Growing Food in the Desert Using Only Native Soil | June Garden & Trees Update | Free Mulch!

Growing food in the desert using native soil and free mulch. The garden beds are filled with topsoil that was gathered from under the mesquite trees, as well as some sand and silt from our seasonal pond.
Along with a tour of the garden, I also give a tour of the trees and plants around the house, and talk about summer temperatures inside our house. This is our first summer living in our self built passive design home.
I water the garden every evening, and the trees every other day. This is our 3rd summer gardening in the Arizona desert.
Thumbnail picture was taken on July 5th. Everything is growing really fast now! 🌱🌿

[@catgynt9148]

My favorite solution for sugar ants is to mix equal parts by volume of baking soda and powdered sugar. I mix it in the spice mill, coffee grinder until it’s a fine powder. I use a dry glass bottle filling the bottle about 1/3 full and place the bottle horizontal with the neck just touching the ground. The bottle keeps contents dry. Ants will take mixture back to nest and nest will starve. The baking soda neutralizes acid and digestion stops. It’s a safe mixture for people and pets.! Lizards should help with ants too. Thanks for sharing this terrific update. You are the only folks I know of that enjoy okra. Enjoy. Wishing you, Red and your family a blessed week filled with gentle seasonally appropriate weather and restful evenings. Peace April.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

I tried using Borax mixed with powdered sugar, in a spice shaker bottle, but they didn't seem interested. I haven't tried baking soda though. We love Okra, it's our favorite! We love it stir fried, baked, and it's even good raw in salad. Thanks, hope all is well with you! 🌱😊

[@johns6119]

Looking very good, glad you added mulch

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks, it should help a lot, and it looks much nicer too.

[@bondpaz]

Oh wow I didn’t realize the mulch place had a fire! I would love to have a big trailer like that to get more mulch. ❤❤❤

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yeah, I think all of the huge brush pile burned up. The trailer has been very useful. ❤️

[@MidlifePrices]

That's great! I'm hoping to do more gardening when the house is done. Then I can focus more on that. I love your yellow marigolds, Pam.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! It is fun to watch everything grow. It's really taking off now. 🌱❤️

[@carrottop1233]

Love the Bird of Paradise ❤

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Hi April, Nice to see your garden. The wood chips will surely help. Laying down cardboard first helps keep weeds from coming up and then chips on top. I'm typing as your video is playing so perhaps you did this. I don't have free wood chips, but my neighbor brings me his grass clippings and I lay that on top. It really helps. ❤Peggy❤

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Hello Peggy, Yes there are many benefits to adding lots of mulch. I put cardboard in the beds last year when we first filled them but it's probably gone by now. Because of the loose topsoil soil, the weeds pull out of the beds really easy. Cardboard or landscape fabric would have been a good idea in the walkways though. When we lived in NM I used cardboard in my garden and covered it with grass clippings, the weeds were really bad there and it helped a lot. I'm sure your place is beautiful, I'll have to check out your latest videos. 🌺🌸🏵️🌼❤️

[@vivalaleta]

The desert flowers are magnificent.

[@vivalaleta]

When you're the only green thing for miles you're going to be a target. Once settled and fed I hope your family will be a part of regreening the desert. Digging that swale was a great start.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Hopefully we'll start getting some rain soon! Yes, we would love to make it as green out here as possible. 🌱😊🏜️

[@MakingMemoriesEveryday]

Really enjoyed your garden tour!! Thank you for sharing! We started our , first year here 😊

[@Blessings.429]

Ash, blood and bone, egg shells …..I don’t like Neam oil (Possibly wrong spelling.) Epson salts also dig holes size of small ponds, plant around the edge, holes hold water longer and the greener the desert the more rain ….. It is all doing so great, stay positive because you have all bases covered.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 😊🌱

[@gcnewd]

Great info. Thanks

[@craigsymington5401]

Looking forward to seeing the week after the first rain 😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yes, looking forward to getting some rain! Everything is really taking off now. 🌱🌿🪴😊

[@joannadrawe6654]

Enjoyed your desert garden!

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks for visiting! 🌞

[@sundanceks5074]

Your garden is looking good. It will just be dealing with the heat. To help prevent bolting of greens you can use a loosely woven shade cloth.

[@AbidAli-bv2gl]

Excellent video. Heavy improvement of Garden and Orchard . waiting for next video

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 😊

[@martindaubert1636]

Horse and or cow manure is really good for fertiliser very good for the vegetables

[@lawrencelipon8673]

👍👍👍👍👍👌Always interesting and informative !!! Well done thanx for sharing!

[@Nannygoat]

This was a fun video to watch. Lots of good info. Have a good weekend. Cheers.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks so much! Wishing you a wonderful weekend as well! 😊

[@1millionpumpkins542]

Great video of your beautiful garden and orchard. You guys are always so inspiring.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Aww, thanks! 😊🏜️

[@fallbrkgrl]

Well, you just helped me solve one mystery I had. I have one serrano pepper plant that was doing really well. All of a sudden I noticed something was eating it. Looked everywhere and couldn't find caterpillars, or grass hoppers. One day I was going over the plant again, and witnessed what looked like a bee, but was black and white, land on a leaf, and proceed to chew off some leaf, then fly away... Leaf cutter bee's! Had no idea something like that existed. I'm in Yuma AZ, and this is my first attempt at any kind of desert gardening. You also mentioned Sugar Ants doing damage to plants. I'm wondering if they're what we call piss ants. They're very prevalent, and I've been using bait stations in the yard, which were working. But now that it's hot, they are taking over, and are in my garden beds. I wasn't aware that they could damage the plants. They aren't getting on the plants, I just figured that because the soil is moist, that was why they were there...a way to get water??? Anyway... what are they doing that would damage the plants? So far I've been lucky that the leaf cutters have been my only problem, so I don't use Neem oil. Looks like I'm going to have to cover the pepper plant. It's still trying to out blooms, but they aren't developing now and just fall off. Hopefully it will come back next year. Thank you for the great information! Sorry such a long comment 😏 ❤️🌵☀️⛈️🌈☮️🐎

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Glad it was helpful! 😊 Yes, I was so confused the first year. First we had circles cut out of the leaves. Then the leaves would all suddenly disappear. I have to track down the leaf cutter ants, and get rid of them right away because they strip one plant or tree after the next. Sometimes the plants grow back, and sometimes they don't. Fortunately the bees don't seem to completely kill anything, and they are seasonal. The ants love marigolds, so when they start getting eaten, we know they are around. The sugar ants bite my feet, and they bring aphids to the plants. Only one bean plant has had aphids so far this year. Thanks for watching! 😊🌱🏜️🌞🌦️

[@fallbrkgrl]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid thank you for your response. It sounds like the ants you are dealing with may be different than the ones my mom refers to as "piss ants". Fighting these little buggers in the yard hopefully will help keep them out of the house. Once they're in, there's no choice but to call in the professionals, which requires a yearly contract. Thanks again!

[@mikeunum]

Looks so good. I love it. I wish i could be there to help and to life.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 🧡🏜️

[@dianabouvier4718]

This is a good idea!

[@sundanceks5074]

You can top dress your garden with compost by pushing aside a little your mulch and add the compost. As your plants get bigger increase the mulch depth to 4". It will hold in the moisture and keep the soil cooler. Most plants stop growing as the temp rises.😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yes, compost is always good. 🌞 The plants seems to be doubling in size every couple of days now. Once they get going, they can really take off. The yellow zucchini is producing really well, but it doesn't seem to like the heat, so I put some shade over it. Everything else is looking great. It should cool off in a few weeks when the monsoon season arrives.

[@robertm2663]

I dust my okra with diatomaceous earth and that works for me. It's a fine powder and I dispense it in an old plastic mustard bottle. Every few days I'll spritz the leaves with dust.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

I have been using it for ants, but wasn't sure if it would work for grasshoppers. 👍😎

[@robertm2663]

It gets between the insect joints and disables them. Fill a plastic mustard bottle and puff the dust over the okra plants.

[@laurapadgett3552]

I really enjoyed your garden tour!

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 😊

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

Oh heck yeah! If I had access to that mulch in your situation I'd be shooting to spread a 6" thick layer over the entire parcel before the next monsoon season. What a bonus. Honestly - you can't go wrong with that deal. Don't be afraid to move the volunteer plants that have popped up unexpectedly. Try to move them right before the monsoons start. When the monsoons are over, you'll likely have to water them for a full year - but they should do just fine. They were hardy enough to come up on their own, right?😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

It is pretty awesome, they give you as much as you want for free! We saw someone cover a large part of their property in mulch. It held in the moisture and during the monsoon, the weeds came up like crazy. The weeds are easy enough to handle around the trees and in the garden, but 20 something acres covered in mulch would be a lot! 😄 Yes, some of the volunteer plants are pretty small, and should be pretty easy to transplant once we get some rain and it cools down. 😊🌦️🏜️

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid My brother had a very rocky 1/2 acre or so in the mountains. The power line trimers where in the area and he took maybe 6 truck loads of chips. Must have been at leat a foot deep or more. Had the nicest grass in the mountain eventually/ ALways amazed me. It decomposed faster than you would have thought. What city are you near in AZ? If you had a dump trailer you could tailgate it. Do you have any interest in growing crops or trees (fruit, nut and shade)? Next to compost, chips is the best soil builder there is. And it sure would help to suck the desert monsoons into your soil.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Nice! We are in southeast, AZ. Yes, we have some fruit trees, and a few shade trees. A dump truck would definitely be nice! 😊

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I asked the location question because the city composting operation seems top shelf. You are very fortunate to have the resource. You can't incorporate too much organic matter into your 25 acres. So I'll guess that is Tucson's composting facility because it is a University town. All the best! 😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

The compost facility we use is in Sierra Vista. After the fire, it may be awhile before they have mulch again. We would need 2 or 3 more loads in our 20 ft. long trailer to have enough to cover our garden walkways 1 foot deep. We saved some from this load to put around all of our trees and bushes. 🌱🌞

[@armidaperez5360]

Try sardines it might help I've used egg shells banana peels some coffee grounds a little of each around trees water well...

[@petercarbutt3706]

Look at putting copper around trees Look it up very interesting watched a vlog in Portugal Think it's called Quinta life Homestead Homestead Homestead

[@walkingwater893]

The red bloom plant is Penstemon they are natural in S. Col, self seed, and I have to water them or they perish from our heat. So beautiful!

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! It looked so good before it got half dug up. Glad it's still alive though. 🌞

[@snorinsonoran]

This was great! My tomatoes are insane this year. You inspired me to start in ground beds next year. I guess we won't be getting anymore free mulch from the transfer station for awhile, I wonder how long it will take them to recover from the fire. Thanks for updating on the garden and trees. Yall are so close to me but sounds like you are in a much colder microclimate.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! Awesome, I will probably add in some different varieties of tomatoes next year. Any recommendations? The beds are nice to attach things to, they keep the dirt in, and they keep the garden hose from mowing things down. Everything is growing really fast now, even in this heat. Yes, it looks like it might be awhile before they make more mulch. 😬 It is unfortunate how cold we are. The trees in town come out a good month before ours do, but we still have a longer growing season here than most places we have lived. 🌞🌱🏜️

[@sundanceks5074]

What is needed to put and not too late is compost. I would advise raising worms if you have a place maybe an old bathtub. You can feed them all your kitchen and garden waste.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yes, I need to get some! I haven't seen a single earthworm here. In Texas I dug holes and buried our kitchen scraps and it attracted a lot of earthworm. 🪱🌱

[@1millionpumpkins542]

Up here in Apache County, we have arthropods instead of earthworms, evidently. I layer compostables under sunken basin beds and the grubs are unbelievably abundant! They turn straw into frass, plus the poultry goes wild for them.

[@denisefranco1520]

I love your garden! Reusing the daybed is inspiring. You reminded me the importance of good mulching. What area are you in? How are your plants not sunburnt? I’m in the Phoenix area. Unfortunately everything, including sunflowers, in the garden is burnt and struggling to survive. Your garden gives me hope. I’m still waiting for the monsoons.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! Phoenix sounds really rough. I hear even the cactus are suffering from the high night time temperatures. 🌵 You may have to wait until fall to be able to grow much. We are in southern Cochise County. The hottest we have been so far this year is 106° but we have had multiple days at around 102°. I have been watering everything thoroughly in the morning, and most of the plants are doing really well. Yes, hoping the whole state will get some rain soon! 🌦️🌞 Best wishes!

[@denisefranco1520]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid what you’ve heard is true.

[@joansmith3492]

Never heard of anyone having so much trouble with leaf cutter bees! Are you sure you are not planting your trees too deep? They say you should be able to see the top of the root flare. I have heard of using shade cloth or burlap to help newly planted things survive the first year or two in the desert. Maybe the wind is a deal breaker for that in your area. The last plant you showed looks like an Arizona cypress to me. I have 3 of them. They like a little extra water too when first planted.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yeah they 🐝 are pretty bad here for some reason. I was looking it up and they are really good pollinators, and generally great to have around. I'm hoping once the purple robe tree gets bigger the leaves will get tougher and they won't love it so much. I try to make sure not to plant the trees too deep. Once they are in the ground, trees can handle the sun pretty well. It is nice though that the house shades them from the late evening sun, which they will probably appreciate. The yellow zucchini is producing great, but it isn't liking the hot mid-day sun, so I put a cloth cover above it. It seems like the plants are doubling in size every few days now. It already looks a lot different. 🌞🌱

[@ChristineKelly1000]

The Green Dream project use Olla pots to help conserve water. Also will you be installing bearms and swales and drip irrigation? Will you be doing any rain water collecting?

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

The pots might work for low water plants. Tiny Shiny Home, also installed some, but found that they are still having to hand water their garden beds because they aren't providing enough water. We have a water catchment pond with a swale. We would like to eventually make it larger. There is also already a large berm along one side of the property. Water tanks, are expensive, and not very eco friendly, so we just try to direct our run off water to trees. 🌞🌱

[@ChristineKelly1000]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid thank you for answering my query. Keep up the good work.

[@missingremote4388]

Summer rain is here /Wisconsin

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Sounds nice! It gets really hot here for a few weeks. Then the monsoon season arrives and really cools everything off. 🌦️

[@casid9929]

Maybe Potentella bushes would do well.

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

Have you had the chemical analysis of the mesquite topsoil you are using done? How about your garden soil? I'm thinking that the mesquite topsoil may be way more acidic than your veggies like - but you need the analysis to know. University of Arizona, Tucson is your land grant university. You will have a county Ag agent you can call direct for help with the analysis. Prune those lower stems off your summer squash that the mice damaged. You don't want open wounds for other bugs to crawl into. A wound like that is an invitation to disease. And in this orientation, the lower leaves are not adding anything (shaded out) so pruning out the lowest leaves and stems will send more energy to fruit production. 😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

I haven't ever been very scientific about gardening. I just try things and see if it works. Whatever is in the soil, the plants are pretty happy. I experimented by planting a few things in the topsoil the first year, and they did amazing. Last year everything did even better. I added more top soil to most of the beds this year but should have added a lot more to the climbing bean bed. The beans are starting to recover, and most of the garden plants have doubled in size in the last week or two. Something might could be added to make the soil even better, but it's already pretty great. I have always been hesitant to prune squash, because it makes a big hollow open tube, but they do seem to close up pretty quickly. I cut off the worst rodent damaged leaves and put a clothes pin on to close it up. Now the zucchini leaves are huge, and all piled on top of each other, but I'm still a bit hesitant to cut some of them off, but I guess I probably should. Thanks! 🌞🏜️

[@stevejohnstonbaugh9171]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid I know what you mean about cutting that big leaf off. But as you mention, once the juice stops flowing through the stem it dehydrates and closes quickly. I learned this from a gal in a wet part of Australia who HAS to prune the lower leaves because it's too wet. She does it to avoid mold issues and believes that she gets a lot more fruit with the extras removed. One gardeners experience 😊I thought your foliage was a deeper green in last years photos. If you agree that the foliage is a little less green and a little yellow - that could be because the soil has become more acidic (the PH has changed) the fix for that is a application of ground limestone. But don't add anything unless you get it tested. You tell them it's a veggie garden they run the test, and make suggestion about what to add or not. Like lime if the soil is too acidic.

[@abegailthomas2061]

Your garden is beautiful! We moved to Tonopah and I’m on the process of starting my garden, do you have any recommendations about ground squirrels? We have a lot here! I’m also planning on doing in ground garden and will put hardware wire to prevent squirrels from digging up 😅

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! The black rat traps work well for ground squirrels. I only trap them if they are living in the garden or close to a fruit tree. I put the trap by the hole and put a chicken wire cage over the top to avoid catching birds. I have also had to trap a couple of ground hogs that moved into the garden, rat traps don't work for them. I use the ground hog traps that are set in the hole. Good luck! 😊🌱

[@THX-vb8yz]

Hello.... new to the channel. I really enjoy your and others like this. Great job! Question; I was looking through your site and didn't find a video on the water system (I probably missed it) but do have a well? or just capture rain water? Thanks 😊

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Hello, thanks for tuning in! 😊 We have a well. This video is a bit rough, but it tells more about our well and the start of our journey to get ready to move onto the land. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j3exqp2plMxgm6M

[@Miss_Judy]

I love your garden vids... Do you have chickens? I would let my chickens loose in my garden when I had tons of grasshoppers, I guess with the abundance of grasshoppers they left my garden alone... I prefered the grasshoppers being gone vs any damage they may have done to my plants - it must have been minimal - cuz I just don't remember any.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! Chickens are great, I used to let them in the garden sometimes, and they are great at cleaning up in the fall. We like traveling, so don't plan to get them again anytime soon, but maybe some day. 😊🐓🐣

[@Miss_Judy]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid yeah - sigh - they do hinder traveling... lol :)

[@colleendummer3328]

Are you in SE Arizona? We currently live in Blythe, CA and looking to move to AZ. I’ve been researching the Sonoita, AZ area and excited about the possibility of moving

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

We are in Cochise County and really like it here. Best wishes! 🌞🏜️

[@t.j.m3987]

Plant tons of marigolds everywhere to ward off bugs an animals

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Marigolds are great! The main benefit I have seen is they alert me that leaf cutter ants are around. The ants love them, so they help me track down the nest. The rabbits also really like to eat them, so I have to keep them protected if they are outside of the fenced garden. 🌞🏵️

[@t.j.m3987]

@@RedandAprilOff-Grid oh wow I did not know that.

[@talethagaston1485]

This is just a thought. Will covering your garden with a portable green house keep bugs out?

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Green houses can have bugs issues too. A lot of them come out of the ground, and if a few get in, they can multiply quickly.

[@mikeabbott7209]

I,Have Used A Product Called ADMOR To Get Rid Of My Ant Problem. What Do You Do To Get Your Marigolds To Grow ?

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks, I'll look it up. 🌞 The marigolds seem to like the mesquite topsoil that I plant everything in, it's great stuff. 🏵️

[@ChristiMeshell]

Grasshoppers attract scorpions - it’s their food source. Be careful!

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Yes, they like most bugs. I have seen a few scorpions under rocks around the trees, but not any in the garden so far. Gloves would probably be a good idea though. 🌞

[@raymondmills9377]

Italian cyprus

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Similar, but this variety is supposed to get up to 20 feet wide.

[@armidaperez5360]

Will you be putting a shade later when it gets hotter?

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

I put some shade over the yellow zucchini, it's producing well, but doesn't seem to like the heat. Everything else is looking great and growing really fast. The monsoon season should be here in the next few weeks, so we'll have some cloud cover and the temperatures will cool down a lot.

[@RVBadlands2015]

What are the white little blocks.

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Those are some of our old aircrete test blocks. I use them to block wind/sun, hold things down, and to keep plants from getting stepped on.😄

[@RVBadlands2015]

That’s red yucca

[@RedandAprilOff-Grid]

Thanks! 😎 It was doing so good before it got dug up, but I'm glad it's still alive.

[@RVBadlands2015]

I just transplanted some hope they make in this heat wave.