I have also seen the self watering containers, the ones with a water compartment on the bottom. How well do those work? anyone has any experience with them?

Also, for location of my garden, my back yard forms a "U" around the house, the two sides are about 8-10ft wide, and they are east to west. When we first moved in there we had a landscaper come over to design the front yard and I mentioned I wanted a garden. She said the west side of the house would be ideal for it.

My concern is that the area is in between the house and the 6' brick fence, I am not sure how much sun it gets, but it would be convinient since I have a water hook up there and it would be out of the way and can put a fence so my dogs don't dig my garden. But I realize all this does'nt mean a thing if I can get the plants to grow and be fruitfull.

What do you guys think?

I did raised beds because I didn't want to have to dig down into the caliche. I did some anyway -- about 6 inches. So my beds are "double dug".

But I found that the soil did get too hot, and drain too quickly.

I think there's a lot more work up-front for sunken beds, but will probably have better results.

Thanks for commenting.

Pots in direct sunlight here need to be insulated from the sun or the roots can overheat. I tried some of the pots with reservoirs and when the water got hot it killed the plants.

Below are what I believe to be the two best videos on the web for gardening in a desert environment. There are others on growing fruit trees too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wZes0AnFKA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYAO5R9_Lsw&feature=channel