Susan's Edible Garden & Permaculture Design

Home Improvement Professionals , Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers
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Susan's Edible Garden & Permaculture Design
1 Review

Low Desert Kitchen Garden

Sandy soil in a hot arid climate is ideal for growing a kitchen garden. While the sand offers good drainage, it is poor at holding nutrients and water. So drip irrigation over nutrient dense compost provides for annual food plants. A topping of mulch reduces evaporation an keeps soil temperature ideal at the root zone.
Project Year: 2015
Project Cost: Less than $1,000
Country: United States
This garden had been overrun by Bermuda grass so the owner let it go fallow for 3 years. We started revitalization by clearing the space.
January-Prepping Garden Area
After clearing the garden space we were able to level the sand, top with compost and work on drip lines.
Compost and Drip Lines
After only 1 week we see tiny plants emerging.
February-Germination
Everything seems to be making it.
March 3, 2015
Regular visits to check on irrigation, fencing and pest damage keep the garden thriving.
Mid March-Keeping a Close Watch
Once seeds germinate they grow rapidly in the warm spring sunlight.
Late March-Seedlings Rapidly Growing
Lettuces, kales, chards and arugula are abundant.
April-Harvesting Mature Greens
Greens are the first produce to be harvested from any garden. They grow faster and in cooler conditions than fruiting plants. As the days grow longer and warmer the greens finish and the fruits such as tomatoes, beans and summer squash start coming in.
April Harvest
By April, temperatures are getting too hot for greens. They are starting bolt which means they are forming seed heads. Bolting results in tough and bitter tasting leaves since sugars are no longer utilized for leaf production. We let the greens go to seed and collect some to plant and share for...
May-Greens on their way out
Fruiting produce take the longest growth period from 80-120 days depending on variety. These fruits are coming in just before it gets too hot in the low desert. Some plants can survive the summer and resume production in fall like eggplant and chiles but may require some protection from direct sun.
June Harvest
In October, after a long hot summer, jicama and jerusalem artichoke are ready to harvest. Edible parts of these plants grow underground as tubers or rhizomes. Above ground, foliage soak up abundant sunlight converting it to starch and sending it underground for storage.
October-Jicama & Jerusalem Artichoke