Hey all, I'm Dave. I live in Salt Lake. Looking forward to picking everyone's brains. Just starting to get the vegetable garden ready to planting next month. Cheers.

DP

We're always happy to meet new friends here. I grow mostly tropical flowers and cacti and succulents. No big veggie gardening yet, but I have been known to grow tomatoes, onions, potatoes, and things like cilantro and basil.

Thanks! Biggest issue I have been running into is my 3 south facing planter boxes that have pavers around them and the brick of the house. Seems like they just get too hot, with lots of blossom drop in the height of the Utah summers. Any ideas? I was thinking about maybe some burlap shading? I will be using some spray to prevent blossom drop this year.

If you can't move the planters to a shadier location, how about putting up a shadecloth canopy? They can be temporary or permanent. Shade cloth really helps with hot summer sun.

Hi DaveyPetey! I'm in the Phoenix area. I hear you on the "too hot" area. Shade cloth makes a huge difference.

Hi DaveyPetey. Welcome.

I'm in Prescott where, I imagine, the weather vaguely resembles yours. Lots of warm spring days; lots of late spring 5AM frosts.

The only vegetable I've been successful with is garlic. Trying onions this year. The deer and gophers greatly appreciated my efforts with kale, though. Ditto shallots.

What a difference 4000 ft of elevation can make! No shade cloth here. It's almost too cool to grow tomatoes. Thanks to the gophers and deer I grow tomatoes in pots. Because I'm at 5280 elevation and have a lot of cool summer weather I need to plant short-season cultivars - either small-fruiting kinds or ones with "mountain" in the name. Too cool here for eggplant. Maybe for peppers, too but I do keep trying.

I did have good luck with Arugula one year. Evidently the gophers are not into gourmet greens.

Good Luck with the vegetable garden.