The challenges of gardening in the southwest are numerous which can leave the newbie gardener feeling very defeated. There are the soil issues, the weather extremes, lack of water and in some areas, elevation changes and the micro-climates within.
Another big challenge is plant selection.This is often where a new gardener faces his or her biggest challenge and where the words trial and error or experiment have real meaning. The likelihood of losing plants in the first few years is pretty high especially if you don t seek the help of your local garden center. The plants you may be used to back in Illinois, for example, may be usable here but perhaps in a more protected spot, like out of hot afternoon sun.
Here is Albuquerque, even your sun-loving plants will enjoy a reprieve during the heat of summer. Many cities throughout the west have on-line or written publications about plants that do well in the area. Some of my favorites for the southwest regions are many salvia varieties, lavender, agastache (Hyssop) and gaillardia. Let s not forget, that many varieties of succulents and cacti also fair well all over the west.
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Thanks for the pictures, Jennifer.
I’m considering a small greenhouse to use as a cold frame / protection from the hungry critters. Is it best placed on the south side of the house to get the winter sun or is putting it there going to end up overheating it in the summer? I was planning on using landscape cloth to block some of the heat, but not sure that will be enough. Any thoughts? Thanks
Dawn,
Lucky you, getting a greenhouse!
For the sake of making this easy I’m going to use an 8′ X 12′ size greenhouse as an example.
I find the best “placement” of such a structure is having the length of the house running
north-south and shading the roof in its entirety in the summer. This way
when the sun is at its hottest and straight overhead you have the best
coverage and as the sun moves back to the south you get more radiant heat
when you need it.
You’ll probably want to invest in a couple of small fans for summer,
and perhaps a small heater for winter depending on what you intend to grow.
I have a lot of what I’m generically calling “sage” on my land. It is looking very wild & weedy and I’m wondering if it is a fire hazard. How to I maintain these things? My inclination is to go after them with clippers like I would a bush in the midwest. Is this correct?
Dawn,
Many of the “sagey” looking plants can be multiple varieties of natives that do need severe trimming every so often. Any die-back you can see is certainly a fire hazard and I always recommend that it gets trimmed yearly. But if that task is too daunting which in many areas it is, pick plants closest to your home or other structures like barns, sheds or walls and concentrate on getting them cleaned up. Most of those natives will respond well to being cut almost to the ground and will often look much better each year if they get pruned aggressively. You may lose a couple of older plants to this type of pruning but typically there are plenty of young plants to take their place.
As a side note I do find it funny how many people sell some natives as “low-maintenance” plants when I find plants like Chamisa, four-winged saltbush and Apache Plume to be some of the highest maintenance plants there are. All perspective I suppose. I would also warn you that this time of year there are many snakes lurking in your yard, both harmless and rattlers. When you go out to deal with scrub brush please be careful, rattlesnakes hide in the hottest part of the day under brush and come out in the early morning and as the day wanes to catch the end of the day sun.
I’m coming into Corrales from the Midwest and love the cactus. But several of my cactus have gone black at the edges of their pads. Is this a fungus?
Greetings Dawn,
The photo links below are examples of fungus on prickly pear, thanks to the pathology department at the University of Arizona. As you can see the fungus typically shows itself in the middle of the pads. The tell-tale sign of fungus is the brown ring around the spots. If the edges are blackened without rings it could be overwatered. I would recommend you bring a couple of pads to the store on Alameda so we can determine what is actually happening. The unfortunate issue with fungus is it’s extremely difficult to eliminate it. Often times you can cut the plant back to healthy tissue with good results.
Prickly Pear with Fungus 1
Prickly Pear with Fungus 2
Alright!!
Thanks for the Information,
so when you say you use straw as multch you are just putting it on the top layer of the soil, so like just a bail of hay scattered around the garden would help it out? so if i bought Back to earth, i would only have to add that, i wouldnt need to haul in manure or noting elts? the bags of soil i did buy the ground ate up fast, and my multch i had didnt seem to go verry far and it was alot of work to make. so if sand is no good then all i have is clay, would it be better to work the clay, or stick with trying to ritchen up the sand?
Jefferson,
Actually you really should use good old-fashioned straw from a feed store, you’ll find many weed seeds in most hay and suddenly you’ll have more weeds than normal popping up everywhere. As for the actual mulching task it’s important to cover entire rows or mulch around specific plants in a vegetable garden. If it were a perennial or shrub bed I’d say mulch away but, I’d also recommend another mulch product like cedar, cypress or pecan shells.
As far as the Back to Earth is concerned, I’d still mix this with your manure for a fall/winter cover and maybe a little more in spring when you get ready to till you veggie bed. In a sandy area it seems amending soil is a long-term project. Now clay poses all sorts of other issues and I find the work involved in breaking down some of that clay is more tedious than the sand situation. Trees and large shrubs typically fair well in clay, maybe you could give fruit trees a whirl!
Jennifer
Hello everybody, I live in Los lunas NM, well me like most love fresh tomatoes, i ususlly grew them in pots!!, this year i have started a garden, with squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, cantelope, watermellon, I was quite consirned about the soil in my yard. the biggest problem is it is clay, the top layer is soft, but imediately turnes to clay for about a foot down, verry hard work in removing this clay, even in a small space, so what i did is i just dug out all the clay made my “borders” out of it, directly under the clay is a beautiful sand, i added 2 bags of miracle grow dirt, for every hole i dug most about 8 feed by 10 feet, then i added my own organic matter that i have ben making for several years. most of what i plated is doing grate i already got 4″ tomato plants, but the soil does not seem to support the mellons i planted, they sprouted but do not seem to be happy. cantelope doing well.
Question why is sand a problem, several things i have had grate luck growing in “straight sand”, even red mesa sand grows really good unions, why ,?
Greetings Jefferson,
Sand has issues; it doesn’t retain any water, it’s hot and it has no real nutritional value. The red mesa sand you’re referring to typically has some clay type qualities which at least holds water. Veggies like onions, peppers and most squash or melon varieties will often fair well in sand because they enjoy good drainage and don’t mind a little heat. However, planting in sand typically means daily watering which makes it difficult to draw roots deep in the soil. Roots that stay near the surface ultimately have a hard time supporting the plant above the soil.
Keep in mind, one of the most important factors in gardening in the southwest is adding organic matter to your soil; the next is mulching your plants. Rick and I mulch our vegetable garden with straw. We like this because young plants don’t seem to have a hard time coming up thru it, it retains moisture well and it breaks down well and can be tilled with our compost the following season.
I would recommend using Back to Earth compost over winter this year. It’s chunky, acidified cotton-burr compost that will do wonders for your veggies and any other plants you decide to purchase. I use it as a top-dress to my perennial beds each fall and mix it with my horse manure in my vegetable garden. It’s only available at independent garden centers and we have an on-going special of buy 4 bags and get the 5th bag free. This would also give you an opportunity to come talk to our man Tino who also lives in Los Lunas and has a beautiful garden, maybe you can pick up a few secrets!
See also: Southwest Soil Preparation