Choosing the Right Vegetable Varieties are Important and Other Tidbits

Q. Can you also guide regarding quality of seeds and plants and recommendation for places where to get them from? Any guidance how I can improve my crop for next season?

A. Use tried and true vegetable varieties that have performed well in desert locations in the past. Make sure your vegetable seed and transplants are in good shape at the outset. Avoid purchasing seed from open locations unprotected from the elements. Dont buy transplants that appear sickly or have a problem. You are not a plant "rescuer" when it comes to problem plants. They wont perform very well. Usually the east side of walls or buildings in full sun give the best protection from late afternoon damage from sun and heat.

I get emails from newcomers to vegetable growing in the desert that try vegetable varieties with marketing claims of "amazing results" from newer varieties. Introduce newer untested varieties in small numbers and notice which do well. 

Some suggested varieties to start with include:

Vegetable Varieties

Asparagus - UC 151

Beets - Detroit Dark Red

Bush Beans - Contender

Broccoli - Packman

Cantalope - Hales Best

Carrots - Chantenay

Cauliflower - Snowball

Cumber - Straight Eight

Eggplant - Thai Long Purple

Garlic - California Early

Hot Pepper - Jalapeno

Kale - Russian Red

Lettuce - Red Sail

Onion - Yellow Granex

Peas - Knight, Cascadia

Sweet Corn - Sweet Rhythm

Sweet Pepper - Red Beauty

Potato - Red Pontiac

Radish - Cherry Belle, French Breakfast

Spinach - Melody

Tomato - Sweet 100, Roma

Watermelon - Bush Sugar Baby

Zucchini - Black Beauty

Windbreaks

Desert climates can be finicky. High and sometimes erratic temperatures can be a problem along with wind and low humidity. Probably the most overlooked climate variable that will improve production and vegetable quality the fastest is controlling the wind. 

Did you know the best production occurs just downwind of a windbreak? They slow wind speed down considerably to a distance of about five times its height. 

Four foot tall chain link fence with PVC slats work well if installed downwind of the growing area's prevailing wind and doesn't require much maintenance or any water! 

Windbreaks made of chainlink and PVC slats slow the wind enough to qualify as a nonliving and waterless windbreak in desert climates.

Grow in Containers

Growing vegetables in containers makes it easier when there is a problem.

Five gallon containers and larger give the plants enough soil volume to hold water in the soil for at least one day during the summer. When you want to increase your growing area try containers first. They are best located on the east side of a wall or building and the container shaded from the hot sun by the raised bed, other plants, or double potted. 

No crop rotation is necessary. Just use the soil from the container for a different crop or cropping season and reuse the soil somewhere else and clean the container, if you use it again, when it gets "worn out", full of diseases like Verticillium or nematodes.