Social media can give you the impression that growing your own vegetables is hard and that you need all the latest gear to succeed. Fortunately, that's not the case! The true necessities are:

• Some soil to grow in. If you've got a bit of flowerbed (as little as a few square feet), that's a great option. If you need to use a container, look for secondhand pots at least a foot diameter, or try a grow bag for a lightweight, durable option. Remove existing plants that you don't want and add about 4 inches of compost to the top of your flowerbed (no need to mix it in), or fill your pots with compost. Compost can be gotten free at various community events.

• Sunshine. This is generally in good supply around Southern California. Observe your yard and avoid areas that are shaded by buildings or large trees for all or most of the day. Remember that sometimes areas get lots of sun in summer but are shaded in winter.

• Water. An irrigation plan is a necessity in the desert. Hand watering is an option. Drip irrigation is often more efficient, and we've had good luck with gravity-feed micro drip setups (here and here) for small gardens and containers.

Guidance on the back of seed packets to "sow 6-8 weeks before last frost" doesn't make sense in a place that gets a frost once every 10 years. Southern California gardening can roughly be divided into two seasons: warm and cool, with a small sub-group of hot season crops that thrive in August and September when everything and everybody is wilting. Here are links to some good planting calendars:

Simple, one page from Greg Alder 

San Diego County Extension Office ("Inland" is appropriate for Azusa)

Detailed guide from UC Vegetable Research & Information Center (While this was made for the Sacramento/Davis area, it is pretty good for Southern California. We can grow a few things deeper into our nonexistant winters.)

Double digging or rototilling to break up soils and incorporate amendments (whether compost or fertilizer) have been staples of home gardeners for decades. New research is discovering that even in challenging soil conditions,  these practices make gardening more physically challenging, reduce yields long term, and reduce the ability of the soil to sequester carbon. Soil is far more than an agglomeration of mineral particles. It's home to a variety of insects, worms, small vertebrates, fungi, and protozoa that all work together to maintain aeration, fix and liberate nitrogen, and more. 

Considering how you're going to water your garden is one of the most important parts of planning a garden in the desert. Here are some of the strategies we've found to maximize every drop of water. Hand watering has value (for instance, for immediately after transplant), but is the least efficient option for the duration of the season. We've found that a combination of maintaining a mulch layer year round and using drip or soaker hoses reduces total irrigation needs by 60 to 80 percent over the course of a year.