Arizona has a unique climate in that the growing season is early in the Spring, and the dormant season is during the heat of the Summer. The best advice to growing vegetables would be from your local Master Gardeners or nursery. A raised bed shaded from the afternoon sun can produce lettuce, tomatoes, herbs, and cucumbers but when to plant and what to plant depends on what part of the state you live. This is why your local growers will know best. Keep growing, Marianne Binetti