Garden Progress 0/15/11

It's September, and while most of the country is getting ready for fall, here in Arizona it's still going to be over 100 degrees for a few more weeks, and over 80 for a few more months. I mentioned before that we have different gardening seasons here. September kicks off our second one of the year which means that it's time to get planting! Before I can get to that, I needed to get outside and assess the state of my beds.

Um... it wasn't looking pretty, y'all. They were littered with dead leaves, dead plants, and lots and LOTS of crab grass. Dang.

I worked in the yard all day yesterday and here's what it looks like now:

All the dead plants were pulled from the beds and the pots. I raked up all the leaves, seed pods from the trees behind our house, and other debris that was in there. While I was at it, I also mowed the lawn (which is a decent size) with the push mower. You want to talk about a workout? You're using your arms, legs and back for quite a bit of time out there. According to SparkPeople I burned an estimated 380 calories in the hour it took to do the job!

Kick butt.

I also raked the edge (and decided that I officially hate gravel) of the yard and the other two smaller beds. I broke up the dirt in the other large bed and spread two big bags (6 cubic feet) of compost over it. I need to pull the crabgrass that's growing around the bed so it won't grow into the bed still. I also need to turn the dirt. That part is hard so I'll do it tomorrow and then it will be ready for planting.

I have to buy some seeds still and the little peat things to start some tomatoes. I want to do bell peppers too this time. Hooray for cooler (sorta) weather!

Oh, and a question for anyone who's grown basil and knows about it - are these plants still "good" or should I pull the ones that look like they got flowers? Only one stayed without them. I know cilantro, parsley, and arugula are no good once they bolt, but I'm not sure about basil.

Thanks!