>>2703980High desert clay? Compost, compost, and compost. It can take a while to amend the soil for fertility loving plants like vegetables. Also, plant clovers and dandelions, unironically. Clovers like clay soil and they grow nitrogen fixing bacteria. When they die, they release the nitrogen back into the soil improving its fertility over time. Dandelions are commonly seen as weeds, but they are actually an incredibly useful and resilient plant. They grow large thick roots called a "taproot" which is strong enough to break through clay soils and bring up the nutrients locked deep within the ground. These roots also help aerate the soil which most plants need and clay soils struggle with. They are also completely edible. Wild Dandelions taste very bitter but commercially grown plants have a milder taste. Of course, they can get real annoying to manage in typical gardens because their seeds will go just about everywhere but they're more of a minor annoyance in a clay garden if you weigh the benefits. There are also plenty of local wildflowers you can grow in the spot which will help build up the local pollinator population. By cultivating these hardy and native plants and slowly mixing in more compost, you can gradually improve your local soil with minimal effort involved besides watering.
If you want to grow some veggies in the meantime then pots or raised beds filled with already fertile dirt added is a good option. Potted plants can be easily moved if the summer heat gets too intense for them.
Here's a good list of plants you can try growing in clay soil:
https://www.americanmeadows.com/content/resources/meadowscaping/best-plants-clay-soilThe only thing you shouldn't do is add sand to the soil, since that could turn the soil into a concrete-like mixture that plants will not grow in. Otherwise, compost compost compost. Get that oasis growing!
