Hello,

I live in San Miguel de Allende in the Bajio region of central Mexico. It is a locvely colonial city right smack in the center of Mexico. We are in the high desert at an altitude of just over 6000 feet and we get about 25 inches of rain per year. 90% of that rain falls in June July and August. The averege highs range from the low 70s to the high 80s and the agerage lows range from right around freezing to the high 60s.

While this sounds like almost perfect weather for people it turns out that I am having a hard time finding a lot of vegitables that like it. The main problem is the 8 months a year with little or no rain. Landscaping is not a big problem - I just use a lot of Agave, suculents and cactus. Growing tomatos is a whole other situation. Especially since our soil is very alkaline and tomoto virus is prevelant .

Bottom line is I joined this group to learn. Hopefully there are others in my situation or who know enough to comment on ways to help me in my quest for a tasty tomato in Mexico.

Barba Roja

http://greenmapsanmiguel.org


Technically the climat is called the 'High Tropical

I have friends in a similar high altitude situation in the Davis Mountains of Texas. It is a high elevation desert and they've built an enclosure (like a kennel with a top to keep the deer and other critters out) and inside have built raised beds. They have a good quality of soil with amendments and compost, and have a drip irrigation method. They have thought this out--there is a 3000 gallon cistern installed on the property for rainwater, and they have a deep well to water these gardens. There is a plastic under the raised beds to keep most of the water in the beds. He sends lots of photos so I've gone through last year's email to find a couple of images of the setup:

I only managed to get one photo uploaded before it submitted the message. I figured it out now. Here a couple more of the raised beds and structure up close:

A couple of more photos from the garden this year: