What kind of vegetable garden can I have if I live in the CA desert area?

[Christie]

It only rains about 6in./year, gets up to 110 degrees in the summer and sometimes down to 20 degrees in the winter, obviously has lots of sun and sandy soil.

[Annabelle]

I used to live in the high desert in CA (hesperia) My parents still do and grow a garden every year. tomato's, squash. pumpkins. etc. Dad really hoes up the dirt (sand) uses lots of smelly fertilizer. and has a really large water bill. They also have grass and flowers. and spend alot I mean alot of time on all this. It can be done there, but you have to spend the time and be able to afford a huge water bill. theres is sometimes over $200!!!!!

[Ompa Loompa]

A dead one :-) oops let me try again. An indoor one :-)
I know I can do better than that

You need to look into drip irrigation. The Israelis have turned the desert into an oasis with drip. You will have to amend the soil big time and I suggest using a raised bed. Check out Square Foot Gardening at the Library. If I were doing this I would find an old single water bed.
Keep the heater and liner. If there is no liner keep the mattress and cut it up to use as a liner. Otherwise toss the mattress. Get 1/2 dz saw horses and the put the water bed up on them. For saw horses: look at the neat plastic ones home depot sells for $12 and up. don't buy them just look. Now go buy 2 $1.50 2x4s and build for $3 what the store sells for $12.
So the bed is up on saw horses you are ready to rock and roll.
Put 3 of small rocks in the bed.add a layer of screen cloth or shade cloth or ground cloth whatever is cheaper. Now 3 of sand. Next you have do do some work. You need to make a mix of 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 potting soil.
Fill the bed to within 1 of the top. You will want to water daily, or at least every other day.
Plant, grow, eat. BTW by having the garden up off the ground its easier to weed and harvest. Its also makes it less likely to invite snakes. Run your drip hose in nice loops and bury to almost cover.
Get yourself a miracle grow feeder. One a week give the plants a dose.
You can do this by hooking up to your drip line or just put it on the garden hose a let her rip.. within reason. when it starts to get cold at night check the weather to see if you will get frost. if so, plug in the water bed heater and cover the garden with a drop cloth or tarp or your little brother's socks :-)
I apologize if this a giant TMI. Get the garden book I mentioned, and take from it what seems to fit
OH Call your counties Agricultural service. Now your farm may be a little smaller than what they are used to but the have good ideas.

If you want to do a hydroponic garden (no dirt) it is super easy and you can grow any garden crop.

If you want to do that have one of your parents contact me at edw at psg dot com
I have some videos that BYU put together with some folks in Peru and it real is hydro in a nutshell

Best luck and enjoy.

[philinnwfla]

Prickly pears? Any chance of salvaging the water from the showers and kitchen? That's a harsh environment, maybe Google Israeli plants, they have been experimenting for years with drought resistant plants.

[ms manners]

I live in the same climate, except I have clay soil, which helps, because clay retains water.

You can grow darned near anything, but you have to think about your placement, how much sun or shade the area gets during the day, and if you have sandy soil you need to add amendments to help the soil retain water.

Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, corn and squash do not mind the heat. Corn needs quite a bit of water, though. I used to plant my corn in a ring, and plant the grean beans in the middle of the ring. The beans put nitrogen into the soil for the corn, and the corn gives the beans a support to climb.

You can grow cabbage, potatoes, lettuce and peas in the winter, but you might need to throw something over them at night when it gets below freezing.(like, say, a sheet or towel).

I use a soaker hose or drip for watering, and water twice a week during the hottest part of the summer, once a week during the spring and fall. Obviously, once it starts raining, you can go without watering.

[johnbabe]

ms manners, thanks for useful tips.
I use soaker hose too, nice tool.