Growing plants during drought condition

[Jstpssng]

I'm happy with the harvest so far even thou we didn't get planted until late May.

That's funny. Up here the ground temps are just getting warmed up by then. The first garden I planted here was on July 4, 2003; in the morning it was just a patch of gray birch about 20 feet tall. I cut the trees, pulled the stumps and tilled the soil with a small CadPlan backhoe I had. After adding compost, by nightfall I had a pretty decent garden in.
Have you ever put your hand under the plastic when the sun has been beating down? it's amazing how much warmer it is.

 

[Yander]

Reading this thread while sitting here listening to a much needed rain... I have been using Hugelkultur for about 4 years now. I learned about it while trying to find low cost raised bed solutions. It has been used in Europe for centuries. The technique can also be used in raised beds, large containers, small containers; pretty much anything. I put wood under my wife's enclosed front flower beds. I use significantly less water. I have two mounds about 5 x 8 x 4 feet tall. Allows me to reach everything planted on them without climbing on them.

I have watered about 3 times this year but probably could have gotten away with not watering at all. Would have yield but maybe not as much. Around here anything that gets a pot, raised bed or large container is going to have wood, sticks, leaves, manure, grass or compost of some form in the bottom half of it.

The only down side to it, it is a little ugly. So I keep my mounds behind my barn and my wife doesn't complain. I say if people don't like what is going on behind my barn, they can stay out of there.

 

[Yander]

I am trying something different this year.
I cut a 3" hole in the center of a 3' square piece of black plastic and planted the tomato in the hole.

The tomato cage helps hold the plastic down and a few pieces of metal around the edges.

For watering, I save the water from the de-humidifier in 5 gallon cans. I set the cans of water in the sun for several hours to warm it up and then give each plant about a gallon.

I'm happy with the harvest so far even thou we didn't get planted until late May.

Sound interesting, would love to see a pic of that. I do a lot of experimental growing just to see what works. This sounds promising.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

Drip irrigation and plastic mulch. I scored rolls of 30" mulch from the local forest products company. It's white on one side, black on the other, and opaque to kill the weeds. I use it white side up.

 

[bigtiller]

Sound interesting, would love to see a pic of that. I do a lot of experimental growing just to see what works. This sounds promising.

Here is one from this morning...

 

[mapper]

Our climate is typically dry most of the summer. We use soaked hoses down each row, water about 30 minutes twice a week, water volume is adjusted to just let the water seep out of the soaked hose, leaving wet strip about 1.5 inches wide under the hose. The surface soil in the aisles stays dry and that discourages weeds. A injector allows for feeding liquid fertilizer as needed.
We cover crop with annual rye and fava beans over winter.

 

[Yander]

Here is one from this morning...

Yeh, your tomatoes look great. I may do this around some of my tomatoes next year to see how it works. I could also see this working great around zucchini and peppers... things that don't vine.

 

[jaxs]

The only down side to it, it is a little ugly. So I keep my mounds behind my barn and my wife doesn't complain. I say if people don't like what is going on behind my barn, they can stay out of there.

"They can stay out of there". That's exactly how me and the little ones feel about the irrigation/fish pond.
Gota to love it.