Desert farmers share their best tips on how to grow food in hot, dry conditions

Farm manager Josh Nash adjusts loose-weave jute netting over tender vegetable seedlings to protect them from the afternoon heat at 29 Palms Inn’s Faultline Farm in Twentynine Palms. Gilmer wrote a book about dry, hot farming in 2015 and Nash, a native Tennessean who learned about farming on the East Coast, has been growing organic fruit and vegetables in the desert for five years, at his home and also for the historic 29 Palms Inn’s Faultline Farm, which provides about a third of the produce for the inn’s popular restaurant every year, said owner Heidi Grunt. “People need to realize that growing plants actually means growing soil,” Nash said, “because you can’t grow any plants without healthy soil, first and foremost.” Maureen Gilmer, author and horticulturist who lives in Morongo Valley, has written a book on growing food in hot, dry conditions. “We make our beds directly in the soil, a few inches lower than the ground level to help catch and hold any precipitation, and keep the roots cooler.” An added bonus: Even the most damaged native soils have some microbial life that you can help nourish with compost.. Wood-frame raised beds work well in areas that are colder, because they help the soil get warmer quickly, but that’s the opposite of what you want in hot, dry conditions. Nash said even weeds like the invasive black mustard covering SoCal’s hills can be cut and laid down in garden beds to create an excellent mulch — as long as it hasn’t formed any seeds.