How to design a desert garden?
Summer is hot and dry, making it an excellent time to think about your garden. That naturally encourages consideration of changes to make your garden more useful to you. Maybe you should include a pollinator garden. Or perhaps you wish to plant something in a desert area? Maybe you want to create a water feature in a big space you have? Whatever the difficulties in maintaining your garden, consider the layout of your yard before buying a lot of plants.
Create a vision for your desert garden before comparing the costs of the plants and other garden components to your budget. It’s acceptable if budget restrictions force you to revise your plan. Remove undesirable plants from your garden or yard and till the soil. Prepare a planting area by digging a wash. Particularly if you live on the desert plains, consider how to design a desert garden and to keep your home comfortable and shield it from the wind.
Concentrate first on your design
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Find some inspiration
By looking through pictures of different gardens online, you can get a lot of fantastic inspiration. Keep in mind, though, that some normal garden layouts could not function well due to our particular climate and habitat. You can clarify your priorities and learn about local plant preferences by visiting nearby gardens.
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Keep the purpose in mind
Consider what you want your place to accomplish for you before you begin to plan it. Like Do you want a space where kids and pets can play? A place for hens? A garden for wildlife? Or to cultivate food?
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Consider surroundings
Along with your available space, you need think about how the sun and wind will affect your garden. Even if you’re only designing a small part, you still need to accomplish this. You can fix some of the room’s inherent problems, but it will cost you either time, money, or both.
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Think about water
Don’t forget to include an irrigation strategy when you’re thinking about your desert garden design. In our climate, drip irrigation is the most effective. Consider installing grey water or rainwater collection if you’re building from scratch.
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Create budget
Once you’ve decided on the things you want in your desert garden, you should research how much the plants, rocks, and other components will cost. You might need to go back to your original designs to see whether you need to scale back your vision for the garden depending on your financial resources. Your individual income level and level of dedication to the project will determine how much money you should set aside for your desert garden.
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Eliminate undesirable plants
Before starting  to design your desert garden, you should remove crabgrass and other non-native plant development. Plants and bigger bushes should be uprooted and disposed of in garden waste bags. After cutting your lawn short, cover it with a layer of cardboard and newspaper. After wetting the layers, add soil on top of them.
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Plow the garden
You’ll need to buy a tractor or hand plough to turn the soil over and prepare it for desert plants. Your future garden land can be turned over using either a front scoop or a rear blade on the majority of mechanical tractors.
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Pick few trees
The visual center of your desert garden might be provided by trees. You should put your desert trees close to the wash because they require the most water of all the desert plants. Keep a watchful eye on your trees and search for any indications of drying. If your trees appear to be drying out, water them.
Some trees that grow successfully in the desert include
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- Guajillo
- white thorn acacia
- leaf-covered acacia
- savoury acacia
- Pale white
- Azalea orchid
- Latino blue palm
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Put your plants in place
Dig several holes across your yard to make room for the new plants and bushes. A hole that is 12 inches (30 cm) broad and 18 inches (46 cm) deep is enough for the majority of plants. Once the holes have been dug, fill them with your plants, then replace the removed soil to keep the plants secured in place.
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- The process of buying and setting up all of your plants will probably take several weeks.
- Each plant develops best in a certain set of environmental circumstances. Baby penstemons, brittlebush, and globe mallow, for instance, grow well when planted close to the wash’s edges and in other places where the soil has been disturbed.
- To choose the best site and allot enough room for each plant species you include in your desert garden, consult a guide of desert botany.
- Make sure to give your plants enough room.
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Repetition
Any kind of repetition will give a room a sense of harmony and balance. However, don’t use too much or your desert garden may get dull. You can repeat components like plants, colors, textures, patterns, and forms.
Creating a Successful Garden
Build a courtyard
You might wish to create a courtyard underneath your trees if they begin to grow significantly. The greatest choice is a courtyard beneath a tree since the branches of the tree offer fantastic shelter from the hot desert heat. Placement of a courtyard should not be near trees that provide fruit or draw birds.
Put evergreens along the garden’s border
Your garden will be more shielded from the wind if there are evergreens along the border. This arrangement will also give the garden a sense of containment from the outside.
Add a border
The space is enclosed by an edging, which is a low wall in front of a row of plants or shrubs. To visually distinguish the area from the remainder of the garden space, you may incorporate an additional layer of gravel or another topdressing within the edging.
- To create a minimalist effect in front of a row of plants, you might use straight lines, alternatively, you could use a curved line of edging to create a more natural flow.
- For a well-planned desert garden, plastic or steel barriers that are one to two inches (three to four centimetres) high are your best bet.
Make energy-saving plans
There are numerous methods to plan your desert garden to enhance the energy efficiency of your home. Smaller trees can be planted next to windows, for example, to block the sun’s heat from heating the house to an uncomfortable level.
- Deciduous trees can boost solar gain during the winter and decrease heat load during the summer when placed close to the west and south of the home.
- Planting evergreen trees to the north of the house can minimise heat loss in the winter.
What kinds of plants found in a desert?
These 08 desert plants can be found there
- Cactus with prickly fruit. One of the most known plants that inhabits the desert is the prickly pear cactus
- Cactus with a golden barrel
- Brittlebush
- Agave
- Halfmens
- JoshuaTree
- Tumbleweed
- Tree Quiver
Desert plant that is the simplest to grow
Cactus and succulents
Along with cactus, succulents are in style, and gardeners are incorporating these simple-to-grow desert plants in their homes and gardens. These young ones range in size from small to huge and come in a variety of colors.
Decide the name of a desert garden
Numerous desert plants can thrive in a glass terrarium or xeriscape garden. The phrase “xeriscape” comes from the Greek word xeros, which means “dry,” and refers to a style of landscaping that uses only local plants to store water.
Tips for Desert Garden
Sand, stones, and drought-tolerant ground cover should take the place of conventional grass. Regarding your yard could be important in some situations to direct infrequent showers toward regions where you have groups of plants. When possible, grow drought-tolerant plants, and install a rain barrel to collect rainwater for irrigation.
Above all, remember that your design is a process rather than an immediate result. Over time, you will make adjustments, but that’s all part of the enjoyment.