List of drought resistant food crops
Here is a list mostly compiled by the University of California. "The list is not exhaustive.... For additional possibilities, consult seed companies or nurseries that specialize in plants suitable for desert or dry climate areas."[1]
Alliums
Garlic
- Creole (good for southern USA)
- Asiatic
- Turban
- Chesnok Red
- Siberian
- Spanish Roja
- California Early
- Long Italian
Onion
Walking Onion
Beans
Bush Beans
White Half Runner Snap
Butter Beans
Jackson Wonder Bush
Garbanzo Beans
Ceci
Lima Beans
- Alabama Black-Eyed Butter
- Carolina Sieva
- Christmas
- Fordhook 242 Bush
- Henderson Bush
- Jackson Wonder
- Pima Orange
- Willow Le
Pole Beans
- Blue Coco
- Garden of Eden Romano
- Louisiana Purple Pod
- McCaslan Snap
- Rattlesnake
- Selma Zesta
- Selma Zebra
Tepary Beans
– need warm nights
- Big Fields White
- Black
- Blue Speckled
- Brown Speckled
- Cocopah Brown
- Colonia Morelos Speckled
- Mitla Black
- Pinacate
- Sacaton Brown
- Tohono O’odham White
Beet
“Characteristically, beets are salt- and drought-tolerant crops; however, prolonged and persistent exposure to salt and drought stress results in a significant drop in beet productivity and yield.”[2]
Broccoli
Waltham 29 (when fall-planted)
Chard
– Almost all varieties listed in desert or dry climate catalogs
Corn
- Anasazi Sweet
- Daymon Morgan’s Kentucky
- Butcher
- Hopi Blue Flour
- Hopi Pink
- Oaxacan Green Dent Corn[3]
- Painted Mountain Flour
- Pinky Popcorn
- Silver Queen Hybrid Sweet
- Tennessee Red Cob
Cowpeas
(need warm nights)
Pink-Eye Purple-Hull
Cucumber
- Armenian
- Lemon
Eggplant
Listada de Gandia
Grains
Amaranth
- Mayo
- Red Stripe Leaf
- Tampala
Barley
- Ethiopian Hulless
- Jet
- Milan
Millet
Pearl
Quinoa
– all varieties
Wheat
- Hard Red Spring
- Kamut
- Vaughan Turkey
- White Sonoran
Herbs
- Basil – Mrs. Burns’ Lemon
- Borage
- Catnip
- Chamomile, German
- Chives
- Hyssop
- Lavender
- Lemon Balm
- Mullein
- Oregano
- Rosemary
- Sage (once it’s established)
- Sweet Marjoram
- Thyme
Melon
- Iroquois
- Navajo Yellow
Mustard
– uses less water than many other cultivated vegetables
Southern Giant Curled
Okra
– needs warm nights
- Gold Coast
- Hill Country Heirloom Red
- Jing Orange
Pepper
- Jupiter Red Bell
- Ordoño
Squash
- Cocozelle Zucchini
- Costata Romanesco
- Cushaw Green-Striped
- Dark Star Zucchini
- Iran
- Jumbo Pink Banana
- Lebanese Light Green
Sunflower
Skyscraper — edible seed
Tomato
- Caro Rich
- Pearson
- Pineapple
- Stone
- Yellow Pear Cherry
Watermelon
Black Diamond
Linkdump
Good page on drought and heat resilient food crops:
https://earth911.com/home-garden/climate-resilient-garden-heat-drought-tolerant-veggies/