Desert Vegetable Gardens

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Soil preparation

The most important aspect of desert gardening is soil preparation. Most vegetables prefer sandy loam soils that readily absorb moisture, meaning they may not do well in desert soil without a little help. In a small area hoe or hand weed to remove existing vegetation. Be sure to remove any and all roots, not just chop them up. Till if your soil really is packed like a pavement and there’s no other way you could plant in it. This is especially true if the land has been cultivated, as tilling will just turn up weed seed.

If this is the first time your plot has been cultivated, adding compost and/or manure loosens the soil, improves water retention, and provides nutrients for the plants. Add two or three inches of a mix of half organic matter and half native soil. You can add up to 1 pound of manure per square foot. Fresh manure must be left for approximately one month before planting. Work these amendments into the soil to a depth of at least 18 inches.

Adding 2-3 pounds per hundred feet of land can also help your plants, but don’t over do it. Too much fertilizer can burn plant’s roots. Some gardeners add gypsum to break up the soil, but whether or not it helps is still up for debate. If you’re soil is too alkaline for the vegetables you want to grow, adding organic matter will also help with this. You may also need to add sulfur, but consult with a local gardening expert first. Any soil amendments should be added at least two weeks before each planting to give them time to dissipate properly.

Raised beds

If the vegetables you want to grow don’t like the soil in your garden, you can opt for raised beds. Raised vegetable beds can be irrigated either by spray or drip irrigation or by furrow/ditch irrigation. Flat beds with sprinkle or drip irrigation can be used with success in better quality soils. If you create raised rows for furrow irrigation, plant on the sloping edges of these beds above the irrigation water level. Never plant on the highest point of a raised bed because soil salts gather and inhibit growth.

Planting and timing

While it’s possible to grow almost any type of vegetable in the desert, many vegetables must be grown on a different schedule from the one used in more moderate climates. Naturally, your planting schedule will differ depending on your location. If you live in the cold-winter high desert, most vegetables will have to be planted after the danger of frost. If you’re in the low desert, though, you’ll most likely be planting in late spring or early autumn to avoid the summer heat.

In the low desert, winter is the only time leafy cool-weather crops like lettuce. Even warm weather plants like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers will stop producing fruit during the hottest months. In fact many varieties of fruit trees will survive for only 10-15 years in the desert. One of the plant diseases that can kill desert trees is Texas root rot, a fungus that multiplies in dry, alkaline soil and kills tree roots. Gardeners may not realize anything is wrong until the leaves start dying, and then it is usually too late.

May is planting time for hot-weather vegetables, such as okra and sweet potatoes. If you are planting in late May, your seedlings might need more water, especially if the weather is super hot. Act fast and you may still have time to sow a late crop of vegetables, such as corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, or squash.

In cold winter areas, sow annuals in spring after danger of frost has past. You can also plant them in the fall, after nights turn colder (the end of September in Santa Fe) for germination the following spring. In Arizona, some gardeners have gotten good results by planting native crops at the beginning of the monsoon thunderstorm season, which begins in July.

Continued >>

Page one: Overview, vegetable types, and garden location (shade).
Page two: Soil preparation and planting times.
Page three: Irrigation for vegetables.