted Gardens

Marylee M. Pangman — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:15:55 -0700

The forecast for the end of the week will provide us Tucsonans with the perfect opportunity to plant most of our winter flowers. The only thing that might hold us back is a full variety of plants but I imagine by Friday, the nurseries will be full of flowers!

Be sure, once you purchase them, to get your plants in your pots that day.…
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Adventures in Aquaponics

Irene Messina — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:00:00 -0700

If you want to grow veggies but hate kneeling for hours in a garden, you may want to try aquaponics. From the Tucson AquaPonics Project website (www.tucsonap.org), aquaponics is "the growing of fish and plants together in a closed recirculating system."

The organizer of the project, Casey Townsend, offers several events to educate and inspire the public.…
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Free Container Garden Class by Tucson's Potted Garden Expert

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:00:00 -0700

This Saturday learn how to start your own potted garden at your home or office. You can plan to start with flowers, herbs and/or vegetables with what you take away from this class.…
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Time To Fertilize Your Potted Citrus Trees

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 17 Sep 2012 08:30:00 -0700

If you have any citrus trees in pots, it is time to fertilzie them with a citrus fertilizer (I like Arizona Best.)

HOWEVER, and this is a big however, if you have planted annual flowers underneath the tree in the pot, be careful.…
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Harvesting Your Desert Lettuce

Marylee M. Pangman — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:30:00 -0700

This was written about summer lettuce, but the information can be applied to winter lettuce too! Remember: This was all done in pots!…
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Lettuce in Tucson? In the Summer? Read On!

Marylee M. Pangman — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:15:43 -0700

I could not let this great article pass us by without sharing it with you, reprinted here with permission

Growing Summer Lettuce in Tucson
By David W. Mount
Master Gardener of the The University of Arizona, Pima County Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program

In our home garden, we usually grow many varieties of lettuce planted at intervals during the winter months to assure a continuous supply. Compared to store-purchased lettuce, our garden lettuce is much more tender and fresh, and it was always difficult to make the switch to the store lettuce as the summer approached.…
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