Quick Answer: Best Vegetables to Grow in New Mexico
The best vegetables to grow in a garden in New Mexico are tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, eggplants, eggs, asparagus, beans, peas, squash, cabbage, and kale. Spring, summer, and fall are the ideal times to plant vegetables.
Are you looking for the best vegetables to grow in your vegetable garden in New Mexico?
Here is a carefully compiled list of vegetables that you can grow.
Contents
- Quick Answer: Best Vegetables to Grow in New Mexico
- Best Vegetables to Grow in New Mexico
- What is the easiest-growing vegetable in New Mexico?
- What is the best time to grow vegetables in New Mexico?
- FAQs
- Quick Recap: Top Vegetables to Grow In New Mexico
- Bottomline
Best Vegetables to Grow in New Mexico
The climate of New Mexico is mild, arid, or semiarid, continental, with little annual precipitation, a lot of sunshine, low relative humidity, and a wide range of temperatures throughout the day and year.
Based on the average number of days without a frost, New Mexico’s three main growing regions are the north, the center, and the south.
The majority of New Mexico’s soils are deficient in organic matter, so you would need to add organic matter to your garden soil.
The soil type is Penistaja which is well-drained and moderately permeable.
Let us move ahead to the list of vegetables.
1. Tomato
Tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) is a typical garden plant with berries that come in various shapes, sizes, and colors. Indigenous to South America, the plant lives for 6-8 months.
Why Grow Tomato?
It is a popular plant in New Mexico gardens. Tomatoes are warm-season plants that will thrive in New Mexico once the frost threat has gone, and if the variety is suitable for your area.
They are adaptable, easy to cultivate, and abundant producers that can be grown in small garden settings.
Maintenance and Care
Here are a few points to take into consideration:
- They require a place that is fertile, well-drained, and bright with at least a half-day of direct sunlight or more.
- They need to be staked or caged to resist severe winds and support their increased weight as they become bigger.
- Diseases and pests: Beet curly top; beet leaf hopper
A growing guide for tomatoes:
2. Pepper
Peppers (Capsicum annuum) fall into one of two categories: fruit with a mild or sweet flavor (bell, pimento, and sweet wax types), and fruit with a fiery or pungent flavor (New Mexico-type long green and jalapeno types).
The latter are frequently referred to as “chile” in New Mexico.
Why Grow Pepper?
You can direct seed peppers into your New Mexico garden in spring after the last frost. Peppers are heat-loving plants well suited to the climate and well-drained soil of New Mexico.
They do not take up much space, produce well, and are insect hardy.
A growing guide for peppers:
3. Eggplant
Eggplant (Solanum melongena) is related to peppers and tomatoes.
The plant, which is believed to have come from India, survives typically for a year.
Why Grow Eggplant?
It is a warm-weather plant that would grow well in the soil of New Mexico when it’s relatively hot.
There are various eggplant types available, the majority of which are drought tolerant.2
A growing guide for eggplant:
4. Cucumber
Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) The creeping plant of the gourd family is native to India. The plant has a lifespan of roughly 70 days.
The lemon cucumber is a popular variety in New Mexico gardens
Why Grow Cucumber?
Growing Cucumbers in your New Mexico garden would be a fairly simple task as long as you provide sufficient shade.
But it is a warm-season and sun-loving crop that will mature quickly and bear produce all through its growing period.
There are bush varieties that can help you save space. The trellis-grown varieties are less vulnerable to slugs or other pests.
A growing guide for cucumber:
5. Asparagus
Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis) is a perennial plant in the onion family that is among the first plants picked in the spring.
Native to eastern Mediterranean countries, this plant lives for 15-20 years.
Why Grow Asparagus?
As long as the plant is kept fertilized, this cold-hardy plant can thrive in your garden through droughts, rains, and pests for a very long time.
Once established, this quick-growing, low-maintenance plants require only routine watering and might serve as your go-to vegetable source for years.
Maintenance and Care
Here are a few points to take into consideration:
- In the first year, avoid harvesting. Harvest in successive years until the spear size is smaller than a pencil in thickness.
- Mainly for this perennial plant, weeds are a problem. Mulching, hoeing, or spot chemical treatment can all be used to control weeds.
- Pests and diseases: Asparagus beetles.
6. Beans
Beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) are legumes and are among the most versatile and nutritious foods available.
Native to Peru, this plant lives for two years.
Why Grow Beans?
They are another warm-weather plant that can survive your New Mexico heat and droughts.
They require less space to grow and help enrich the soil through nitrogen fixation. They are also easy to grow.2
Maintenance and Care
Here are a few points to take into consideration:
- Because of their shallow root systems, beans require meticulous maintenance, weeding, and watering during dry spells.
- They prefer 6 to 8 hours of daily sunlight and mildly acidic, well-drained soil.3
- Diseases and pests: bacterial blight, bean leaf beetle.
A growing guide for bush and pole beans:
7. Peas
Peas (Pisum sativum), another member of the leguminous family, is native to the Mediterranean region and has a lifespan of 1 year.
Why Grow Peas?
If you were looking for a cold hardy plant that would thrive in cool weather, Pea is a good pick.
Peas don’t grow well in New Mexico after the weather gets warm, so plant them as soon as the soil can be handled in the spring.2
Like beans, they also require little space and are nitrogen fixers.
Maintenance and Care
Here are a few points to take into consideration:
- Pick pods frequently to keep the plants productive.
- Peas should not be allowed to mature too much because this will cause them to lose their sweetness.
- Give the vines a trellis or other supporting structure.3
- Diseases and pests: root rots, mildew; aphids, pea weevils
A growing guide for peas
8. Squash
Squash belonging to the genus Cucurbita is an umbrella term for various herbaceous vegetables in the gourd family.
Why Grow Squash?
It is the one group of vegetables that can grow in warm and cold weather in your New Mexico garden, depending on the variant you choose.
Gardeners in New Mexico love squash. It is simple to cultivate, calorie-efficient, and healthy.2
Maintenance and Care
Here are a few points to take into consideration:
- Weeds compete with squash plants, thus, modest cultivation is critical, particularly early in the season.
- Black plastic mulch is beneficial to squash because it controls weeds and warms the soil.3
- Diseases and pests: powdery mildew; squash bugs.
A growing guide for zucchini and bush squash:
9. Cabbage
Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) is a popular leafy vegetable in New Mexico gardens.
Native to the Middle East, Cabbage is ready for harvest 90-120 days after planting.
Why Grow cabbage?
In New Mexico gardens, the highest quality is attained when cabbage is directly seeded in mid-summer to mature in the fall when temperatures are low.
Cabbage is easy to grow, high-yielding, and frost-hardy.
A guide for growing cabbages in containers
10. Kale
Kale ((Brassica oleracea var. sabellica) is a biennial vegetable that has its roots in the eastern Mediterranean and Anatolia.
Sometimes these plants are grown for their ornamental properties.
Why Grow Kale?
A vegetable with a unique dark green to purple color that can endure extremely low temperatures.
In addition to its use as a crop, kale can be cultivated for its aesthetic value and beautifying your vegetable patch.2
A growing guide for kale:
What is the easiest-growing vegetable in New Mexico?
Cabbage, cucumber, tomato, and sweet peppers are some of the easiest-growing vegetables in New Mexico.
What is the best time to grow vegetables in New Mexico?
Warm-season plants should only be planted in the spring after all danger of frost has gone, while hardy cool-season plants can be planted early in the spring or in the summer for a fall crop.
FAQs
Greens, including kale, bok choy, chard, and spinach, lettuce, spinach, peas, broccoli, and cauliflower, can all be cultivated in Santa Fe.
Beans, cabbage, kale, lettuce, etc can be planted in the fall in New Mexico.
Tomato, winter squash, and lettuce are among the cheapest.
Pole beans, peas, zucchini, tomato, and cucumbers can produce a high yield in New Mexico.
Quick Recap: Top Vegetables to Grow In New Mexico
Here are the top veggies you can grow in New Mexico
| Vegetable | Why grow? |
|---|---|
| Tomato | 1. Require less space, remarkably productive 2. Thrives in summer |
| Pepper | 1. Require less space 2. Produce well for the space given |
| Eggplant | 1. Drought tolerant 2. Do not require an external pollinator |
| Cucumber | 1. Mature quickly 2. Bear lot of produce throughout the growing period |
| Asparagus | 1. Easy to grow and maintain 2. Withstand rains, droughts, and pests |
| Beans | 1. Drought hardy, less space 2. Nitrogen-fixing |
| Peas | 1. Cold hardy 2. Nitrogen-fixing |
| Squash | 1. Summer and winter varieties 2. Low maintenance once established |
| Cabbage | 1. Frost hardy 2. Good yield |
| Kale | 1. Cold hardy 2. Ornamental |
Bottomline
I hope that this article has been useful to you in your search for vegetables to grow in New Mexico.
Feel free to get in touch with us if you have any questions or to express your opinions.
