Thanks for the pictures. You will certainly need to use every conceivable water saving method, that much is clear. The area of your future house looks very dry indeed. The closest experience I have is gardening in central florida where although there is no shortage of water as a yearly average, there is a quite dry season during the cooler part of the year, the sky is very clear so the sun is bright and hot and the sandy "soil" dries out very dry. There is a also a lot of drying wind that is very hard on food plants and young fruit trees. I suspect there will be several critical factors for you, presuming that the main issue, water, is available. Windbreaks will be super important, and the easiest thing would be to build the house with walls that enclose a sheltered garden. Second, you likely have far too much sun for most annual food crops, so if that sheltered area can have shade from about 1 or 2 in the afternoon might help a lot. With such clear sky and high sun there the morning will probably be enough. In extreme environments the majority of the heat stress on a plant that is not well-adapted will be from the west. Equally important will be crop choices, and that is where it's especially unlikely anyone on this forum will be able to give good info. As mentioned earlier, there must be people in the region who will know everything. We all know of some dry hot climate tree crops: notably date palm and almond, maybe pomegranate, because they are popular foods in the west, but I am pretty sure that there are a number of leguminious trees as well that will grow in those conditions. There must also be some annual type and maybe perennial type greens and other vegetables. I would think it logical that any of the common food crops that originated in the damper and/or cooler climates (which is most, by far) will be a waste of your time and resources.

This is what I meant, sooby: People make raised beds and lasagna beds and start by putting cardboard or newspaper on the bottom. Then they pile 12 inches, or more, of fertile, weed-friendly soil, or fertile, weed-inviting organic matter, on top of the newspaper. Most weeds are not going to make it through the 12 inches of stuff that is put on top of the newspaper, so what's the point of the newspaper? Weeds will grow in the soil that the raised bed is filled with, so why not put your weed barrier on the top where it actually accomplishes something---keeping the weed or sod from reaching light. If you really want a weed-free garden, put your mulches on the top of your soil, not under it. Or am I missing something? I only find cardboard fit for paths or perrennial beds, I dislike it in vegetable or annual beds. It slips around, and it's much more difficult to apply than newspaper if you're putting it around small plants. I'm a newspaper girl, but, of course, I always cover it with something for pretty and for weight. I feel like this is difficult to read. I'm sorry, I can't seem to do any better.

Contact your counties office of your state Agricultural Universities Cooperative Extension Service about having a good soil test done (usually in the $6.00 to $15.00 range). These simple soil tests, 1) Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. A good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top. 2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drains� too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up. 3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart. 4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell. 5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy. may be of some help in determining what you have. A good soil for plant growth will have between 5 and 8 percent organic matter.

If I were to use the raised beds, one of the crops I would plant in them would be tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants (not necessarily all in the same bed). When Preparing Tomato bed apply 3 lbs. of tomato tone per 50 sq feet and work into top 4”-6” of soil. I found a PDF for tomato tone, and these are the instructions it gives for how to use it: For Single plants mix 3 T (tablespoons)of tomato tone into the soil when planting For potted plants, mix one part tomato tone to 30 parts soil mixture (1.5 cups tomato tone for every 8 quarts of soil) FEEDING: Apply tomato tone after plants are well established (10-14 days after planting) and then twice a month during growing season (May-Aug) ROWS: 1 cup each side per 5’ of row Single Plants:3 T per plant Potted plants: Apply 1.5 t per 4” diameter pot (1.5 T per 12” diameter) The thing I am confused about is it doesn't give any instructions for how much to use in a raised bed; the closest I get is 'apply 3 lbs. per 50 sq feet'. Is the area of a raised bed (by 'area' I mean how much soil it can hold) square feet or cubic feet? I am pretty sure it's square feet, but I can't remember, so I wanted to double check to be sure. Also a really dumb question but what do you mean by 'top soil'? There are bags labelled 'top soil' and other bags labelled 'potting mix' (potting mix would more akin to miracle gro/something similar). Which one should I use? Also how much can you actually grow in a 4' x 8' raised bed with plants? I realize this depends on what you're growing in the raised bed but for me it'd be veggies. The veggies (no I am not growing to grow all of them at once nor am I going to grow all of them in the same bed) would be: *Greens (lettuce, spinach, arugula, watercress, baby kale) *Brassicas (cabbage, napa cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli) *Root veggies (turnip, daikon [large white Asian radish], carrots, potatoes) *Zucchini *Winter squash (only one variety, butternut) *Tomatoes (slicers, cherry, and romas/paste) (please specify how many plants, both trellised and untrellised I'd be able to grow in a 4' x 8' bed; most of mine are indeterminate varieties, but some are determinate varieties, specifically the cherry tomatoes) *Eggplant *Peppers (both sweet bell and hot chile varieties) *Snap beans (bush type) *Snap Peas (both pole type and the variety that don't require trellising) *Herbs (flat leaf parsley, rosemary, basil, culantro [it's similar in flavor to cilantro but it's NOT cilantro, it's much stronger in flavor]) Also I am wondering, can you grow corn in a raised bed? I know it's generally not advised to grow it in a raised bed, but the variety I have is a dwarf type (by dwarf, it's 2'-3') and says right on the pkt that it can be grown in containers.