For a few weeks now I have been seeing images of luscious vegetables on my Twitter feed. Big juicy-looking red tomatoes, golden orange carrots with lively green leaves, a basket of potatoes with earth still on them, and, of course, deep green heads of lettuce and more lettuce. Interestingly enough no one has posted brag-photos of kale, the worst so-called vegetable on the planet. Maybe the kale insanity is passing.
The truth–a sad truth–is that trying to grow vegetables of any kind in a hot dry garden is a next to impossible unless you are willing to invest a lot of money and water into the effort. The two people I know who tried it several years ago in Las Vegas–one was particularly interested in growing her own tomatoes–used shadecloth as a tent to shield the plants from direct sunlight. The plants were in raised beds and pots, not in the native soil. And I’m not even going to guess what their water bills were. For both these gardeners the results were not satisfying. Neither repeated the effort the following year.
There is, however, a commercial tomato grower in Las Vegas, but the plants are grown hydroponically in an absolutely controlled environment for his primary customers, the casinos’ kitchens.
In hopes of being able to suggest an alternate to (not) growing vegetables outdoors in a hot dry garden, earlier today I checked out equipment for hydroponic gardens. It turns out that it’s very expensive and would not be a very practical or economical way to grow veggies for a family.
As the upsurge in organic farming continues and the distribution of organic vegetables increases into every big box grocery store in the U.S., a better choice than growing one’s own fresh vegetables is to buy organic ones. Even better, buy them at a farmers’ market so you are as close to the earth as you can get without getting your hands dirty.
(The photos in this post were taken yesterday at a farmer’s market where each farmer had to certify that they grew the vegetables themselves.)
And keep in mind that fruit trees–apricots, peaches, plums and nectarines–will grow beautifully in hot dry gardens. Grapes, pomegranates, and figs will also thrive. So instead of a vegetable plate from your own garden, plan to make a fruit salad!
Note: It’s too early and too hot to plant a fruit tree in your hot dry garden. Wait until it cools down.
Climate Change Update
Not good news. It is bad enough that Trump pulled out of the Paris Accords, but today, August 20, 2018, Australia pulled out of the limits set up in that agreement. The government spokesman said that keeping the price of fuel low took priority over meeting the temperature limits in the Accord. This is a surprising decision considering the horrible drought that is afflicting ranching and cattle growers in New South Wales
UPDATE: That Prime Minister lost his job and the new PM has declared that environmental issues are more important than fuel costs.
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