Growing Food In the High Desert Country

I'm up in the Great Basin, and this book had some good info. However, I was hoping for more info on native plants. I'm already aware of the poor soil quality and that it needs amendments. But, it would be helpful for people new to the area.

I must admit I was a little disappointed when I read the introduction. I live in a high altitude (maybe 3,000 feet above sea level) desert area known as North Las Vegas. Right off she talks about a hot climate with daytime highs in the 80's, well our daytime highs are 100's not 80's so a lot of the problems we have here and throughout places like Nevada and parts of California, won't exist in New Mexico. I have to fight plants dying simply by being cooked by the sun into oblivion and I doubt she has to deal with this with high temperatures in the 80's. It appears that we average 10 to 15 degrees warmer than Santa Fe, which means things that might work there won't necessarily work here. I still hope to get some useful information out of the book though.

If you are trying to raise vegetables in the southwest deserts over about 5,000 feet in elevation this book is for you. I live in NM at about 6,000 feet and have struggled with growing a household vegetable garden. This book identified the problems that I have been seeing and has some great suggestions on how to overcome them. I will be trying them next spring when I try again. Her solutions make sense and seem like they should help.

My farm is at nearly 7000 feet elevation in southern Utah, and if I met the author right now I'd take a red-sand-stained $100 bill out of my daughter's saving account and give it to her. I love this practical, informative, to-the-point, no-nonsense book. It addresses my high-desert farming needs perfectly. We have had great success modeling our soil-building program on this book's advice, and, when everything seems hopeless after a June freeze or a drying windstorm, we often turn to it for feet-on-the-ground wisdom, always encouraging and bracingly realistic. It doesn't look like much, and the editing is pretty bad, but the contents are GOLDEN. I highly recommend for vegetable gardens and small farms in the high, dry intermountain West. Thanks!

subtle understanding of SW High Desert gardening and great tips

I bought this book to help me plant my raised-bed garden. I live in Albuquerque, and this book was informative, practical, and very much worth it. She also makes sure to be encouraging - for a long time, I thought growing food in this climate was going to be very difficult for a beginner like me. Julie Weinberg breaks it down and makes everything make sense.

Great to find a book for the area you live in specifically. Most garden books are written for back East not the Southwest.Great book, would recommend to anyone getting into raising food for themselves.

I disagree with the raised bed advice (I use beds lowered into the soil to catch more water during monsoon season) but apart from that the soil prepping advice is invaluable. This book also has great advice on different plants that grow well in the high desert. I'm so glad I bought this book.