Our nights get down to a chilly 47 degrees F (8 deg. C.) so without extra care it would be impossible to grow things like peppers and eggplants.
Water grid in place, hook up hose and place transplants where the water drips out.
Add hoops, deer netting and the plastic film weighted with 1×2’s nailed to 2×2’s.
This is what it looks like now (after 3 1/2 months) with some calendulas that my wife won’t let me take out and a volunteer Swiss Chard.
The green peppers are small because the nights are so cool, but at least we get some.
Japanese eggplant (the only one that will ripen here because it’s smaller) is finally ready to be picked.
Tomatoes are coming on strong…ready for sandwiches or to be roasted.
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, string beans, carrots, beets, basil, (and other herbs like oregano and thyme), onions and garlic slathered with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Roast it at 425 deg. F for about 25 minutes or until the tomatoes start to brown.
After this cools, we throw it in the blender, then it goes into the quart size freezer bags so it will stack up well. It can be used over rice or potatoes, or as a spaghetti or pizza sauce.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Your website is so interesting. I’ll definitely be back.
I kept one hive of bees in Vermont (as a beginner) and was planning for more when another beekeeper convinced me to move my hive from up the hill to nearer the house where I could see them better. Unfortunately, a hungry mama bear could also find them better and went for the larvae almost as soon as I moved it. Nothing I did prevented her from returning and completely demolishing the hive. I think that was “the last straw” in my decision to sell my farm and move closer to family out here. I was so sad to lose my bees.
Strangely enough I just last week spoke with a local beekeeper who told me about the “hundreds” of beekeepers in Pima County. Maybe she meant hundreds of hives. I have always been reluctant to start a backyard hive here because of the Africanized strains but she said that they don’t usually move into hives that are not out in the open. Not sure I want to risk it, though.
I am just making progress on my Tucson Daily website this week. It takes a while to get the knack of wordpress. You are the first to respond. Thanks.
I don’t blame you there. They can’t winter over here in the north…yet, but there is some talk about ordering packaged bees from Texas, Arizona, or California that might be ‘tainted’ with Africanized bee strains. Look up Dee Busby down that way. She knows volumes about bees.
That should be Dee Lusby. She’s done some cutting edge experiments on regressing the bees to their natural cell size. I think she lives in Tucson.