Desert Gardening

It is not compulsory that people loving gardening have to live in plains. It is quite natural that people living in desert area would also like to boast of their beautiful gardens. It is true that growing garden in desert is a challenging task, as you have to face all the contradictory conditions of farming like very little rainfall, unfertile rocky soil, extreme temperature etc.

The advantage of desert gardening is that they get long seasons for production throughout the year, which is not quite possible in the plain fertile soil. For desert gardening it is better to select plants that are quite friendly to the harsh desert atmosphere. Otherwise you have to take extra care by making raised bed, making the soil fertile, building shades, protecting the plants form wind and animals etc.

Procedure for the plants that are grown in desert
The first step in desert gardening is testing the soil. Desert plants are best gown nearby any river. Every soil needs nitrogen for the growth of the plants. But if you have cemented rocks between six to twenty inches below the soil then you have to break it manually or sow your plants on raised beds.

Needless to say desert gardening needs deep watering so that the plants grow healthy. The watering was to be done in drops, which is called drip irrigation system. This drip irrigation system will allow the water to enter into the soil. If the soil is loose enough it also allows oxygen to penetrate easily. Drip watering is very much necessary for the healthy growth of the roots of the desert plants.

Compost and mulch are very much suitable to the drip irrigation system. You can either make it yourself or buy them. It is mixed in the soil to give nutrient to the plants. It acts like a sponge to store the minerals in the soil and slowly give the nutrients to the plants roots. Mulch placed on the soil helps to retain the moisture and prevents the growth of weeds. You can make mulch manually from old newspapers, wood chips, dry lawn leftover, old straw and pine needles. These materials decompose and add to the organic matter, which is a helpful nutrient for desert plants.