Eastern Sierra Crowdsourced Heat-Tolerant Vegetable List

This is a crowdsourced list created from the experiences of gardeners throughout the Eastern Sierra. Its purpose is to collect, archive, and share local knowledge about growing vegetables through our challenging summer conditions, so gardeners can learn from what others have tried and found successful. The list is maintained by the local UC Cooperative Extension office in Bishop, California, as an ongoing resource for the Eastern Sierra gardening community.

The vegetables on this list have been successfully grown in the Eastern Sierra and have shown an ability to keep growing or producing through the hottest part of summer. These are primarily warm-season crops that can handle the region’s combination of intense sun, high temperatures, and very dry air.

This is not an exhaustive list, nor does it mean that every variety will perform equally well in every garden. The plants included here are simply ones that have been verified by a local gardener to tolerate Eastern Sierra summer conditions.

Some gardeners may use shade cloth, strategic planting, mulch, careful irrigation, or other techniques to reduce heat stress. Even with these measures, however, an Eastern Sierra garden remains a hot, extremely dry environment. The crops listed here have demonstrated that they can continue to grow or bear under those challenging summer conditions.

A few cool-season vegetables that can hang on a little longer in the late spring's heat are also included.

Heat-Tolerant Vegetable List

Updated August 26, 2026

A Few Comments

Here are a few comments about crops that aren't reflected in the table above.

• Jalapeño and Serrano type peppers all do well in our area, but there are definitely differences by cultivar. We are working to collect specific recommendations to add to the chart.
• Most "wax" peppers do well in the Owens Valley. We have listed some above, but they are usually a safe bet.
• 'Early Girl' tomatoes do slow down in high heat and will stop setting mid-summer. The plant, however, does better than expected and is one of the varieties that comes back quickly once the hot spell is over. 
• Virtually all summer squashes thrive in Owens Valley, but squash bug infestations often affect plants more than our heat.