Does anyone do any gardening in the desert?

I purchased 2 dwarf lemon trees last week and was told that I would need to protect them in the winter from freeze. I was thinking of replanting them in a larger container so that I can bring them inside on the coldest nights.

It gets blistering hot here in the summer, but I thought there must be a way to grow tasty fruits and vegetables in a backyard garden. I have even thought of trying to use a small greenhouse and cooling it with an evaporative cooler.

My neighbor is successfully growing kale in her front yard. I never have had a tasty tomato from anyone who has grown them here.

Any experienced gardeners out there?

Well ive done an awful lot of gardening over the years quite often starting over again in new homes where the soil was less then desireable and the first thing i went aobut doing was improving the soil.

I really beleive that the best tasting fruits and veggies come from the best soil (eg; hot house tomatoes to me taste like nothing and theve essentially just been grown hydroponically in water and powdered nutrients) whereas tomatoes ive grown in almost pure worm castings exploded with flavor.

I started my little worm farm with just a few pounds of worms and over the years they paid me back in kind with hundreds of pounds of worm castings that i added to my gardens. Best thing to do i think is get ahold of some good poo (preferably from someone that hasnt been shooting their animals up iwth all sorts of meds and stuff) and start from there. a good ecology will yeild you a great garden

jodi

as far as shade goes ...you could try planting some large leafy plants as a bit of a wall .. keep your garden mulched so it stays moist... heat is not so bad as long as the garden doesnt dry out ..then yer finished... there are also commercial sunshades that growers use to block some direct light they kinda look like green mosquito netting



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/17/2007 08:00PM by Jgunn.

Jgunn Wrote:
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> I really beleive that the best tasting fruits and
> veggies come from the best soil (eg; hot house
> tomatoes to me taste like nothing and theve
> essentially just been grown hydroponically in
> water and powdered nutrients)

I did not know this

whereas tomatoes ive
> grown in almost pure worm castings exploded with
> flavor.

Hmmm...

you could try planting
> some large leafy plants as a bit of a wall .. keep
> your garden mulched so it stays moist... heat is
> not so bad as long as the garden doesnt dry out

So do you think the direct, hot (up to 117 in the shade on the worst days) sun will not damage summer vegetables? It is more the dryness of the soil?

> ..then yer finished... there are also commercial
> sunshades that growers use to block some direct
> light they kinda look like green mosquito netting

Excellent. I will check that out.

Thanks Jodi


Julie

in my experience gardening plants love sun/heat ... but not dry conditions so i think ... I think most plants can handle any amount of sun if they have enough water to keep hydrated ...

granted some plants are just direct sun intollerant i think most of our commercial frut and veggies are light dependent

Jgunn, Citrus trees love the heat. However if they are in containers that's the part you have to worry about. Since they don't have the earth ittself to insulate them in the summer. Some shade would be good for them in the summer. Gardeners here in the southern California desert use shade cloth and just make little tents for their small plants during the hotter months. For winter, if there is a frost or freeze expected, you can wrap them in insulated sheets or blankets. Or move them next to the house and the heat from the house will protect them. If you drink coffee or tea put the grounds in their soil every once in a while to raise the acid level, they love that. Hope this helps.