On Jan 9, 3:19*am, Nad R wrote:
Billy wrote:
In article ,
*Oren wrote:

On Sat, 08 Jan 2011 12:52:26 -0800, Billy
wrote:

In article ,
Oren wrote:

Hello,

I live in Southern Nevada (Mojave Desert) USDA Zone 8a.

This is a difficult place to grow a garden, but yesterday I found some
information that got me excited about growing tomatoes. The lady has a
book with many details for growing in the harsh desert.

Our soil here is hard packed, plenty of rock and difficult to grow
anything.

Snip...

The last time I saw real black dirt was when I crossed the Mississippi
River... wish I had some river bottom dirt. *The desert dirt here is
like concrete.

The first thing a gardener does is to learn how to grow soil. Soil that
is economical, and nurtures, without poisoning the environment.

Many years ago their was an episode which I do not remember. The show had
this one guy with a beautiful garden in the desert. He had a high walled
one acre yard with a small home inside the walled area. The place was
surrounded by a brown dusty town and inside the gate a beautiful garden.
The high walls blocked the wind and provided shade for the plants.

He had a massive water management system that captured very rain drop and
an automatic drip watering system. The landscape itself had stone paths
that had water to flow into a cistern. He also had patios with open roofs
of two by twelves that blocked much of the harsh sun light for the more
delicate plants.

I have a feeling soil building is not going to be your main problem, it is
water and providing shade for the plants in a harsh environment. When you
add water to your soil soil does it turn: clay like, sand like or does the
water stay in it with nice loamy texture?

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R *(Garden in zone 5a Michigan)- Hide quoted text -



You are correct Nad, water is the key to any survival a desert
environment.

Oren do ask your local growers, master gardeners in your area and the
county extension office for assistance. I recommend you test your
soil to find out specific mineral content. Desert soil often contains
high levels of minerals. One does need to consider the water pH
factor, most areas of the Desert SW have very high pH locking up and/
or giving excessive nutes to plants. Testing soil and water is
important and cheap compared to continuously buying additives.
Additionally you have the potential for surface desalinization. You
can win a few battles but you will not win the war on the desert.

I have seen some beautiful gardens in the SW but mostly their natives
or similar environment plants, wise irrigation and proper
orientation.

I do need to put a plug in for Hydroponics and Controlled Environment
Agriculture (CEA), the fastest growing area in the world's desert
environments. In that approach you don't need to mess with nor
contribute to soil problems and you conserve water, using about 1/10
the amount.

BTW do go reread your reference on biosolids, There are different
classes and National Standards used by most states. Regardless just
know that many do not contain all the heavy metals that billy said
plagued the White Hose. My concern is no one is testing for the
increasing pharmaceuticals.