A resident of Chandler, Arizona, Zulfiya Tchaikovsy is a former middle school science teacher who now maintains a position as principal of research paper editing and proofreading firm The Academic Editors. In her free time, Zulfiya Tchaikovsky enjoys gardening, which comes with a unique set of challenges in the desert regions of the Southwestern United States.

Individuals in states like Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas need to contend with conditions such as extreme heat and drought when gardening, setting limits for the plants that can be grown in the region. Watering needs to be done in the early hours of the morning so that weather is cool enough for the water to penetrate the soil, rather than evaporating in the heat before it can reach plants’ roots. An additional concern for desert gardeners is the amount of sunlight plants receive. While many garden varieties require at least six to eight hours of full sunlight in a day, the desert climate can make the average six to eight hours too much for some plants.

Certain heat-sensitive plants will have difficulty growing in a Southwest climate, but other vegetables and plants do well with plentiful sun and a conservative amount of water. In the warm season, desert gardeners may find that tomatoes, peppers, beans, and eggplants grow well. In the cool season, the Southwest is a great location to grow vegetables such as carrots, radishes, peas, broccoli, and turnips.