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frdnicholas

What are some other hot weather crops?

frdnicholas
14 years ago

OK, I'm in a rut. I have tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers in my garden right now. I have more space for vegetables, but can't seem to think of any that would do well in our hot, Albuquerque summers with my full sun garden space. Any other suggestions? Oh, I also have 1 large Swiss chard plant going to seed. I think of all the lettucey kinds of vegetables as cool weather. Are their any that would thrive in our heat?

Comments (11)

  • aklinda
    14 years ago

    I am in the Bosque Farms area and have had good success with green beans in full sun as well as zucchini (sp?). This year I am trying yellow beans and burgundy beans and patty pan squash as well as cantaloupe and watermelon. I'm not aware of any lettuce that does well in the heat of summer.

  • fabaceae_native
    14 years ago

    All the other cucurbits in addition to cucumber, including summer and winter squash, melons, and watermelons should do great too. All beans (other than cool season lentils, garbanzos, favas), including green beans, lima beans, dry beans especially the drought-tolerant tepary bean (native to Sonoran Desert). Also various relatives of tomatoes, the tomatillos, ground cherries (like a small sweet tomatillo), and such.

    If you're looking for heat-tolerant greens, you might try New Zealand spinach (probably have to grow it from seed, since I doubt you can find seedlings of it at the store), which should keep producing all summer long without bolting. Or, you could just seed things like lettuce, kale, spinach under the shade of your larger plants every two weeks or so to keep an ongoing supply. Mulching well will help all the plants do best in the heat...

    Hope this gives you some more ideas

  • rioranchoveggie
    14 years ago

    I'm trying Jericho lettuce (a romaine lettuce grown in the Israeli desert) under shade this Summer to try to keep salad greens on the table the whole season). It's really a challenge when it's both hot and windy.

  • flattie
    14 years ago

    Anasazi bean. Available from Plants of the SW on 4th St. A nice 'paint horse' color bean and native to our area. Very interesting discovery history too (can be found online) which older kids may find interesting.

    Mine come up every year in the garden from volunteers - a better 'harvester' will not have this problem. Also legumes, such as this, fix nitrogen in the soil. Mine is easily the best growing plant in the garden besides hops. Blue corn is fun but can be buggy.

  • jll0306
    11 years ago

    Okra. It freezes well, and a row of it will make a nice shade for other plants.

    Amaranth? I don't know for sure, but it looks like it might. I am going to seed a patch of it as soon as my predator pee arrives. Maybe it will give the seedlings a fair start before the rabbits and squirrels show up with knives and forks in paw.

  • fabaceae_native
    11 years ago

    Yes, amaranth is a great warm season crop. The greens are better cooked than anything you can buy in the market, and the seeds can be harvested in the fall for mixing with flour or popped.

    I'm surprised nobody mentioned sweet corn or sorghum. Also cotton (as a novelty), sunflowers (for the birdfeeder, dye, or roasting), sweet potatoes, peanuts, basil, and artichokes (from transplants), to name a few.

    Here near Santa Fe I'm able to grow all the cool season crops throughout the summer with no special care, so I'm guessing that the 10 degree warmer climate of Albuquerque should not rule these out completely. Maybe some partial shade or a good cooling mulch of straw is all that's needed. Cool season crops that seem especially tolerant of the hot summer include: certain lettuce types, cilantro, dill, peas, arugula, and even spinach. The least heat tolerant in my experience are the brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and kale, although they usually make it through and provide me with a good harvest.

    Good luck...

  • wantonamara Z8 CenTex
    11 years ago

    I find that the Italian dino kale is much more heat tolerant that the other kales. I keep cutting the tops off and then they grow another.I was amazed when I saw a farm growing arugala during the 111 degree hot days last summer. They were sprouting new ones in the heat and picking them as baby greens. I thought they were a winter green. Live and learn. I have a crop going now in the 90's and I need to plant some more.

    I am growing Yard long beans and goa winged beans. They like moist soil but don't mind the heat. One does have to get the right kind of yard long bean. There is a variety that perfers to set fruit in cololer weather. I found that out the wrong way. I stay away from the one that has the Japanese name.

  • elladog
    11 years ago

    re: New Zealand spinach. Eek! We planted NZ spinach about 30 years ago and we've been weeding it out of our garden ever since. It naturalizes easily, to put it mildly. It may be different where you are, but here it's like kudzu. It's nice, doesn't take much water and thrives on neglect, but it's out to take over the world.

  • Jordana George
    11 years ago

    Okra! Great hot weather grower, just pick them daily at the right size or they are too tough to eat.

  • rdr115
    11 years ago

    No one has mentioned chicory (Cichorium intybus). Perhaps because it is primarily a European leafy green. There are scores of varieties, impervious to heat and cold, and are perfect for desert gardening. They provide almost all the fresh greens I need from early spring to hard frost, and are eaten in salads or cooked. Cooked and frozen for winter. They are biennials and give those beautiful blue flowers in spring. Also no mention of scallions, shallots, leeks, garlic (and green garlic) and plain old onions. These do great for me, and with the scallions you can keep them going for years. And how about purslane? One of the richest plant sources of omega-3 acid. I freeze big bags of this for winter. Last but not least is melokhiya, an annual bush-like plant related to hibiscus and almost the national plant of Egypt,revels in the hottest weather. Its leaves are extremely nutritious, fresh or cooked.

  • nmgirl
    11 years ago

    Why plant anything? Throw in something for a cover crop and then turn it under. Or mix in some compost and let the area lay fallow for a season. It's great for the soil.
    How about some herbs? A lot of them like the heat and will attract pollinators which will benefit the rest of your garden.
    Maybe just put in some pretty flowers?
    If you think about it long enough it'll almost be time to plant cool season veggies....problem solved! QED.

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