Vegetables that love summer heat

[PattyN]

Can warm weather vegetables grow in the low desert during the summer (temps avg probably 110 or so)? We are hooked on the vegetable gardening and I am dismayed by the idea of not having vegetables to play with during the summer.

I've read that beans, cukes, zuccini, corn, and tomatoes are good summer veggies. However, we tried some of these last year and got zilch. Possibly due to any number of mistakes (including inconsistent hand-watering) so I'd like to try again.

So my questions are: (1) Is it reasonable to expect to be successful with any of the above vegetables during the summer if we are in the desert? and (2) What do I need to know to at least attempt it correctly this time? We do at least now have an irrigation system in place. We are in zone 13 and the planters are on the north side of the house with full sunlight for the majority of the day.

Cactus and other non-vegetable plants just don't do anything for me . I need veggies and will attempt anything for them!

[Ozark Lady]

I have never lived in the desert. But, I have seen some pretty dry years here. For the drought aspect I do a few things, that just might help a bit there too.

1. Lots of humus in the soil to help hold water.

2. Heavy mulch once it warms up outside, to hold moisture at the roots.

3. Shade over the top, but with airflow for the plants, again to conserve moisture. Think about it, when you are outside and hot, don't you look for breezy shade? That helps my plants when temps are over 100.

4. When you do water, don't play at it. If you only water a little bit, you are training the roots to stay shallow at the surface. If when you water, you water really slow, but for a long time, you encourage the water to go deep. And then the roots go deep. The deeper the roots the better chance of getting water on those hot days.

5. I also have raised beds, but they tend to shrink, and by July and August, they are sunken beds, protected by the higher land around them.
If you can expect alot of heat, and little rainfall... make sunken beds to hold water better. Then just bring your mulch up to ground level or above.

[Dillbert]

also get a soil test - desert soils are often very alkaline - most veggies like slightly acid.

as mentioned, work on getting lots and lots of organic matter into the soil - mulch mulch mulch - and certainly consider drip or soaker type irrigation vs. spray.

[rainbowgardener]

It's good advice, about getting your soil very rich and mulching and shade cloth. It is a challenging environment. It may be you need to thinking about the timing of growing things. Start very early and be done by the hottest part of the summer. Then start again with a fall garden.

Think about herbs, lavender, rosemary, oregano, etc are adapted to your kind of soil and climate and do well there. Watermelon, squash etc, like hot weather, but you will be watering a LOT. Look for heat adapted varieties, eg heat tolerant tomatoes (they have names like SunMaster).

[cynthia_h]

Become familiar with Sunset's Western Garden Book and the recommended planting times for your Sunset climate zone. Desert planting times are often *not* the traditional planting times.

I'm sorry that I can't give you more info at the moment; gotta get to work. But a search on "Sunset climate zones" + my name as author will bring up a TON of info about this subject.

Best wishes for success!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[tedln]

Last gardening season, a gardener in Phoenix posted a lot of pics. He grew in his back yard with a cinder block yard fence. He grew close to the fence so the fence would shade the garden in the hottest part of the day. He grew the same veggies I grow in zone 7 and had a beautiful garden

I don't think it's a question of "can I grow in the desert?", but more a question of "How can I grow in the desert?". I would think like all other gardens, you need to make sure you have good soil with organics. You probably need to water often and well. You need to give the garden some relief from the hot afternoon sun.

Just my thoughts. I hope it helps.

Ted