You can have a totally edible garden in the Desert Southwest (and other similar year-round climates). Edible fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers can be as decorative in the garden as they are on the dinner table. Change your ornamental garden into a treasure for the eye, a safe environment for family and pets -- and you can eat it too!

"Food Plants of the Sanoran Desert includes not only plants such as gourds and legumes but also unexpected food sources such as palms, lilies, and cattails, all of which have provided nutrition to desert peoples. Each species entry lists recorded names and describes indigenous uses, which often include nonfood therapeutic and commodity applications. The agave, for example, is cited for its use as food and for alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, syrup, fiber, cordage, clothing, sandals, nets, blankets, lances, fire hearths, musical instruments, hedgerows, soap, and medicine, and for ceremonial purposes. The agave entry includes information on harvesting, roasting, and consumption - and on distinguishing between edible and inedible varieties.".

If you live in USDA Zone 9b or higher -- this month-by-month planting calendar is for you -- use at your desk or hang on the wall. The Desert Southwest and Deep South are blessed with sunny days and mild winters with little or no frost, allowing for year-round growing of all things edible. It is about paying attention to not only heat, but soil temperatures and daylight hours. For example: Tomatoes and Basil are warm weather crops during those long sunny days, whereas Kale, lettuces and roots are cool weather crops for the short daylight hour times of the year. Grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and edible flowers with information on when to plant for optimal success, planting tips and maintenance guidance. YOU can garden 365 days a year, harvesting great food from your own backyard.

If you live in USDA Zone 9b or higher -- this month-by-month planting calendar is for you -- use at your desk or hang on the wall. The Desert Southwest and Deep South are blessed with sunny days and mild winters with little or no frost, allowing for year-round growing of all things edible. It is about paying attention to not only heat, but soil temperatures and daylight hours. For example: Tomatoes and Basil are warm weather crops during those long sunny days, whereas Kale, lettuces and roots are cool weather crops for the short daylight hour times of the year. Grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and edible flowers with information on when to plant for optimal success, planting tips and maintenance guidance. YOU can garden 365 days a year, harvesting great food from your own backyard. Extra pages for your notes are included.

If you live in USDA Zone 9b or higher - this month-by-month planting calendar is for you -- use at your desk or hang on the wall. The Desert Southwest and Deep South are blessed with sunny mild days with little or no frost, allowing for year-round growing of all things edible. It is about paying attention to not only heat, but soil temperatures and daylight hours. Grow vegetables, fruits, herbs and edible flowers with information on when to plant for optimal success, planting tips and maintenance guidance. YOU can garden 365 days a year, harvesting great food from your own backyard.

Grow clean, delicious produce at home, saving money and natural resources at the same time. Since Rosalind Creasy popularized the concept of landscaping with edibles a quarter-century ago, interest in eating healthy, fresh, locally grown foods has swept across the nation. And food plants have been freed from the backyard, gracing the finest landscapes--even the White House grounds! Creasy's expertise on edibles and how to incorporate them in beautifully designed outdoor environments was first showcased in the original edition of Edible Landscaping, hailed by gardeners everywhere as a groundbreaking classic. Now this highly anticipated new edition presents the latest design and how-to information in a glorious full-color format, featuring more than 300 inspiring photographs. Drawing on the author's decades of research and experience, the book presents everything you need to know to create an inviting home landscape that will yield mouthwatering vegetables, fruits, nuts, and berries. The comprehensive "Encyclopedia of Edibles"--a book in itself--provides horticultural information, culinary uses, sources, and recommended varieties; and appendices cover the basics of planting and maintenance, and of controlling pests and diseases using organic and environmentally friendly practices.

Drawing on thousands of years of foodways, Tucson cuisine blends the influences of Indigenous, Mexican, mission-era Mediterranean, and ranch-style cowboy food traditions. This book offers a food pilgrimage, where stories and recipes demonstrate why the desert city of Tucson became American’s first UNESCO City of Gastronomy. Both family supper tables and the city’s trendiest restaurants feature native desert plants and innovative dishes incorporating ancient agricultural staples. Award-winning writer Carolyn Niethammer deliciously shows how the Sonoran Desert’s first farmers grew tasty crops that continue to influence Tucson menus and how the arrival of Roman Catholic missionaries, Spanish soldiers, and Chinese farmers influenced what Tucsonans ate. White Sonora wheat, tepary beans, and criollo cattle steaks make Tucson’s cuisine unique. In A Desert Feast, you’ll see pictures of kids learning to grow food at school, and you’ll meet the farmers, small-scale food entrepreneurs, and chefs who are dedicated to growing and using heritage foods. It’s fair to say, “Tucson tastes like nowhere else.”