Monsoon Gardening Series Part One: The Food Garden

Dia del San Juan is this week, and it marks the traditional start of the monsoon season! Get ready for this special time of year with a monsoon food garden!

Join native gardener Laura Neff (Neff) for an evening of learning about how to have a productive and successful monsoon food garden in the low desert! The presentation will be online via Zoom, and there will be plenty of time for questions and answers. This is a companion class to Monsoon Pollinator Gardening, which will be presented Thursday evening. You can register for one or both classes.

Sign up now and you will receive a package of tepary beans (or other seasonally-appropriate crop) in the mail!

Second spring (aka monsoon season) is just around the corner and so is the opportunity to plant a variety of native and other seasonal food plants. This class is for the newbie desert gardener as well as the seasoned grower who may need a refresher course on what and how to plant during the season of rain. We will cover what to plant, benefits of growing during the season, how to minimize damage from strong winds and heavy rain fall, and how to maximize the use of the rain that the monsoon bring. 

Born and raised in Phoenix and a Tucson transplant starting over a decade ago, Neff is a lover of the Sonoran Desert and will speak about its wonders any chance they get. They are an Environmental Educator specializing in growing aridland food crops, specifically those native to the Sonoran Desert. They have a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona, but most of their experience comes from the one on one interactions with folks from all levels of growing experience during their time as Education Coordinator with Native Seeds/SEARCH. In their free time, they love to spend time in their yard, taking in the urban nature and playing with their pups.