Grow Vegetables in Dry Climates: 5 Crops and Tips
Quick Reference: Grow Vegetables in Dry Climates
- Pick the right crops: drought-tolerant legumes (cowpea, tepary bean), tomatoes, eggplant, okra, and Swiss chard.
- Choose short-season varieties: a vegetable that matures in 60 days uses less water than one that needs 90 days.
- Mulch deep: four to six inches of straw holds moisture in the soil and limits evaporation.
- Water at the root zone: use drip lines or ollas early or late in the day, not the hot midday sun.
- Shade the heat: 30 to 50 percent shade cloth eases afternoon stress on young plants.
Yes, you can grow vegetables in dry climates or during droughts, and you do not need a hose running all day to do it. The trick is choosing crops that handle arid conditions, planting them at the right time, and holding what little water you have in the soil. Here is the list of the best vegetables to plant, along with the dry-gardening tips that keep them producing through a hot, rainless summer.
Xeriscaping is a fancy word for a method of landscaping in dry climates. In addition to employing water conservation techniques, it focuses on plant varieties that thrive in arid to semi-arid conditions. While xeriscapes tend to center on perennials, shrubs and trees, a xeriscape also can include a fair number of vegetables grown with attention to microclimates, gardening techniques and plant characteristics.
What Is Dry Gardening?
Dry gardening, or dry farming as it is called for larger-scale growing, is the growing of crops during the dry season. Its goal is to water or irrigate as little as possible or not at all. Dry gardening uses methods such as deep mulching with straw to limit evaporation and targeted planting times that coincide with normal rainy periods, important when sowing seed or planting seedlings that require moisture in their establishment and growth periods. Targeted irrigation for both time of day and amount of water is crucial, too, to limit evaporation and make sure the plants are getting water within their root zone.
Plant traits play a large role in choosing what works best in dry gardening. Look for varieties that are labeled drought-tolerant or drought-resistant. Depending on the region, there may be native vegetable varieties best suited to not only the climate but the types of soils locally. Your local cooperative extension can point you to the ones bred for your ground. Utah State University Extension keeps a plain-English guide to water-wise vegetable gardening that is worth a look before you order seed.
Maturity dates can also contribute to whether a vegetable will succeed in dry conditions. A plant that matures in 60 days is going to use less water than one that won’t produce for 90 days. But a short-season crop also may mean that the plant won’t be setting fruit during the driest periods, avoiding stress conditions that may lead to crop failure.
How to Grow Vegetables in Dry Climates: Water-Wise Techniques
Picking the right crop is half the job. The other half is making the most of every drop. These are the techniques that let a garden ride out a dry spell without daily watering.
Mulch deeply. A blanket of straw four to six inches deep is the single most useful thing you can do in a dry garden. Mulch keeps the sun off bare soil, slows evaporation, holds the ground cool and moist, and keeps thirsty weeds from stealing water from your vegetables.
Water at the root zone. Drip irrigation and soaker hoses deliver water straight to the roots instead of spraying it into the air where it evaporates. Buried clay pots, called ollas, do the same job by hand. For a low-tech method that waters while you sleep, see how olla irrigation keeps a thirsty garden watered. Water early in the morning or in the evening, never in the heat of midday. Timing your sowing to your area’s rains helps too, and the Best Days in our Gardening by the Moon Calendar can point you to a good window.
Throw shade. A length of 30 to 50 percent shade cloth stretched over hoops takes the edge off the afternoon sun and slows how fast the soil dries. It is a small expense that buys young transplants time to root in.
Build up the soil. Compost and other organic matter act like a sponge, holding moisture in the root zone far longer than sandy or bare soil ever will. The richer the soil, the less often you reach for the hose. For more ways to stretch your water, see our companion planting guide and pair thirsty crops with hardy neighbors.
5 Vegetables That Can Grow Well in Dry Conditions
Legumes (beans, peas, lentils, soybeans (or soy nuts), and peanuts). Many legumes are drought-tolerant, but a couple of varieties from this family are perfectly suited for arid conditions. The cowpea, or black-eyed pea, is a native plant of Africa where it thrives in dry summers with the best harvest requiring both hot days and nights.
The tepary bean requires water to germinate but will grow readily with minimal moisture once the deep root systems of the plants are established. Tepary beans should be dried on the vine and used as a dry bean.
Tomatoes. A juicy tomato does not mean it requires a lot of moisture to achieve that status. Anyone who’s been growing tomatoes for a while realizes that too much water after the fruit sets leads to the fruit cracking and contributes to diseases. With proper care that includes mulching and targeted watering, tomatoes can do well in dry conditions as long as the plants receive adequate moisture through to fruit-set stage (the period when the plant flowers and the fruit begins to develop). Varieties for dry gardening include: Yellow Pear and Texas Wild Cherry and slicers such as Burbank and Caro Rich.
Eggplant. This tomato cousin frequently is described as drought-tolerant or drought-resistant. Once established, the plants do require fairly steady moisture to yield the best crop, but too much water can lead to crop failure. Ping Tung Long, an Asian style variety native to Taiwan, is productive in heat and drought conditions, often setting more than a dozen 18-inch long fruit per plant.
Okra: This staple of southern cuisine regularly is found listed as a vegetable to grow in dry conditions. One particular variety is a Texas heirloom that was found growing wild on a farm. Beck’s Big Buck or Beck’s Gardenville okra is a plant that likes the heat and sets fruit over several weeks.
Chard. Swiss chard is surprisingly tough in not only dry conditions but also heat. Chard requires steady moisture to sprout and get its roots established, but once it does, it performs well with minimal water and plenty of warmth. Fordhook Giant, a Burpee-bred classic variety, is a good candidate for dry gardening and can be harvested over long periods if the outer leaves are picked and the inner leaves and roots are left undisturbed.
Let us know if you plant any of these varieties and how they did. Here are some watering tips for ways to conserve water yet keep your garden growing that may also help keep your garden flourishing.
Dry-Climate Gardening by Region
Dry is not one thing. A low-desert garden in Arizona faces a different summer than a high-plains plot in Colorado or a coastal bed in dry-summer California. The crops above handle all of these, but the timing and the tactics shift with where you garden. Checking the long-range weather forecast for your region helps you plan around the dry stretches before they arrive.
Grow Vegetables in Dry Climates: Frequently Asked Questions
What vegetables grow best in dry climates?
Drought-tolerant legumes such as cowpea (black-eyed pea) and tepary bean lead the list, along with tomatoes, eggplant, okra, and Swiss chard. Look for varieties labeled drought-tolerant or drought-resistant, and favor short-season types that mature in about 60 days rather than 90.
How do you keep a garden growing during a drought?
Mulch the soil four to six inches deep with straw to slow evaporation, water at the root zone with drip lines or buried ollas, and water early or late in the day rather than in midday heat. Adding compost helps the soil hold moisture longer between waterings.
What is dry gardening?
Dry gardening, or dry farming on a larger scale, is growing crops during the dry season while watering as little as possible or not at all. It relies on deep mulching, planting timed to natural rains, and targeted irrigation that puts water in the root zone with little waste.
Does mulch really help in dry conditions?
Yes. A four-to-six-inch layer of straw mulch shades the soil, slows evaporation, keeps the ground cool and moist, and crowds out weeds that would otherwise compete for water. It is the simplest, cheapest way to stretch a limited water supply.
Why choose short-season vegetable varieties for a dry garden?
A plant that matures in 60 days uses less water than one that needs 90 days, and a short season can let the crop set fruit before the driest weeks arrive. That timing helps the plant avoid the stress conditions that lead to crop failure.
Can tomatoes grow in dry conditions?
They can. Too much water after fruit set causes cracking and disease, so tomatoes do well in dry gardens with mulch and targeted watering, as long as they get steady moisture through the fruit-set stage. Yellow Pear, Texas Wild Cherry, Burbank, and Caro Rich are good dry-garden picks.
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Janine Pineo
Janine Pineo has been gardening all her life in Maine and writing about it for more than two decades. More of her writing can be found on her website, GardenMaine.com.
- Janine Pineo
- Janine Pineo
- Janine Pineo
- Janine Pineo
Thanks so much for the article. I live in a high dessert (zone 5). I agree straw is a must! Tomato varieties that do well here are cherry and sauce. Specifically sun gold cherry and Roma’s. Swiss chard does great, being able to roll with all the punches a dry climate throw at it. I also find root crops like potatoes, carrots and garlic do really well here in raised beds of course. Peppers do well but they should be hot. Hot thai, bird peppers, little chili’s do great. Dry beans do the best in our climate, for example pintos and black beans. I also had a mix dry or yet bean do well called a cranberry bean.
Hi Kelly,
Glad this helped. Best of luck on your gardening this year. Nothing better than a tomato from your backyard.