Ongoing drought conditions in the West mean that vegetable
gardeners like myself have to use every trick in the book to keep our
veggies alive. Choosing low water vegetable plants is one way to get by
with minimal irrigation. So using a drip irrigation system instead of
watering overhead or by way of furrows.
What you do with your
soil also makes a big difference in the amount of water your vegetable
will require. Here are a few of the ways I'm prepping my garden soil for
a low water year.
Improve soil texture
Since I
live in a high mountain desert that gets quite hot and dry during the
summer, the best gardening soil for me has always been a compost-rich
loam that leans towards having a bit more clay in it rather than sand.
Well amended soil helps retain moisture and encourages vegetable plants
to grow deeper roots, which will help them survive summer drought when
the watering has to be scaled back.
Remove weeds
Because I'm an organic gardener, part of my soil prep includes turning
over all my beds and running the soil through a sieve to remove weed and
quack grass roots. Weeds will rob garden soil of both nutrition and
moisture which is why it's especially important to stay on top of the
weeding during a low water year. For non-organic gardeners, you can
treat the garden plot with Round Up (following instructions) before
transplanting your seedlings.
Flat surface planting
Even though seed packets recommend planting certain seed varieties in
mounds or on furrows, this style of planting results in water rolling
away from the plant's roots before it has a chance to soak in the soil.
This year, all my large vegetable plants (tomatoes, squashes, peppers,
cukes, etc) will be planted in slight depressions which will concentrate
the water to the roots instead.
Mulching
Mulching
is especially critical during a drought year since it slows down
evaporation, shades the soil, and keeps down the weeds. I've been saving
our used animal bedding (straw and wood pellets) all winter to use as a
mulch for when my plants can go in the ground. A three-to-four inch
layer of organic mulch means that I will be able to get by watering
every other day instead of daily.
In nearly 40 years of having a
vegetable garden, last year was the first time ever that I ran out of
well water halfway through the growing season. Paying attention to how
the garden soil is prepped is the first step in creating a vegetable
garden that can handle the low levels of irrigation water available in a
drought year.
