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Yes you can grow vegetables in Death Valley region
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Growing chard, cabbage, cauliflower in the desert
Thinking about living in the desert and wondering if you can grow vegetables or any other living plant in the Death Valley region. Well the answer is "yes". The process is a guessing game if you are inexperienced and a newbie to the desert climate. The heat in summer will quickly send a great looking plant to the compost pile. But studying the area, asking questions and being able to live with a few failures will eventually bring some success.
1. Look at your situation, do you even have a place to grow vegetables. Other than a sand lot.
2. What do you want to grow. Lettuce will not prevail after April with thermometers rising daily.
3. Ask around the community or go to a local feed and seed store and see what others suggest.
4. If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.
5. Most desert soil is fairly low on nutrients and will need compost or just make a garden bed with purchased soil and compost. This prevents a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth when you see curled brown leaves and spindly plants peering up at you. With their pathetic abandon asking why the water keeps bathing them, and no food is served.
6. After the first full spring of trial and error then get serious, clear out the old, add new soil, build a bed "off'' the ground if you are smart. Then just ride out the summer heat thinking about all the nice food that could have been. As the summer sun begins to move lower on the horizon and the days that seemed to never want to go to bed, give way to longer shadows. Get out and stir up the soil. Take a hard look at the time of year, the choice of plants that would actually be eaten by the family, and head over to the nearest garden center.
7. Take a list, ask questions, don't over spend on plants until the soil is prepared, and the days are now below 90 at least most of the time. Patience is a must.
8. Get ready for wind, sudden monsoon rains or heaven forbid, grazing rabbits and birds. Take time to set up posts to stretch screening, around and on top. Remembering that 70 mph winds will tear off a cover and spank the green beans or cabbage beyond recognition. Clamps, and more clamps work well in this situation.
9. Now that you have all this completely under control, it is time to shop for the fun stuff. Plants, seeds, more soil, fertilizer. Keep in mind this stuff is fairly costly so be prudent and start with a small area if necessary, out of harms way of too much sun, or too far from a water source. Sun baking most of the day will cause transplants to just give up. In really hot climes like this, the north side of the house will work well for most winter plants, as well into spring.
Take a look at the second planting of the garden that using some planning in the early fall has now produced. No cabbage yet, or cauliflower, but the basil and red chard are ready for the picking. Sorry to announce that the sweet doves, (thought they were sweet) got every beet plant this week. One more lesson learned.
Anybody got any good chard recipes?
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