The Chihuahuan Desert, long a corridor for trade between Mexico City and Santa Fe, New Mexico, is now home to five million people. The Rio Grande basin covers 172,000 square miles, crossing three U.S. states, more than a dozen Native American nations and five Mexican states.
Plant Answers. PLANT: March is a month to plant the gardener's favorite vegetables such as tomatoes, sweet corn and snap beans and pepper as well as cucumbers, lima or butter beans, cantaloupe, okra (if the soil has warmed sufficiently --70 degrees F. or higher), southern peas, pumpkin, squash, peanuts and watermelon.
It's best to start cool-season crops such as lettuce, cabbage, kale and chard in late February to early March in western Oregon, said Weston Miller, a horticulturist with the Oregon State University Extension Service. Warm-season crops such as tomatoes and peppers should be started in late March to early April.