Tag Archive for: desert Southwest garden

Trying New Things In My Winter Garden: ‘White Icicle’ Radishes & Swiss Chard

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Do you like to try new things?


I do – especially in the garden. I’m always on the lookout for new vegetables to try out, including some heirloom varieties, which aren’t technically new.

container corn

One year, I tried growing ‘container corn’.  You can read here how it did.

This year, I tried growing ‘White Icicle’ radishes, which are a cross between radishes and turnips. My mother had given me the seeds and I’ve always had a very easy time growing regular radishes, so I thought I’d try these.

They grew easily and the leaves reached over 2 1/2 ft. long!

Trying New Things In My Winter Garden

It was exciting to pull them out and I couldn’t wait to try them.

Radishes & Swiss Chard

 While they were very easy to grow, I must confess that I didn’t like them.

I really wanted to and their flavor was a lot like a turnip, but they burned my mouth – much more than the radishes do.

Swiss chard

My grand experiment last year was growing Swiss chard and afterward, I wish that I had been growing it all along. It’s not only easy to grow, it also tastes great in salads!

vegetable gardens

I grow it both in my vegetable gardens and in pots.

So, while I wish that I liked ‘White Icicle’ I don’t. But, it wasn’t a waste of time growing them. You see, gardening is a grand experiment and it’s always fun to try growing new things and while there are going be some failures – there are also great successes (like my Swiss chard) when you discover what grows well that you like.

*This week, I’m sharing what I’ve harvested from my winter vegetable garden and sharing lessons learned. Yesterday, it was broccoli and how to freeze it.

Winter Vegetable Harvest: Broccoli and How to Freeze It

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Do you grow vegetables in the winter? Here in the low desert regions of the desert Southwest, we can grow vegetables all year. 


My winter vegetable garden is filled with a variety of cool-season vegetables and I have rarely had any problems growing any of them except for broccoli.


For some reason, in past years my broccoli has been rather lackluster. Oh, the plant grows, but the broccoli heads are always small with no real central head forming.

winter vegetable garden

winter vegetable garden

It’s been frustrating because my mother’s garden (just 2 miles away) always produces gorgeous heads of broccoli. Every year, after harvesting a small amount of broccoli stalks, I decide that it is the last time I will grow it.

But come fall, I always relent and plant some more. So, imagine my delight when I ventured out in to my garden this month and found two large heads of broccoli ready for picking!

heads of broccoli

Aren’t they beautiful?

So, what did I do differently?

I simply planted them in a different location (about 10 ft. away) in the vegetable garden – that’s it!  When planting them this year, I remembered that many people plant tomatoes in a different location from year to year to allow the soil enough time to replenish and I thought that I’d try it with my broccoli and it worked!

My entire family loves broccoli and nothing compares to the flavor of fresh broccoli. But, you can also freeze it for later. To do this, you need to ‘blanch’ it by cutting the broccoli into florets and then putting them into boiling water for 3 minutes.  Immediately afterward, dip the florets into cold water with ice cubes to stop the cooking. Dry the cooled broccoli the best you can and place meal-sized portions into plastic freezer bags and freeze until you are ready to use!

So the lesson is, that if you grow a type of vegetable that does not seem to grow well despite doing everything right – try growing it in a different location.

Come back tomorrow, when I’ll share with you a new vegetable that I grew in my garden!

My Newly Planted Vegetable Gardens

Winter Harvest From a Desert Vegetable Garden

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I love living in the desert Southwest.


I really do, except in August.  That’s when I start to tire of the long, hot summer and yearn for fall. By September, the days begin to shorten and the weather begins to cool and I plant my cool-season vegetable garden.


One of the things that I love most about gardening in the desert Southwest is that you can grow fruit and vegetables all year long – even in the midst of winter when most of the country can only dream of growing things outdoors.

delicious vegetables

 Where else can you look outside and see delicious vegetables coming up and picking them fresh for your table in January?

desert Southwest winter garden

desert Southwest winter garden

Oh, and how about the citrus fruit that not only provides us with sweet, tart fruit – but also adds bright color to our desert gardens?

Over the next few days, I thought that I’d share with you what I have harvested from my winter garden in hopes that you will be inspired to grow your own desert Southwest winter garden.

Even if you don’t live in a mild winter area, growing vegetables is not all that different in other regions, except for the calendar.  So, you can always pick up some helpful tips from vegetable gardeners who live in other places.

Tomorrow, I’ll share my first-ever success in growing a vegetable that has given me problems in the past.

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Baby Watch Update:

Our second-oldest daughter, Rachele, is expecting her first child soon! She is in the Navy and currently stationed in California – about 7 hours away from us.

She is being monitored closely because of the baby’s low birth weight and now the latest ultrasound shows a lower level of amniotic fluid.

Rachele has been seeing having weekly ultrasounds, stress tests and seeing the doctor.  On her last visit, she was told that they may have to induce her maybe a week early.

So, what does that mean for me and my husband? Well, I had to reschedule a speaking engagement on “Updating Your Landscape”.

Our plan is to hit the road as soon as we get the call from her that she is being induced and/or in labor. Hopefully, we will get there before the baby does!

Meanwhile, I’m off to pack my bags!

Vegetable Garden Before The First Frost