Blank canvas in New Mexico, surprise me

[Ebart423]

I recently moved into this rental property in New Mexico. I'm from Florida so I'm not used to the arid climate and desert landscape. I want to build at least a small garden in my backyard. I have a large backyard. I'm not sure if the soil is any good if someone could give me some pointers on how to determine if it is good. I'm not looking to redo the entire backyard unless I can do it for relatively cheap, it is only a rental. The second picture has some odd PVC tubes that go into the ground, not sure what they are for. There is no sprinkler system. The area gets decent shade half the time. The pictures I posted were taken at 630 pm.

I don't have measurements of the space, if youd like them I can get them.

Id like to make a vegetable garden and clean out the area. I'm not sure if I should till the whole backyard or what.

Please give me any help or ideas.

[webmaster]

The soil in that part of New Mexico is generally rocky and difficult to garden with. I speak from experience because I used to live in Santa Fe and spent a month in Corrales, just outside of Albuquerque. That's why you'll see that many folks reasonably garden with native plants. If you wish to raise vegetables then you may want to look into a creating a raised garden. Check out the [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4]Vegetable Gardening Forum[/url] category. Here is a discussion about a [url=https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=250602]Raised Garden for Vegetables[/url] that can give you an idea.

[mscratch]

Clovis brings to mind Air Force to me, so my first question is how long will you be in that rental? and will your landlord approve of improvements? what I would do is set up raised beds and add potted plants and bright patio furniture... go with heat tolerant and drought resistant landscaping plants which would most likely mean whatever you see growing in other yards..it's a rental so watch the expense you put into it.

[tomf]

What kind of garden do you want? Looks real dry, who much can you water?
The pipes look like clean outs for some kind of drain, they maybe for the gutters.

[rainbowgardener]

I agree with what's been said. Your soil is not likely to be any good for growing veggies. Don't bother tilling it up, it would be a project of years to get it good enough. Build a couple of raised beds which you can fill with good soil, and use containers. The containers you can take with you when you move. If you want to do a little landscaping beyond that, look up xeriscaping, which is the art of dry land gardening with plants that are desert adapted.

[Neli]

Have you thought of aquaponics? It is easy to move when leaving the place.
U can grow some fish and recirculate the water through some plants in containers and filter it for the fish that way.
It does not need to be expensive. You can use cheap materials.

[Ebart423]

Thank you all for the responses unfortunately I wasnt able to stay in that rental long enough, I will be in New Mexico for a while longer so I will be trying my hand at a raised garden. I will post pictures when I return.

Thank you all again for the responses.