Greetings, y’all. I’m really new here, but I’m hoping to keep some notes here about what works well in my very hot, very dry, very pesty gardens. I do all my work by hand, with old-fashioned tools, homemade fertility and topsoil, locally gathered mulch, and absolutely no chemicals. My aim is to rediscover and remember the ways folks used to garden without all these modern shortcuts–I know the world isn’t the same as it was 200 years ago, but if they could figure out how to do it with what they had, so too can I in the modern world.
Here, we hit 100 degrees for weeks at a time, with very little rain. It’s a long growing season, but the thick of summer can be really rough on growing things.
Landrace-wise, I’m focusing on all four major squash species (pepo, angyrosperma, maxima moschata), cucumbers, watermelons, collards, and tomatoes. I’m also experimenting with lesser-known food plants like tepary beans (champs in our droughty climate!), molokhia, callaloo, and more. There’s about 100 species of garden plant, flower, and herb going this year.
I’ll try to control pests like flea beetles with wormwood. There’s lots of old near-forgotten wisdom that I’d like to test out.
I hope that what I can discover might help out anyone else gardening in similarly hot, dry areas.
At this point for me most things are dead or dormant. Spring is a growing season. And Fall is a second growing season.
You probably have a better chance at getting things through your summer, I assume you will have slightly cooler nights and more moisture than me. (I’m in 8a Texas)
If you provide irrigation there are lots of crops that can survive and produce through summer and into fall.
I’ve grown zero input, so without irrigation the main crop I’ve grown productively through summer is okra. Cowpeas would be another that should perform well.
Many other crops may survive, but productivity will be inconsistent and dependant on seasonal conditions. Watermelon, bush beans, corn, squash all grow but vary year to year with certain years often being a total loss.
Oh, I understand '“total loss” more acutely than I’d like, haha, and you clearly also understand the “dead and dormant” season mid-summer. Everything’s off-grid here, so all watering is done from rain catchment with hand-delivered buckets. Cowpeas are usually okay, though the rabbits wreak havock with 'em. Still learning how to live with my bit of land, rather than against it.
Rodent pressure has been one of my biggest issues. Mainly squirrels and mice. Corn, melons and squash often get devoured before they are even close to ripe.
A few years ago I started using horseradish on gopher holes and around anything I didn’t want them killing. It usually took about a week for them to vacate for the season.