Off The Grid Living: Maximize Your Garden During The Summer Heat

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Maximize Your Garden During The Summer Heat

Written by: Byron Berger Survival Gardening
Over the past century, America’s population has shifted and expanded to the West, including the desert Southwest and California’s central valley. The new settlers in these areas, used to the plentiful rainfall and moderate summers of the Midwest and Northeast, soon came to realize that gardening in the dry searing heat of their new home presented new challenges. This article provides some tips on having a thriving garden in hot areas of the country.
We need to define what we mean by searing heat. In California’s central valley and the desert Southwest, searing heat means many summer days over 100°F, with days over 110°F common.

Winters are defined by low temperatures of 25°F to 30°F.
To have a successful garden, two basic concepts are important: one, take advantage of the entire year; and two, implement the right practices to maximize success during the scorching summers.
Entire Growing Year
If you’re a serious gardener, then you will take advantage of three growing periods. The first is fall/winter, the second is spring, and the third is summer.
Fall/winter gardening is a must if your goal is sustainable gardening on your homestead. Carrots, potatoes, overwintering onions, the cole crops (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts), fava beans, and peas can be grown in the mild winter climate.
The second growing period is spring. During this period, you grow crops that are grown during the summer in other areas: tomatoes, peppers, squash, common beans, melons, cucumber, eggplant, corn, and cucumbers. Vegetables that can be started in flats (like tomatoes and peppers) are started indoors in January or February.

These seedlings, and the seeds of plants that don’t transplant well (like corn), are planted outside while temperatures are still relatively cool, before the last frost date. Mulch and covering are used to protect the plants during the last frosts of the year. The goal is to get the crops to mature before the searing heat comes. These crops simply won’t survive when it is 110°F outside for days on end. Therefore, it is a balancing act: get the crops in early, but not so early that they die from the cold, and not too late so that the plants die off (or shut down) when it gets too hot out.
The last growing period is during the searing heat of summer. To be successful, you need to keep the soil relatively cool, protect the plants from the sun, water sufficiently, and choose the right vegetable types.
Soil
Soil in these hot climates, without protection or water, can get over 130°F, which will cook the roots of most plants. Therefore, you want to keep the soil as cool as possible. First, use mulch. Second, grow crops in blocks instead of long rows. With rows, there are unplanted sections that collect heat. Finally, you may want to avoid raised beds or hills. Elevated earth is hotter and drier than soil in the ground…….More Here

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