Sunday, March 16, 2008

What can you grow in New Mexico?

A lot of people ask us this question. To illustrate, Val grew up in a typical, 1/4 acre lot home in a suburban subdivision of Albuquerque from the late 70s to the early 90s, and had numerous varieties of mature fruit trees and vines on the property that supplied her family, the surrounding neighborhood, and several friends, coworkers, and schoolmates with produce for the entire summer. She, her father, mother, and three brothers spent May through September harvesting, washing, cooking, canning, stewing, preserving, baking, and giving away the following:

- Squash: zucchini, acorn, butternut, small pumpkins
- Tomatoes
- Bell peppers
- Chile peppers
- BLACKBERRIES - they took over our house! Several tens of bushels per summer
- Peaches (the best I ever tasted since)
- Apricots (see note for peaches above)
- Cherries: three breeds: black, bing, and pie cherries
- Almonds
- Sunflowers (with edible, roastable seeds)
- Pears
- Apples
- Plums
- Grapes (not so great - table grapes and roses are notoriously hard to grow in New Mexico)

There are many other profitable crops that grow well in New Mexico as well, particulary when water is accessible:

- Asparagus
- Beans (all kinds - from green to lima to pinto, etc.)
- Beets
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cantaloupe
- Carrots
- Cauliflower
- Collard greens
- Swiss Chard
- Sweet Corn
- Cucumber
- Eggplant
- Garlic
- Honeydew melons
- Kohlrabi
- Leek
- Lettuce (all kinds)
- Mustard Greens
- Okra
- Onions
- Parsnips
- Parsley
- Peas
- Peppers
- Potatoes
- Pumpkin
- Radish
- Raspberries
- Spinach
- Turnips
- Watermelon

So, the choice is ours: after we do some market research to see what the market demands and what isn't being grown enough, we'll decide what to plant over time!

3 comments:

  1. Mmmmmmm ... I remember the cherries (and those blasted birds who ate our little read treasures!) and the blackberries (mixed with a bit o' cream and browns sugar - still my favorite way to eat blackberries!).

    GOOD TIMES, GOOD TIMES!

    XO XO!

    When

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  2. Mmmmmmm. When's harvest time. I'm hungry now! (p.s. I found the link to your Blog again. Yay!)

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  3. Grow weed........and payote!!!! Yeah, that's what I'm talkin' about......man!

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