Hello yall

[NMRuss]

Hi yall
A desert hardened gardener here in the southwest state of New Mexico. Been experimenting with finding the best veggie plants that will not only survive but thrive in a very hostile environment for more than 40yrs.
Read thru several posts and Ive learned a few things already! Can teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[Anniekay]

Welcome NM !! I wouldn't garden where you are for a million bucks.

Oh, wait a minute...maybe, for that money, I would

Welcome again and have fun. Everyone here is very nice.

 

[NMRuss]

Hi
Well we have great sun here, low humidity so very little fungus growth and few pests so I dont have to deal with all that. We do have cool nights, sometimes down in the 40's like last night after the thunderstorm rolled thru and it cleared up. No watermelons growing in that!
But certain varieties of tomato excell along with Hatch type chiles. I find what works thru lots of experimenting and stick with that.

 

[Mystic Moon Tree]

Hi yall
A desert hardened gardener here in the southwest state of New Mexico. Been experimenting with finding the best veggie plants that will not only survive but thrive in a very hostile environment for more than 40yrs.
Read thru several posts and Ive learned a few things already! Can teach an old dog new tricks.

New mexico can get brutally hot & dry from what I hear. Mesquite grows well there, gourds, eddible cactus like prickly pear, aloe, agave. If you have the water for it from a good well you can grow peppers, tomatos, corn, squash, pumpkins, mustard, dill, basil, marrigold, cilantro... Many of your leafy greens will bolt instantly in such a hot climate. Without shade in a cooling greenhouse you will struggle with fall crops like lettuce, beats, radish, brassicas, parsely, fruit trees, berries, etc. You may be able to do citrus like lemon & orange, persimons, pomegranite by adding some humidity. Really just depends on how much water, shade & cooling you have access to. Are you building an earth ship? Like a dug in house with an adobe and stone sunk in the earth greenhouse? That can help immensely down there. You should have drought tollerant herbs thrive though like sage.

 

[NMRuss]

New mexico can get brutally hot & dry from what I hear. Mesquite grows well there, gourds, eddible cactus like prickly pear, aloe, agave

Not here. Our all time high is 102f. It is brutally dry though. Just a few weeks ago it was 1% humidity and the UV index was 12.
We dont have any of those plants up here in the high desert (7000ft) because its too cold in the winter. Ive seen it 21 below here.

You may be able to do citrus like lemon & orange, persimons, pomegranite by adding some humidity

Again, this stuff will grow in the southern portion of the state but only pomegranate will survive outside year round. Interesting though where I grew up there are plenty of pistachio groves.

You should have drought tollerant herbs thrive though like sage.

Sage grows well but rosemary is pretty iffy. English lavender does well along with tarragon.
I just have to plant things that have a relatively short growi g season in order to get the most out of the garden. Determinate tomatoes will do well versus heirloom. Its funny to see non native folk plant beefsteak or some other heirlooms only to get maybe... maybe 1 or 2 ripe fruit off the plant. They say "where I come from our plants produce loads of tomatoes" whereas I reply "youre not in Kansas anymore Dorothy "

 

[Mystic Moon Tree]

Ah so you are in the mountains. That's why its hard to make recommendations because the general climate of the state isn't equivalent to the microclimate where you actually are. So I would add that for people when asking for suggestions in the future. My climate here is wierd too. Its like a mix of mountain forest & mediteranian with some coastal weather that blows in. The new house is deffinitely a unique beast of a microclimate that I am learning. So you are maybe like Redding near me. Cold in the winter, pretty hot in the summer, very dry. How cold do your winters get & for how long? How long do you go between rain & do you have a good producing well? Have you planted any pioneer plants like shade trees or bushes? Yes early girl & yellow squash or cherry tomatos ripen faster. I also have a shorter than desireable growing season here. I've been really happy with this giant pink heirloom tomato too. It comes in fast and huge. I would love to grow a pistachio here. Rosemarry likes it cool and fairly wet. But you can really grow a lot of things out of there ideal climate if you have the water to support it and the ingenuity to adjust your garden space to their needs. If you protect rosemary under something like a pineapple guava near the back side of a shaded wall and insulate them with leaves through the winter, hand water them, etc. You might get it cool enough for it to establish. If the leaves still burn you can mist it with a spray bottle just a bit. So, if I better understand what you are working with I could offer more help.

 

[LouisFerdinand]

Bonjour, @NMRuss!

 

[NMRuss]

Ah so you are in the mountains. That's why its hard to make recommendations because the general climate of the state isn't equivalent to the microclimate where you actually are. So I would add that for people when asking for suggestions in the future. My climate here is wierd too. Its like a mix of mountain forest & mediteranian with some coastal weather that blows in. The new house is deffinitely a unique beast of a microclimate that I am learning. So you are maybe like Redding near me. Cold in the winter, pretty hot in the summer, very dry. How cold do your winters get & for how long? How long do you go between rain & do you have a good producing well? Have you planted any pioneer plants like shade trees or bushes? Yes early girl & yellow squash or cherry tomatos ripen faster. I also have a shorter than desireable growing season here. I've been really happy with this giant pink heirloom tomato too. It comes in fast and huge. I would love to grow a pistachio here. Rosemarry likes it cool and fairly wet. But you can really grow a lot of things out of there ideal climate if you have the water to support it and the ingenuity to adjust your garden space to their needs. If you protect rosemary under something like a pineapple guava near the back side of a shaded wall and insulate them with leaves through the winter, hand water them, etc. You might get it cool enough for it to establish. If the leaves still burn you can mist it with a spray bottle just a bit. So, if I better understand what you are working with I could offer more help.

So.... not in the mountains. Prairie we call it... flats between mountain ranges. Low basin that holds cold pools of air in the winter -20 and hot in the summer 100. Weve been getting monsoon rains for the past couple of weeks which does wonders for the tomatoes (celebrity , bobcat, roma, sungold, black plum) and the winter squash. Chiles arent doin so good but the cool nights have a lot to do with that. Black carrots are doing well along with hardneck garlic that was dug out of a river bed as wild but actually was an escapee thru flooding from a now long gone Galisteo Indian pueblo... abandoned late 1700s. Excellent large hot garlic too!
Arp is the only rosemary that will have any chance here and only if its protected in winter. Its not the heat but the cold that i tend to fight with... its all one big experiment as to what will do good here or ot.

 

[Mystic Moon Tree]

Sorry, I thought you said 7,000 feet, so I assumed mountains. That helps paint more of a picture. If you get to 100 in the summer & -20 in the winter is pretty dang low, esspecially if its for prolonged periods if time. Something hardy. Have you tried high elevation berries like blueberry, gooseberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry? Let me think... Juniper, you could do a pine for pine nuts, quince, some older heirloom green apples and pears can tollerate really cold climates and that range of heat. Plum does fairly well in the cold if you insulate the trunk & pile leaves or mulch high around them through the winter. For vegitables as a fall crop in the winter & since you are on a prairie I would try lettuce, beats, turnip, rutabega, cabage, broccoli, cauliflour, grains like rye, barley, wheat, oat, garlic, onion. If your warm season is short you will be hard pressed to grow anything squash, or mellon which take 160 to 190 days to harvest. Sounds like you have your tomatos figured out. As for really rugged veggies. Kale & turnip are hardy. Lettuce can freeze & survive it. So can some cresses & other wild prairie greens. Salsify & dandilion are also pretty rugged & low maintenance when you just let them spread seed accross your property.

 

[NMRuss]

Sorry, I thought you said 7,000 feet, so I assumed mountains. That helps paint more of a picture. If you get to 100 in the summer & -20 in the winter is pretty dang low, esspecially if its for prolonged periods if time. Something hardy. Have you tried high elevation berries like blueberry, gooseberry, thimbleberry, salmonberry? Let me think... Juniper, you could do a pine for pine nuts, quince, some older heirloom green apples and pears can tollerate really cold climates and that range of heat. Plum does fairly well in the cold if you insulate the trunk & pile leaves or mulch high around them through the winter. For vegitables as a fall crop in the winter & since you are on a prairie I would try lettuce, beats, turnip, rutabega, cabage, broccoli, cauliflour, grains like rye, barley, wheat, oat, garlic, onion. If your warm season is short you will be hard pressed to grow anything squash, or mellon which take 160 to 190 days to harvest. Sounds like you have your tomatos figured out. As for really rugged veggies. Kale & turnip are hardy. Lettuce can freeze & survive it. So can some cresses & other wild prairie greens. Salsify & dandilion are also pretty rugged & low maintenance when you just let them spread seed accross your property.

Everything you mentioned Ive grown with the exception of watermellon. They need hot nights to do their thing. Even the black Mountain variety does poorly. Ive given up on watermelon.

 

[MamaHawk]

Welcome to the forums! I don't have the advice or expertise that @Mystic Moon Tree does, but I hope you find more answers here!

 

[Oliver Buckle]

That makes Southern England sound like heaven, sometimes it makes 80-90F, but not often, and sometimes in the winter it is below zero. Plenty of rain too.
Welcome to the forum.