My own experiences aren’t very useful as almost everything I grew last year was transplanted way LATE.  I started the seedlings and then had no place to put them until we built the raised beds.

One exception are TOMATOES, been growing those for years.

I’ve tried some seeds advertised as hot weather tomatoes, but consistently found that cherry tomatoes did best.  And that’s fine by me because I LIKE them.  Had tomatoes all through summer AFTER we put up wind and shade cloth — the “tomato cage” was totally wrapped. 

They might not have gotten as much light as they would have liked, but got much more fruit than when they got blown around all day and they survived dust devils very well.

Still have a Sweet Millenium in the greenhouse and plan on taking some cuttings for this years plants.

Unfortunately, the wooden sticks we used to ID most plants didn’t last as long as the plants.  A neighbor had given me some seedlings and I think her Jet Stars also did ok — will ask HER about it as she’s good at taking notes.

Cucumbers

Didn’t have any last year, just saw a recommendation at the Vegas group for Armenian Cukes.

I’ll add to this list and if you have some tips, please also post them below or post at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AZhighdesertliving/