While much of the country is pulling up its gardens, Arizona's low desert is just getting going. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension's Vegetable Planting Calendar for Maricopa County lists more than two dozen crops for November, from carrots, beets, radishes, peas and spinach to broccoli, cabbage, chard and leaf lettuce.
It's a great month to get kids outside, too, and plenty of Arizona families are looking for hands-on ideas. KOLD News 13 reported on Oct. 19 that 108,688 students now take part in the state's Empowerment Scholarship Account program, and that parents are trading ideas at curriculum swaps, including one in Pinetop this November.
So here's an idea worth swapping: turn a corner of your yard into an outdoor science lab and let the desert's best growing season do the teaching.
What your kids will learn
Grades K–5
- What every plant needs: sunlight, water, soil and space
- How a seed sprouts and grows roots, a stem and leaves
- How to plan where each plant goes, and why spacing matters
- How to record growth with drawings and simple charts
Grades 6–12
- Germination, transplanting and the full plant life cycle
- Real-world math: garden bed area and volume, and designing a planting layout
- Soil temperature as a variable, and why many vegetables germinate best between about 65° and 85°F
- Measuring, graphing and comparing how different plants respond to the same conditions
This week's activity: the sun vs. shade soil-temperature race
The UA Extension calendar recommends using a soil thermometer, because soil temperature has a big effect on germination. Kids can test that idea in their own yard.
- Pick two spots. Choose one patch of soil (or one large pot) in full sun and one in afternoon shade.
- Take the temperature. Push a soil thermometer about 2 inches deep in each spot at the same time every morning and every afternoon for three days. Record the numbers in a chart.
- Predict. Which spot will sprout seeds first? Write down a hypothesis and the reason.
- Plant the same seeds. Sow 10 radish seeds in each spot at the same depth. Radishes are on the November list and sprout quickly, so kids won't wait long.
- Keep it fair. Give both spots the same amount of water at the same time each day. Sunlight and soil temperature should be the only real differences.
- Count and measure. Check daily. Record the day each sprout appears and measure the tallest one.
- Graph it. Plot soil temperature and sprout count side by side. Did the warmer spot win, or did the shade spot surprise you?
Make it a full season with a kit. The Raised Garden Bed Plant Science Kit ($113.97) turns this one-week test into a seed-to-harvest course. The box includes a galvanized steel raised garden bed (6 ft × 3 ft × 1 ft) with a rust-resistant coating and an open bottom for drainage, 5 three-inch peat pots and potting soil for starting seeds, 5 different seed varieties, and grade-level curriculum and worksheets, emailed after purchase. Kids start seeds in the peat pots, move them into their own bed, and track growth on a garden planning map and a germination and growth chart. Older students finish with a lab report and graph.
One honest note for planning: the included soil is for the seed-starting pots. Filling the full bed takes about 18 cubic feet of additional garden soil. Here's a bonus math lesson: have your kids prove that number themselves (6 × 3 × 1 = 18).
Join the growing community
Every purchase includes an invitation to Aardvark's Seed Planting For Little Hands, our private support group for families using our kits. Post your soil-temperature charts, share a photo of your first desert harvest, and swap tips with young growers across Arizona, Arkansas and West Virginia while the rest of the country waits for spring.
Plant your garden lab this month
Arizona's cool season won't last forever, and November falls squarely in the low-desert planting window. The Raised Garden Bed Plant Science Kit is $113.97, with curriculum and worksheets for Grades K–5 or 6–12 (choose at checkout).
