Grow resilient vegetables in USDA Zone 8 deserts & arid climates
How to grow vegetables in USDA Zone 8 desert and arid climates using heat-tolerant varieties, drip irrigation, and organic soil amendments.
Topic
Vegetable gardening
Everything you need to grow vegetables at home, whatever your space. These guides cover individual crops—tomatoes, lettuce, garlic, carrots, and potatoes—plus square-foot layouts, companion planting, and beginner FAQs. Learn soil prep, spacing, watering, and harvest timing so every bed produces more food with less guesswork.
444 articles in this topic on agripure. — page 18 of 19
Resilient Crops for Hot US Summers: Sweet Potatoes & Okra
Discover how to grow resilient, heat-tolerant crops like sweet potatoes and okra in hot US summers, even with temperatures over 100°F. Learn strategies for drought and poor soil.
Resilient vegetable garden: heat and drought prep for USDA Zone 6
Prepare a USDA Zone 6 vegetable garden for extreme heat and drought with strategies for soil health, water efficiency, and heat-tolerant plant selection.
How to grow broccoli: timing the cool-season window
How to grow broccoli from transplant to harvest — cool-season timing, spacing, side-shoot management, cabbage worm control, and container growing tips.
Companion planting: what to plant together (and what to keep apart)
An evidence-based companion planting guide: which pairings work, a good- and bad-neighbor chart for tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, herbs, and more.
Square-foot gardening: high yields in a small space
Square-foot gardening explained: build a 4×4 bed, mix Mel’s Mix, and use the plants-per-square chart (1 tomato, 4 lettuce, 9 beets, 16 carrots) for high small-space yields.
Vegetable gardening for beginners: your questions answered
A beginner’s vegetable gardening FAQ: how much sun, easiest crops, when to plant by frost date, how often to water, spacing, troubleshooting, and regrowing from scraps.
How to grow microgreens at home: setup, varieties, and a 10-day harvest
Grow microgreens on a windowsill in 7-14 days — trays, soil vs hydroponic, watering, and the best beginner varieties (radish, beet, kale, mustard, pea).
Tomato companion plants: good neighbors, bad ones, and the science
Which tomato companion plants actually work? Basil primes tomato defenses, marigolds fight nematodes (if timed right), and walnut and fennel do real harm.
Pepper companion plants: what actually helps, and what just competes
Basil and alliums earn their place beside peppers; fennel and brassicas don’t. What the research shows about companions, spacing, and the folklore to ignore.
Companion plants for cucumbers: trellis-friendly partners and what to avoid
The best companion plants for cucumbers grow low or fix nitrogen. Radish, dill, borage, and beans that work — plus the potatoes and sage to keep away.
Carrot companion plants that pull their weight (and the ones that backfire)
Onions and chives mask the scent carrot rust flies hunt by, while tomatoes provide light shade. Dill, parsnips, and scattered marigolds backfire around carrot beds.
What not to plant with tomatoes (and the real reasons why)
Tomatoes have 5 real antagonists: black walnut, other nightshades, fennel, corn, and brassicas. The evidence behind each and the spacing and rotation fixes.
How to grow corn: block planting, heavy feeding, and the milk-stage harvest
Sweet corn is wind pollinated, so plant a block of 4+ rows, not one. Soil at 60°F, seed 1 inch deep, feed nitrogen twice, and pick at the milk stage.
How to grow pumpkins: from seed to a cured, storable harvest
Count back from frost for a Halloween crop, give vines 50-100 sq ft per hill, hand-pollinate the female flowers, and cure at 80-85 F to store pumpkins for months.
How to grow celery: from indoor seed to a long, tender harvest
Celery needs 80 to 120 days, a 10 to 12 week indoor head start, and steady moisture. Here is how to dodge bolting and stringy stalks and harvest tender ribs.
How to grow peppers: seed-to-harvest timing for sweet and hot varieties
Peppers need an 8-week head start indoors and 70F soil before they go out. The timing, blossom-drop temps, and calcium fixes that decide your harvest.
How to grow beets: thinning the seed cluster, cool-season timing, and a double harvest
Each beet seed is a cluster of several embryos, so thinning is not optional. How to thin, time the cool season, water evenly, and harvest roots and greens.
How to grow spinach: cool-season timing, bolt avoidance, and cut-and-come-again harvest
Spinach germinates at 45-68F and bolts once days pass 14 hours. Here are the spring and fall windows, succession timing, and overwintering that keep it sweet.
How to grow okra: warm soil, tall plants, and a pod every other day
Okra is a heat lover: soak the hard seed, wait for 65°F soil, space tall plants 9-12 inches, and pick pods every 1-2 days to keep them producing for weeks.
How to grow zucchini: warm-soil sowing, hand-pollination, and the harvest glut
Zucchini matures in about 55 days but only sets fruit once bees move pollen. Warm-soil hills, hand-pollination, squash bug watch, and picking small and often.
How to grow green beans: bush vs pole, warm soil, and frequent picking
Direct-sow green beans into 60°F soil, skip the nitrogen feed (they fix their own), trellis pole types, and pick every few days to keep pods coming.
How to grow radishes: the fastest crop from seed to harvest
Radishes go seed to harvest in 25-35 days. How to direct sow, thin to 2 inches, dodge woody and pithy roots, succession sow, and grow winter daikon types.
How to grow peas: seed to harvest, plus a second fall crop
Peas are the earliest crop you can sow — at 45°F soil. How to pick shelling vs snap vs snow, inoculate, trellis even bush types, and squeeze in a fall crop.