A question about desert plants...

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For years, I've had this fantasy about visiting a specific place that's out in the desert not too far from the Salton Sea. It might just be a fun road trip or I might decide to stick around there. Now, I'm a person of very limited means and I live a ways away from there, but I plan on trying to make this happen in a year or two when there isn't so much s**t going on in my life that I have to attend to and I gain a little freedom.

Now, I live in a relatively fertile, lush area that (according to wikipedia) has average anual rainfall of about 80 inches. There are plenty of blackberries, elderberries, huckleberries, dandelions, stinging nettles, various nuts and other edible plants that grow well around here. (Store bought stuff's nice if you need something specific, I suppose, but why pay for something you can find just walking around?) I was thinking that it would be nice to get a small garden started in tubs of soil in the back of my truck and then I could suppliment whatever food I buy with what I grow.

The problem is that I'm not really a gardener, more of a forager. I got some gardening books from my local thrift store, but they don't have sections with titles like "potted plants for baren wastelands". Mostly just stuff for more ideal conditions. So, my question to you is this: What are some relatively high yield edible plants I could grow in the desert or at least some resources I could use to research this. Sorry if this post isn't too coherant. I haven't slept in a few days and this thought just occured to me.

If the region is hot and not too cold at night, you could grow tomatoes, bell peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, cantaloupe melons and various other vegetables. Speaking as a gardener, you will need to take care of the plants, water them, shield them from excess heat or cold. If they are in tubs weeds will be less of a problem than pests or other diseases such as blight. Left untreated blight will destroy your tomatoes. Whatever you grow there will undoubtedly be various pests, rodents, insects or birds that will happily feast on your crop too before it is even ripe to harvest. It is possible to grow some veg as you say, but it may entail more work than you envisage.

I'm not sure about the idea, I don't think potted plants in the back of a truck would bring you much sustenance. As long as you have have some decent soil and water them a lot, I imagine you could grow most things out here. The sun is really bright and can be hard on some plants I think so you might want to avoid direct sunlight all day for some plants and it does get cold in the winter at night sometimes below freezing, there is a big temperature drop between day and night. I don't know how it is in California but in Arizona a lot of the native plants are protected so I don't think you could forage many of the edible ones here.

Check out the local garden centers.This site has good info on different plants.
http://www.plantsofthesouthwest.com/

Consider growing sprouted seeds. Alfalfa, radish, broccoli, and some beans are easy to sprout in jars and only take a few days to a week to grow. Also, unshelled (still in the shell) sunflower seeds can be sprouted in you soak them overnight, then spread them ON TOP of a layer of potting soil in a seedling tray. Cover the tray for about three days with another inverted tray, then remove the cover and let the seed grow until they have their seed leaf (the first leaf to appear. There will be two on a sunflower.) Then cut them at the base and remove any shells. They are delicious, ready to harvest in about 7-10 days, can be added to salad, used as a base for salad instead of lettuce, or juiced. (But they aren't so good cooked.) Of course, while the seeds are sprouting, water them gently twice a day (or more if they are drying out). Whole green peas can also be sprouted like this, and they are good for cooking.

Places around the Salton Sea are among the strangest I have ever seen. I love desert camping, if you would like to chat about it.

Thanks guys. I got a bit of sleep since I posted this and it occurs to me now that the way I originally imagined doing this just wasn't realistic. I still like the idea of growing zucchini or something similar in a tub (or tubs) of soil though. I understand that I won't be able to live off nothing but what I can grow in as small a space as the bed of a pickup, but again I only said that I would use it to add something to what I imagine being a pretty poor diet .When I go on a long trip, I almost always end up eating just ramen, dry rice and occasionally dry beans because they're cheap, not bad & don't require refrigeration.

I once went on a week long camping trip & packed nothing to eat but ramen noodles. I had cash, but I was days away from the nearest store. So, I ended up adding dandelion greens, stinging nettles (which are perfectly fine when boiled) and pretty much anything else I could identify as edible to the ramen. It wasn't great & I'd like to be better prepared in the future.

In addition to that, it'll give me something to work on. I always seem to go through books more quickly than anticipated when I'm away from home and it'd be nice to have some kind of project to keep me busy.

I'll look into sprouting seeds. Years ago, one of my relatives did that and the sprouts were excellent on sandwiches & such. I'm also looking at the "plants of the southwest" link.

I just moved away from the desert after living there for a long time. Gardening is quite challenging. Where I lived did not have soil, only caliche, and had about 6&1/2 inches average rainfall. Best to buy soil amd you'll have to container garden if you are growing food plants. Also. you'll have to find a way to keep insects, birds, mice, and larger critters like javelina from eating everything that sprouts. The plants that naturally grow in the desert offer a few edibles: for example, mesquite trees make pods which can be dried and ground into a very nutritious flour-like substance. Alternately, if you have a stout high fence you could get compost going - if you can find anything green to compost that is - and then make your own soil. Good luck.