“Oh give me a home where the cacti roam” and I will show you a Desert Garden. 

Whether you live in an arid semi-dry desert area or whether you want to create that Southwestern Desert landscape look in a portion of your backyard, you should know a few basics about Desert Gardens.

Generally a Desert Garden is an area that receives less than 10 inches of rain each year.  The soil is generally rock or clay (caliche) and has very little nutrients.  The temperature and weather have a wide range of extremes and there are plenty of gusty winds.

The above described Desert condition applies generally to most of the desert areas in the American Southwest.

Desert gardeners reap benefits which gardeners in the north yearn for. Long growing seasons mean active gardening for nine to twelve months of the year. Semi-tropical plants survive in protected areas. An assortment of flowers, grasses, cacti, shrubs, vegetables and trees thrive in this environment, providing exciting design ideas for a desert garden.

Create a Micro-Climate for Your Desert Garden
A helpful step in creating a successful and thriving Desert Garden is to use and create a micro-climate to aid your plants.

You can create shaded and cool areas by building walls with a North face.

Look around your neighborhood at the areas between your house and the wall or fence; look at areas near sidewalks and pavements.  Be aware of which way the wind generally blows in your area.  The walls, and pavements can add more heat for your plants and they can also help channel water and wind.

You can create a small oasis by placing plants that love moisture in a group.  They will collect and can be used to absorb the rain water and other water runoff and thereby create a cool spot in your garden.  The color you use can greatly determine your micro-climate.

For example if you have rocks that are dark in color or a wall that is dark these items will retain the heat which the white colored rocks and walls will reflect the heat.  Isn’t that cool and neat?

Got Cactus?
The Cactus plant, which includes hundreds of varieties, thrive in soil that is alkaline in nature.  Cacti are generally very hearty plants that grow and adapt to practically any environment.  If you have the right set of conditions your cacti will not need any care.  Now that’s my kind of plant!

Making a Cactus Bed
The basic way to plant your Cacti bed is to start digging about 3 feet in depth and then remove the soil. Be sure to mix sand and gravel in order to create a filter like medium. You can even add rocks of all sixes and pieces of broken pots to increase your drainage.

You want to avoid having the soil accumulate too much water because if your cacti bed is too wet they will spoil and rot. If your soil has a lot of sand then you need to add organic materials like peat moss and potting soils.

Get Creative
You can get quite creative in your Desert Garden landscape design by adding various types of surface rocks or boulders including the beautiful black lava rocks. The use of rocks in your Desert Garden will help create a warmer area for smaller and more fragile plants.

Test Your Soil’s Drainage
A great way to test the soil for drainage is to dig a small bucket sized hole and fill the hole up with water and then start your clock and time how long it takes for the hole to empty out of water.

Between 2-4 hours is ideal drainage time.  If it exceeds that then you should add more sand or gravel to your site.

Get some Yucca in Your Garden
The Yucca and Joshua tree are great additions to any Desert Garden and are essential.  You can plant them anywhere in the hottest or most cold or the least productive place in your yard or garden.  They grow just about anywhere you set them down.  They can grow between 10 to 15 feet, and will add that real Southwestern Desert look to your garden.

We hope these ideas are helpful in the planning and designing of your Desert Gardening.  Have fun!