»7 principles for success in vegetable gardening«
It is easy to produce vegetables all year round if you follow certain principles.
Even in the desert, it is possible to produce vegetables and the factors that enable production of vegetables in the desert include; abundant sunshine that is received almost everyday, the ability to garden all year round and availability of vegetables that can be grown easily.
Considerations when gardening
Location; Choose the right location because vegetable gardens require at least 6 hours of sunshine daily. Ensure that there is a water source nearby to act as a source of irrigation water.
Focus on your soils. Ensure that your soils are suitable for growing vegetables. When you focus on organic soil management principles, your soils quality will increase year after year. Also have your soils tested regularly to know the soil nutrient status.
Plant vegetables at the right time when the environmental conditions are suitable for plant growth and also plant varieties that are adapted to the native environmental conditions.
Water your crops regularly but do not over water and apply water on the soils and not the roots. This helps save water and also prevents diseases.
Mulch your garden to help protect the roots from extreme temperatures, preserves moisture.
Desert gardening challenges
Extreme heat faced for many months in a year yet there are few vegetables that can tolerate excessive heat.
Low humidity in the air. Desert adapted plants like cacti can grow in deserts where the humidity is low while many vegetables do well when there is more humidity in the air.
Most desert soils have are too alkaline and have less organic matter but most vegetables require slightly acidic soils that have more organic matter.
