A Garden in the Desert

In winter, I use drip irrigation hoses with built-in emitters. The programmable timer adjusts to accommodate changing weather and works effectively with minimal water. However, in the summer, black hoses attract heat — even when buried. High soil temperatures warm water trapped in the hose.

Since it cannot evaporate, it acts like a hot water bottle, increasing the temperature in the ground. Additionally, a drip emitter delivers water from a point. In my sandy soil, it travels downward out of root range, not outward. This creates a small circle of moist earth, surrounded by hot, dry, sandy soil. The heat surrounds the little circle, pressing inward toward the roots. Consequently, all of the hoses are removed from my garden in the spring. During this time, I favor irrigation methods that flood a large zone, as the sheet of water cools the entire area and washes unwanted salts downward.

Hot weather has also forced my planting techniques to evolve into non-traditional methods. Most gardeners, for example, use the hoe to make long hilled rows alongside lower valleys. They plant seeds along the upper crest line, using troughs to transport water. This method is, in fact, employed successfully by local large-scale agriculture. They use traditional farming tractors, tap into flood irrigation from local canals, and plant heat-tolerant crops such as cotton and sorghum.

The elevated earth collects heat and dries out. Harmful salts are attracted to the highest point and concentrate there, leaving a line of white deposits along the crest of the rows. For these reasons, I usually plant seeds on level ground. If the planting area is surrounded by a raised perimeter of earth, the entire section can be flood irrigated. Planting in large patches, as opposed to narrower row formats, also helps cool the soil. Unplanted walkways between rows collect heat, even when covered in straw.

Thank goodness, a few treasured vegetables love the hot sun! Okra thrives in it, producing prolifically all summer. Native chili peppers are also quite hardy. Many of my spring-planted seeds, however, must produce before mid-summer heat kills them. It is essential, therefore, to start them as early as possible. Consequently, with plants that are less likely to survive the extreme mid-summer heat melons, squash, and tomatoes , I jump-start the spring season by planting presprouted seed as previously described.

Since these prefer warmer germination temperatures, I place the jar in a warm spot, such as on top of the refrigerator. When I plant them outside in late January or early February, I place clear plastic sheets over the row framework to protect them from frost. When the weather improves, I roll-up the plastic for reuse later. Another unique way to get a head start on spring is to plant tomato seeds in a trench.

First, I dig a long ditch about the depth and breadth of a standard spade. As the seedling emerges, it is protected from frost in its underground greenhouse. Once it grows tall enough to reach the top of the plastic, the weather is generally warm enough to remove the sheet altogether. I also plant melons and squash using this technique.

In the Garden :: Growing Food in the Desert | Frugally Sustainable

However, I am careful with these to prevent the trench from filling in with dirt. They are fussier than tomatoes about backfill against their stems. As I discuss my specific challenges with other local gardeners, I find that conditions and solutions vary greatly from garden to garden. For example, my sandy soil on virgin desert property amplifies the soil temperature. Often, people who live in town have richer soil and more ground cover, producing a cooler overall environment, allowing veggies to grow through even the hottest part of summer.

She also experiments with alternative solutions that are very different from my own. Like gardeners everywhere, I strive constantly with ways to improve my techniques, often employing unconventional methods, trying different heirloom vegetable varieties, relearning ancient traditions, and stubbornly progressing forward in spite of adverse conditions. Overcoming challenges, in fact, is part of the fun of gardening. The joy and satisfaction derived from growing plants and saving heirloom seeds overshadows the difficulties.

Their name literally means, "Desert People. On the surface, the dry and desolate Sonoran desert doesn't seem to be a gardener's lush paradise. However, these Native Americans knew how to adapt to their landscape and carefully select seed varieties that would yield bountifully despite their dry conditions. We can thank the Tohono O'odham for delicious dried bean varieties that can be found in the hands of seed collectors today. By growing and cooking these varieties, you are able to touch the past and savor the same flavors that were enjoyed centuries ago by conquistadors and Native Americans alike.

It was hard for us to leave Georgia as well. Success has been Huge Hit or Miserable Miss. I have really been working hard to establish good soil. I think as my soil improves so will the crops.

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Warm weather crops HHs have been tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, yellow squash, basil, oregano, string beans. I am trying to be diligent with keeping a better garden journal. I know it will help me keep track of planting times, seed companies, and the like. Sounds to me like you have it down! CTY do you have to prep the kelp in any way and remove some of the salt? We are just north east of LA. Growing up in Wisconsin this has been quite the learning curve. When we first moved here I asked the gardener who had been maintaining the place how to dig in this soil… he brought me a pick axe.

I really needed to see them, too! We are buying property about 60 miles east of El Paso and we plan to garden for veggies and herbs as well as raise goats and chickens. We will have well water a few miles away.

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I should have taken a picture of my beds. I just love your blog. You should look at what Larry Hall has done also with self watering containers. He has done several types of growing systems.

I hope that this coming year I will be able to start growing my own food. I am starting a vermi-compost in the next week or so to be able to have plenty for the spring. I am in Chandler, AZ, and I started about 4 years ago. Mainly things that I have growing are from compost seeds that grew by themselves….. I am laughing and texting my friend now about your comment! The always offer great desert proof varieties of organics and heirlooms. We live southwest of Palm Springs in a valley and is semi-desert.

Have 7 large raised beds with strawberries, spinach, onions, potatoes, corn and more during the spring and early summer. Right now we have onions, potatoes, lettuce and spinach growing. Our strawberries we keep under shade cloth as the sun can be very brutal. I too kept a shade cloth over the strawberries until the heat broke.

I am now in Las Vegas. My main effort is to create wind breaks and varying microclimates. I have passive solar greenhouses, dappled shade for some and full sun for others with wind breaks for all. Use either 5 gal containers or raised beds. Wherever you are the your local county extension service may be able to give you publications for your immediate area.

I currently have a similar garden to Andreas with kale, Swiss Chard, broccoli and collards in production from last year. The vines are edible also.

In the Garden :: Growing Food in the Desert

The young seedlings will begin feeding me in the spring. Most amazing thing are beets, I let some become enormous shrunken heads and they make the tastiest leaves for stir fry. I think I get 3 years out of them. Got 4 plantings of corn this summer, 1 is still growing in a greenhouse. Yellow pear tomatoes are great summer producers. I raise hydroponic lettuce and Lincoln peas in my greenhouse during the winter. A good perennial groundcover that grows to 2 feet high and blooms from spring until late fall.

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Give it full sun or part shade and gravelly soil. Gass says that the native solitary bees evolved with the creosote bush. Foliage is especially aromatic after a rain. The shrub has an open habit, getting 6 feet high and 8 feet wide. Yellow spring flowers are followed by fuzzy seedpods. Full sun and well-drained soil; will grow fast and lush with more water. Native throughout the southwest. This thornless palo verde is a three-way cross between Parkinsonia microphylla, P. Native bees are attracted to the bright yellow flowers that bloom throughout spring. The tree can reach 25 feet in height.

For best results it needs full sun, well-drained soil, and a restrained hand with watering. Yard Full of Sun: Tucson-based Scott Calhoun writes about how to transition into desert landscaping for people who have moved here from other places and how to make these desert plants work in the garden. What do I do now?