The first step in planning a desert vegetable garden is choosing a site for it.

Drainage

Make sure the site is well-drained. In most of the North American desert areas, there is hardpan, called caliche that lies close to the surface.

This hardpan is actually calcium carbonate and is as hard and impenetrable as concrete. It will cause major drainage problems in your garden.

You can face the problem head on and dig out the caliche, replacing it with good garden soil. However, since caliche depth ranges from several inches to several feet, and is literally as hard as rock, doing it by hand would be extremely difficult and would certainly dampen your enthusiasm for gardening.

If you must remove caliche, spend some money and either rent a backhoe or hire someone with a backhoe to do it for you.

Raised beds

The best way to sidestep the hardpan drainage problem is to build raised beds. There are a number of methods you can use to build raised beds. Landscape timbers are great for raised beds. Many desert gardeners use moss stone. Actually any material that will not harm plants can be used, from cinder blocks to railroad ties (without creosote), logs and manufactured borders.

If budget is a real concern, use your imagination to create the borders for your raised beds.

Sunlight

Full sun is the preferred exposure for growing most vegetables. Install your beds away from trees or other objects that could shade the garden. Remember that trees are plants too and locating garden beds too close to tree roots will place your vegetables in competition with trees for water and nutrients.

Winds

Spring winds are real factors in the desert. These high winds, which generally come from the southwest, can break, damage and dry out young plants. Windbreaks (trees, fences, walls, even hedges) can be used to protect young plants, as long as they are far enough away from your garden not to cause shade or competition problems.

Size

The size of your garden depends on the vegetable needs and wants of you and your family, what land is available to you, water requirements, and how hard your want to work at it. Many people enthusiastically plant gardens larger than their needs and their abilities to care for them, and then realize, late into the season, that their vegetable garden has just gotten away from them.

The size also depends on what type of plants you want. Spinach, radishes, leaf lettuce and other like vegetables need relatively little space. Plants with vines that sprawl all over, like watermelons, pumpkins, squash and cucumbers need a lot more space. There are new bush varieties that are constantly being developed for these types of plants that can be used in small gardens.

Placement

If you are planting corn in your garden, plant it on the north side, so it won’t shade other plants as it grows taller. Map your garden when you’re deciding what goes where, so next year, you can rotate some crops.

Succession Planting

If you have a small desert vegetable garden, you can rotate crops in the same season. Grow radishes in the early spring. After you harvest the radishes in late spring, plant green beans in the same spot. In the fall, after the green beans have stopped producing and are looking scraggly, pull them out and plant garlic.

Intercropping

Pumpkins will tolerate partial shade. So plant them between corn plants. Heavy leaf cover from the pumpkin vine will keep weeds down and help keep the soil at a more even temperature as well.

Don’t forget to check with your Cooperative Extension Service office or Master Gardener Association while you are planning your garden. They can give you valuable advice on which varieties of vegetables are best for your growing area.

Related Articles:

1. Desert Vegetable Gardens
2. Desert Climates and Vegetable Gardens
3. Desert Vegetable Gardens: Soil Preparation
4. Fertilizing A Desert Vegetable Garden
5. Planting A Desert Vegetable Garden
6. Proper Watering of Desert Vegetable Gardens
7. Pests in a Desert Vegetable Garden