Bumping your plea for ideas UP. I've only ever gardened in the Midwest, so I know little about desert gardening other than you will be eating fresh tomatoes in February and I won't, LOL!
Good morning! Do any of you grow veggies and such in raised beds or containers? My first-ever attempt to grow veggies was in a 5’ x 8’ homemade raised bed. It was only a limited success. The bed was built with those hinged plastic corners. They’re pretty sturdy, but still they fell apart after one growing season. Maybe it’s this desert climate (Zone 8b, I think). It’s hard on everything. I’m going to replace it with two 4’ x 6’ galvanized steel beds. In the meantime I’m experimenting with a “patio grow box” — so far ao good — and even a couple of those nice plastic-coated reusable grocery bags. They’re working like a charm — one strawberry and one Japanese eggplant. Please share any tips for container and raised bed gardening, esp. in a hot, dry climate.
Bumping your plea for ideas UP. I've only ever gardened in the Midwest, so I know little about desert gardening other than you will be eating fresh tomatoes in February and I won't, LOL!
I use cedar boards (well it is leftover siding from jobs) glued and t-nailed at the corners. Nothing over 6 inches tall except for the potato bed.
I have good soil, but I like the order of borders.
I do have some heirloom romas in a small container. Think miniature tomatoes. Little 2-3 oz. romas.
Companion planting is a good thing. Beans corn and squash, and mint planted with the tomatoes.
Just some ideas.
We raise all our vegggies in raised beds. The beds are 18 inches tall with 4 X 4 posts on the inside corners.
We also use 1 inch plastic pipes bent gently into a hoop with old bed cloth snapped in place on cool nights.
100 percent success !
Replace the oxidized plastic corners with angle iron.
You can probably go to a salvage yard and get some very cheaply, although you may have to cut the length to the size (depth of soil) that you want.
<< It was only a limited success. >>
Get a soil test from Agriculture College, or Cooperative Extension.You will benefit from the test
and will tell you what micro-minerals and amendments the soil needs for greater productivity.
I have never grown in hour climate.
But I heard...actually saw a YouTube video where guy who was in a dry climate grew great tomatoes.
He dug down into his bed fairly deep...like 2.5 feet......poured water into it until it was practically a pond....then refilled it with the soil...then putting a mound of good garden soil over that.
Then he/she planted their tomatoes over it and never wateres it again for something like 60 days.....the tomatoes plants sent down roots super deep to access the water he put in the trench.
My memory could be a little off but the idea was it mimicked the way nature used the flash flood zones of the desert to grow plants.
They sprout up near areas that have water beneath the dried up surface soil.
If I can find the video online I will post a link.
I don’t know about raised beds in the desert, but I know that chia, moth beans, tepary beans, and prickly pears are all desert plants. They should do fairly well there.
Here is a list of results on YouTube for raised bed gardening in the desert.
https://m.youtube.com/results?search_query=desert+vegetable+gardening%2C+raised+beds
I loooove YouTube videos!