Monsoon Season in the desert can be a challenge -
** Some of our summer flowers are already tired.
** We deal with the torrential, sporadic rains hitting our potted gardens.
** We hear about other gardeners around the country harvesting luscious tomatoes

We can make good use of afternoons with major cloud cover to give our plants some respite, add some fresh late summer flowers and to consider planting tomatoes for a fall harvest.

Watch for the forecast of high chances of monsoon activity for several days in a row. Hoping that our temperatures are below 100, plan to do some planting during this period.

Good plants to watch for are:
** Zinnias
** Osteospermums
** Pentas
** Angelonia
** Salvias
** Gallardia (Mexican Blanket)
** Coriopsis

In September, you can add petunias, snapdragons and some late season marigolds to this list!

Early girl tomatoes and other varieties that are 65 days or less to fruiting are your best bet.

Plant early in the morning, water deeply and if we do not receive the afternoon cloud cover, give the new plants a little shower of water to cool things off.

It would be a good idea to give your tomatoes some shade covering (draped over the tomato cages) on full sun days.

Now is the time to fill your pots with additional color that will carry you into November!

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For those of you that are watching, you might have seen the announcement about the sale of The Contained Gardener to a locally owned company, Sonoran Gardens. After 14 years of carefully growing and nurturing my business, we have officially joined forces with Sonoran Gardens for Tucson's potted gardens. The well-trained, professional combined staff oversees every detail for each client, from initial to installation, and ongoing maintenance.

I am staying on with Sonoran Gardens through the transition and will make sure that our free potted garden classes continue with yours truly!!

Questions? Email Marylee!

If you would like to speak with someone directly, call 520.579.9411 or visit our combined website!