Monsoon Gardening in Arizona: How to Garden During Monsoon Season
If you garden in the low desert, you’ve probably heard other gardeners talk about monsoon gardening. It refers to a second planting window for heat-loving crops that opens between the summer garden and the fall garden. The storms are a signal that conditions are shifting enough to make that window possible.
People have been growing with the monsoons here for centuries. The idea is simple. Summer moisture and slightly milder conditions give a short window to get another round of beans, corn, squash, and other heat-lovers in the ground.
The part that trips people up is timing. Rain is not the signal to plant. Temperature is.
Key Takeaways: Monsoon Gardening in Arizona
- Monsoon Gardening in Arizona refers to a second planting window for heat-loving crops between summer and fall, relying on temperature rather than just rain.
- During monsoon season, expect humidity, dust storms, and sudden heavy rains, which affect planting and gardening strategies.
- To prepare, gardeners should focus on wind damage prevention, like trimming trees and staking tall plants before storms hit.
- Plant heat-loving crops between mid-July and August when temperatures cool, and choose shorter-maturing varieties to ensure harvest before frost.
- Monitor soil moisture carefully, as higher humidity reduces watering needs, and avoid root rot by ensuring good drainage during heavy rains.
What We’ll Cover:
- What Does Monsoon Season Actually Mean for a Low Desert Garden?
- How Do I Get My Garden Ready Before the Storms Hit?
- When is the Right Time to Plant During Monsoon Season?
- What Can I Plant During Monsoon Season in Arizona?
- How Should I Water During Monsoon Season?
- Do I Still Need Shade Cloth During Monsoon Season?
- How Do I Stay Ahead of Pests and Disease When it’s Humid?
- What if I Don’t Want to Plant Anything Else this Summer?
- Monsoon Gardening FAQs
What Does Monsoon Season Actually Mean for a Low Desert Garden?
A monsoon is a seasonal shift in wind direction. Our winds change over the summer and start pulling moisture up from the south, mostly from the tropical Pacific through western Mexico. That added moisture is what builds our summer thunderstorms. The University of Arizona Cooperative Extension covers the science in Arizona and the North American Monsoon System if you want the full explanation.
What matters for your garden is what comes with that shift.
The low desert sits on the northern edge of the North American Monsoon System, which is why our monsoon activity swings so much year to year. Some summers we get regular soaking storms. Some summers we get dust, wind, and almost no rain at all. Both are normal here.
From June through September, expect some combination of:
- Higher humidity
- Wind, including microbursts
- Dust storms
- Rain, sometimes very heavy and very fast
- Lightning and occasional hail
- More insect activity, including palo verde beetles, leaf-footed bugs, cicadas, and cicada killer wasps
Dust storms seem more common than rain in my garden. Haboobs roll through, coat everything, and move on without dropping anything useful. That’s worth planning for, because a dusty garden needs attention even in a summer with no measurable rain.
The humidity is the piece most gardeners underestimate. Even in a dry monsoon year, that jump in humidity takes real stress off plants. Combined with days that are getting shorter after the solstice, it makes a noticeable difference in how plants handle the heat. That’s why monsoon planting still works in a year with barely any rain.
How Do I Get My Garden Ready Before the Storms Hit?
Wind does more damage in my garden than rain ever has. Preparing for wind is the single most useful thing you can do before monsoon season starts.
Trees
Trees are where the expensive damage happens. A large tree coming down on a roof, a fence, or a garden bed is a much bigger problem than a flattened tomato plant.
- Trim desert trees in May. Opening up the canopy lets wind pass through instead of pushing against a solid wall of growth.
- Thin heavy new growth on deciduous fruit trees for the same reason.
- Water trees deeply through the year so they build deep roots. Shallow-rooted trees are the ones that topple.
- Take out trees already weakened by pests or disease. They’re the first to fail.
Tall plants
Stake corn. I’ve had every stalk in a bed topple in a windstorm, and once corn goes over it doesn’t recover well. Large branching sunflowers do the same thing, and so do roselle and Mahogany Splendor hibiscus once they get big and top-heavy. Zinnias and tall tomatoes benefit too.
Stake before the plant needs it, not after the first storm. I use bamboo stakes and plant clips, and I tie loosely so the plant can still move. A stem that can flex survives wind better than one lashed tight.
I also plant giant sunflowers next to vertical supports I already have in the garden so I can tie the stem to something solid instead of adding a stake later.
Check your ties through the season. A tie that fit in July can girdle the stem by September.
Structures
Trellises, arches, and shade structures need to hold up to real wind. The steel poles for my large shade structure and my arched trellises are buried two feet deep and set in cement, and that’s the reason the whole thing is still standing. My shade cloth whips around in the wind and it has held up through some crazy windstorms. The fabric moving is fine. The posts not moving is what matters.
A microburst can take out almost anything, and there’s not much to be done about that. Building sturdy gets you through the ordinary storms.
Rain
Monsoon rain comes fast and hard, then stops. Most of it runs off unless you’ve set your yard up to catch it. Adding a rainwater harvesting system sat on my wish list for years, and now that I have one I look at every storm differently. Even simple earthwork, directing runoff toward trees and beds, makes a difference. I walk through the options in my guide to rainwater harvesting for desert gardens.
When is the Right Time to Plant During Monsoon Season?
Somewhere between mid-July and the end of August, conditions usually line up. That’s a wide window on purpose, because every year is different and the calendar won’t tell you when to plant. The forecast will.
Monsoon season is tricky this way. You get a few overcast, humid days, it feels like the season has turned, and then you’re right back to 110°F. Those overcast days fool you into planting too early.
Watch the ten-day forecast and look for a stretch where highs drop. If it’s 110°F and above, I wait. Nothing wants to be transplanted into that. When I see several days in the low 100s coming, that’s my window.
A few things that make the difference between plants that take and plants that fry:
- Harden off transplants properly. Done right this takes up to two weeks. How to harden off seedlings in the heat walks through it.
- Plant transplants in the evening so they get the whole night to settle before facing sun.
- Plant seeds a little deeper than usual. Soil is cooler down there. Mulch lightly over new seeds to hold moisture, and expect to water them twice a day until they’re up. How to plant seeds outside covers the details.
- Baby everything for the first two weeks. Extra shade, extra water, daily checks. New plantings have no root system to fall back on.
I add tomatoes and peppers in August most years rather than July. I’ve lost tomatoes I put out too early, and that’s a frustrating way to start a fall harvest. What surprises me is how well they do overall, given what we ask of them in August. Give them shade for the first few weeks and most of them pull through.
What Can I Plant During Monsoon Season in Arizona?
Heat-loving crops only. Cool-season vegetables come later, in the fall garden.
From transplants: basil, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, and eggplant.
From seed: amaranth, corn, cucumber, basil, okra, summer squash, winter squash and pumpkins, and beans of every kind: tepary beans, pinto beans, lima beans, and pole and bush beans.
The traditional monsoon crops here are the ones that have been grown through Arizona summers for centuries. Tepary beans, amaranth, corn, and squash all handle this season well because they evolved with it.
Days to harvest matters more now than it did in spring. The solstice has passed and days are getting shorter, so plants take longer to mature than the seed packet suggests. Given a choice between a 65-day variety and a 90-day variety, take the 65-day one.
Count backward from your first expected frost, usually sometime in December in the low desert, and make sure the crop has time to finish. My Arizona vegetable planting calendar for the low desert lays out the timing for the rest of the year.
How Should I Water During Monsoon Season?
More water is rarely the answer during monsoon season, and this is where I see the most plants lost. Roots sitting in saturated soil can’t get oxygen, and root rot moves fast in warm, wet conditions.
Higher humidity means plants lose less moisture to the air, so they need water less often. A stretch of humid days after a storm can mean skipping a watering entirely.
What I do:
- Check the soil before watering. A soil probe or your finger works. Dig down a few inches. If it’s damp, wait.
- Use a rain gauge. It’s hard to guess how much fell. More than 0.2 inches, I skip a garden watering. At least half an inch, I skip a landscape watering too.
- Water in the morning when water is needed, so plants go into the day hydrated and foliage dries quickly.
- Give the garden a good hose down after a dust storm. All that dust sitting on the leaves is tough on plants, and spider mites love the conditions it creates. Spray in the morning so leaves dry before evening. This is the one watering task that goes up during monsoon season, not down.
- Water long and deep at least once during summer on landscape plants to flush accumulated salts down past the root zone. A long soaking rain can do this for you.
- Keep fruit trees on a consistent schedule. Erratic watering in summer shows up later as split fruit on citrus and pomegranates.
Hot, dry, windy weather still means watering more often. The adjustment is for humidity and rain, not for the calendar. I use Garden Grids in my raised beds, and I still check the soil before I run them.
Do I Still Need Shade Cloth During Monsoon Season?
Yes. Leave shade up until temperatures are consistently below 100°F.
My shade cloth whips in the wind all summer and it has held up through some serious windstorms, which I credit to the poles being cemented in. The cloth itself lasts about three years before the sun breaks it down and it stretches out. When I replace it, the old stretched-out piece goes over the chicken coop, where it still does plenty of good. Budget for replacement every few years and you won’t be caught without shade in June.
More on setup in adding shade cloth to a hot summer garden.
Living shade helps too. I plant sunflowers as shade for hot summer crops, which does double duty and looks better than fabric.
How Do I Stay Ahead of Pests and Disease When it’s Humid?
Heat plus humidity speeds everything up. Problems that would take two weeks to develop in spring can take three days now. Daily observation is the whole strategy.
Walking the garden every morning, even briefly, even when it’s miserable outside, is what keeps small problems small. Handpick what you find. Pull damaged leaves. If a plant is far gone, take it out rather than letting it infect everything around it. I put together a short list of garden tasks worth doing every day if you want a routine.
The usual practices matter more now, not less: healthy soil, crop rotation, correct spacing for airflow, disease-resistant varieties, clean beds, weeds under control, and plants that attract beneficial insects.
What shows up most in my garden this time of year:
- Spider mites. Spray plants down after dust storms and during hot dry stretches. How to get rid of spider mites
- Squash bugs. Row covers, handpicking eggs and nymphs, crop rotation, vertical gardening, boards as traps, and resistant varieties like butternut and early crookneck. How to get rid of squash bugs
- Thrips. Spray down with water, rolled cardboard traps, and blue sticky traps used briefly and changed often. How to get rid of thrips
- Leaf-footed bugs. Handpick eggs, nymphs, and adults. They multiply fast. How to get rid of leaf-footed bugs
- Grasshoppers. Attract birds, use floating row cover on young plantings.
- Ants. Usually beneficial and not worth treating. Bait traps only if they’re causing real damage.
More options in organic pest control that really works.
What if I Don’t Want to Plant Anything Else this Summer?
Skipping the monsoon planting is a legitimate choice. Plenty of summers I’ve been ready to be done. There’s still useful work to do.
Cut back tired summer crops. Mid-August into early September, cut back existing tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant to push new growth for a fall harvest. Plants that made it through summer already have established roots, which beats starting over.
Plant a cover crop. If a bed will sit empty for six weeks or more, plant something that feeds the soil instead. Warm-season options include buckwheat, cowpeas, sweet potatoes, and tithonia. More on that in taking the summer off with heat-tolerant cover crops.
Start your fall garden indoors. This is the highest-value thing you can do in August. Cool-season transplants started now go in the ground when temperatures drop, and you’ll be weeks ahead of anyone shopping nursery six-packs in October. How to start seeds indoors covers the setup, and garden planning in five simple steps helps you decide what goes where.
If you’re building your first desert garden bed and want a step-by-step path into the fall season, that’s exactly what my course 30 Days to Your First Desert Garden is built for.
For everything else worth doing right now, see my monthly desert gardening guides.
Monsoon Gardening FAQs
The National Weather Service defines monsoon season as June 15 through September 30. Storm activity usually peaks in July and August. How much rain arrives varies dramatically from year to year, so the dates mark the season, not a guarantee of moisture.
No. August is a good planting month for heat-loving crops in the low desert, and it’s when I usually add tomatoes and peppers. Choose varieties with shorter days to maturity so they have time to produce before cool weather arrives in late fall.
No. Rain isn’t the signal. Temperature is. Watch the forecast and plant when highs drop out of the 110s, whether or not it has rained. Monsoon planting works in dry years too, because the higher humidity and shorter days take stress off plants.
Not automatically. Check how much fell with a rain gauge and check the soil before you decide. More than 0.2 inches of rain means you can usually skip a garden watering. Anything less rarely soaks in deep enough to matter.
Sweet corn, popcorn, or flour corn all work if you’re providing irrigation. Days to harvest matters more than type. Pick the shorter-season variety.
Root rot is the usual cause. Saturated soil pushes oxygen out, roots suffocate, and warm wet conditions let disease move quickly. Plants in poorly draining soil or containers without adequate drainage are most at risk. Skip watering after a good rain and check soil moisture before you water again.
Yes. Plant tomato transplants in August once highs are consistently below 110°F. Look for heat-tolerant varieties that set fruit in warm conditions and give them afternoon shade for the first few weeks. I’ve lost tomatoes by planting them out too early, so watch the forecast rather than the calendar.
About three years in my garden before the sun breaks it down and it stretches out. I replace it then and move the old piece over the chicken coop, where it still blocks plenty of sun. Cemented-in poles matter more than the fabric itself for surviving monsoon wind.
what kind of corn is planted during monsoon? I’m hearing not sweet corn, but popcorn or decorative…in Tucson.
If you provide irrigation you can plant either kind. Look at the days to harvest. Shorter is better.
Great article! In my area of AZ (outside of Florence) “monsoon season” has produced almost zero actual rainfall for the last 3 years. If I get very little actual rainfall how does that affect the “what to plant” list for monsoon season? Should I only plant tomatoes peppers etc if we actually get rain during the monsoon season?
Generally even if we don’t get rain, the humidity increases and the shorter days make it a little easier on plants. I still plant but you may want to wait until August. That’s usually when I add my tomatoes and peppers. Let’s hope for a wet monsoon this year.