Garden-Planting Calendar for Tucson and the Sonoran Desert
This calendar is a rough planting guide for food plants in the Tucson area, southern Arizona, and northern Sonora Mexico. (Depending on the weather, ideal planting times can extend into the month following or preceding the month recommended below). It is compiled from Desert Harvest, Tucson Organic Gardeners’ Composter newsletter, Native Seeds/SEARCH planting chart, conversations with Tucson gardeners, and my own experience. Please experiment and let us know if you have any improvements. Let’s grow this list and our knowledge as we grow our gardens — and then share the abundance!
With the first good winter rain (or even better, just before it if you’re watching the weather forecast), plant native wildflower seed within and beside water-harvesting earthworks. Our winter rainy season is December-February, but the first good rains can arrive late. Wildlands Restoration is a great source for native Sonoran desert wildflower and restoration seed (Spadefoot Nursery and Native Seeds/SEARCH sell their seed).
Plant bush beans, cucumbers, squash, dill, chard, and sweet corn late in the month
Mulch potatoes and onion
Ideal month for structural pruning of native trees and shrubs. Check out the Dunbar Spring Neighborhood Foresters Events page for January and February pruning workshops (sometimes an event is not listed until a week before it occurs).
After danger of frost you can plant Lima beans, black-eyed peas, cane sorghum, chilies, chiltepines, cotton, gourds, indigo, panic grass, teosinte, tobacco, tomatillos
Mulch trees, shrubs, and vegetables (will retain moisture and lessen stress on plants as temperatures warm up
Plant such annuals as marigolds to add color and deter pests from garden
You may want to sow tall plants such as sunflowers and amaranth on the west side of your plot to screen other plants from the hot afternoon sun.
If planting corn consider the traditional “three sisters” arrangement of corn, beans, and squash or melons together. The corn creates a trellis and shade. The beans fix nitrogen in the soil and grow up the corn. The squash or melons take advantage of the shade and nitrogen while creating a living-mulch over the ground to protect the soil.
Warm-to-hot-season greens such as amaranth, purslane, lambsquarters, Malabar spinach, and Yakina Savoy lettuce can be sown now and grown through summer — all will appreciate afternoon shade from a tall trellis, native mesquite tree, or sunflowers to the west.
With the monsoon rains plant tepary beans, devil’s claw, corn, purslane
Start tomatoes, peppers, eggplants inside
If you want, some folks now prune their tomato plants by 2/3
Hand pollinate squash and melon flowers in the early morning or increase pollinator habitat and they’ll do the work for you
With the first good summer rain (summer rainy season is late June/early July – September), plant seed of native perennial plants within or beside water-harvesting earthworks, especially coyote gourds. Wildlands Restoration is a great source for native Sonoran desert wildflower and restoration seed (Spadefoot Nursery and Native Seeds/SEARCH sell their seed).
Once plump from the summer rains, take cuttings of prickly pear pads, then pot them up and root them for later transplanting. You can also directly plant the cutting in the earth (burying at least the bottom third of the cactus pad) where you want it to root and grow. The fruit of our native engelmann prickly pear is edible and delicious!
Once plump from the summer rains, you can dig up and transplant agave murpheyi pups either into planting pots or the earth. Here in the hot low desert, agaves do best grown in partial shade beneath the canopy of a native tree.
Sow native wildflowers. Wildlands Restoration is a great source for native Sonoran desert wildflower and restoration seed (Spadefoot Nursery and Native Seeds/SEARCH sell their seed).
Late in month, start tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants indoors
Late in month sow greens seed in start flats to transplant into garden in early February.
With the first good winter rain (or even better, just before it if you’re watching the weather forecast), plant native wildflower seed within and beside water-harvesting earthworks. Wildlands Restoration is a great source for native Sonoran desert wildflower and restoration seed (Spadefoot Nursery and Native Seeds/SEARCH sell their seed).
Once plump from the winter rains, take cuttings of prickly pear pads, then pot them up and root them for later transplanting. You can also directly plant the cutting in the earth (burying at least the bottom third of the cactus pad) where you want it to root and grow. The fruit of our native engelmann prickly pear is edible and delicious!
Once plump from the winter rains, you can dig up and transplant agave murpheyi pups either into planting pots or the earth. Here in the hot low desert, agaves do best grown in partial shade beneath the canopy of a native tree.
For how to water these plantings with free, on-site waters…
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Great info on how to effectively place these plants in relationship with other vegetation and buildings to passively to shade/cool your tender plants at the hottest time of day, which will conserve lots of water and improve the vitality of your plants
