For Arizona’s Mid and High Elevations

WHAT TO PLANT
(Mid Elevations)
• Cool-season vegetables—Sow or transplant bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, peas and spinach. After mid-month, sow root crops.
• Warm-season vegetables—Sow eggplant, peppers and tomatoes indoors eight weeks before transplanting outside.
• Bare-root trees, shrubs, fruits and roses—Finish transplanting this month.

(High Elevations)
• Plan your vegetable garden—Crop rotation means not planting the same crops, or family of crops, in the same spot year after year. This practice inhibits pests and diseases that are plant- or family-specific from building up in the soil over time. Crop rotation also benefits soil nutrient levels, if you alternate “heavy feeders” (corn, lettuce, squash, tomatoes) with either “light feeders” (carrots, turnips) or legumes (beans, peas, sweet peas), which add nitrogen to the soil. Examples of plant families include vining crops such as cucumber, melons, pumpkin and squash. The cabbage family includes cabbage, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, kale and kohlrabi. Eggplant, potatoes and tomatoes are in the same family.

GARDEN MAINTENANCE
(Mid Elevations)
• Prepare garden beds—Spread 4 to 6 inches of compost or well-aged manure on top of the soil. Add nitrogen and a phosphorus fertilizer such as ammonium phosphate (16-20-0) according to package instructions. Organic fertilizer sources include: (nitrogen) alfalfa meal, blood meal, coffee grounds, cottonseed meal or fish emulsion and (phosphorus) bone meal or rock phosphate. Till or turn fertilizer under to a depth of 12 to 18 inches when soil is not frozen or wet. (If soil forms clumps or sticks to your shovel, it is too wet to dig. Allow it to dry out further.) If your ground is hard, rocky and difficult to dig, consider building raised beds, allowing at least 12 to 18 inches of soil depth for annual plant roots. Loosening the top layer of ground before building raised beds is helpful to promote good drainage.
• Fertilize fruit trees—When buds begin to swell, apply your preferred nitrogen source according to package instructions. Spread a fresh layer of organic mulch around the tree’s drip line. As mulch decomposes, nutrients are added to the soil.
• Prune and fertilize roses—Brush away soil and leaf debris that may have built up around the graft point (slight raised bump near the base of the stem). Prune hybrids back by one-third to one-half to promote blooming. Remove dead, weak, twiggy or crossing canes, and those that grow into the center of the shrub. Finish pruning chores by mid-month. Wait to feed until new growth begins to appear. Apply a fresh layer of mulch to maintain consistent soil moisture.

(High Elevations)
• Prune summer-blooming shrubs and trees—Trim after your area’s last freeze but before buds break. Wait to prune spring-flowering shrubs and trees until blooming has finished. Because they bloom on the previous year’s growth, pruning during the bloom cycle would eliminate flowering.