For those who lost gardens in the drought

In the past I have put pots or gal cans with hole in them buried by tomato and pepper plants for water, it helps some in that the water has a chance to get to the roots before it evaporates as surface watering will.

The grasshoppers have taken most things the last two years, tomatoes and peppers won't set fruit over 80 degrees as the pollen is killed, some shade does help, I planned to plant sunflowers in alternating rows last year but that didn't happen. That would have given some shade. I did have some pepper plants in screen cages and some with tomato cages covered in row cover to try to keep the hoppers off, the plants in those did well and produced well after the cool down finally came.

I also plant in tires as they will hold the water closer to the root system and I don't have to water more space than absolutely needed. Also gives support to the cages as I make them to fit inside the tires.

Okra is becoming a thing of the past for me, fire ants love to drill a hole and fill the pods, when you cut them you can have a handfull of fire ants before you know what happened.

My soil is mostly whiterock(limestone) dust with organic matter mixed as well as I can get it, but it doesn't last very long.

Ed

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"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness."
Thomas Jefferson to George Washington 1787

For us it wasn't the drought: it was the heat.

I actually paid the kids to help me water, because it was so hot I could not do it by myself. That did not matter to the plants that usually thrive in Kansas: after a certain temperature the pollen in the tomatos die. We only got a couple of peppers.

Actuall, I cannot complain about my garden because I got okra, watermelons, and mustard greens and not everyone here did. Usually watermelon and okra yield poorly and are delicate where I live, tbut the heat that ruined the tomatos and peppers made the okra and water melons very happy indeed!

Yes! This is why my garden did poorly! I picked varieties that do well for me in Kansas' NORMAL summer, but with the heat last summer a good part of my garden just got sunburned!

Okra is becoming a thing of the past for me, fire ants love to drill a hole and fill the pods, when you cut them you can have a handfull of fire ants before you know what happened.


Ed[/QUOTE]

UGH. Fire ants. They invade my soaker hoses, but not my okra pods. I guess I should keep the soakers to save my okra. It is irritating though, to get stung while trying to switch water hoses. If I cut into a fire ant filled okra pod, I'd be

In my community there was a watering ban: hand watering only (hand-carried buckets or hand-held hose), no lawn watering or car washing. I carried a lot of water, but mostly to trees & bushes to save perennial plants. Garden vegetables came in a poor second.

I keep bottles of alcohol by the front and back doors. I do gardening in warm weather in shorts and flip flops, not that I like the style, but I found it is easier to knock fire ants off bare skin than out of boots and wranglers. When I get stings/bites, I pour alcohol over the area and no problems, any I miss will make blisters.
Ed

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"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness."
Thomas Jefferson to George Washington 1787

Here at my place it's not so much that its lack of water. It's that the dryer it gets, the more insect to battle. There was so many grasshoppers last summer it wasn't doing any good to spray. I finally gave up and just let'm have it. When my pea pods got big enough I had to quit spraying them and when I did, the grasshoppers devoured them in one day. Same with my spinach, I had to quit spraying to harvest, then I lost everything. The grasshoppers even ate all the leaves off my standard, 12 - 14 foot tall apple and peach trees.

This year I'm just fencing everything off and just gonna raise goats and chickens to control weeds and insects. I might do this for a couple of years before I ever get back into gardening again.

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r.h. in oklahoma

Raised a country boy, and will die a country boy.

I do the PVC thing every year with my tomatoes. It works really well for me. The leaves don't get wet, and it cuts WAY back on weeding because I'm not watering the surface of the ground. Much more efficient use of water, less waste.

Having said that, and as Terri said, it wasn't the lack of water that got me in the drought... it was the killer heat! Everything bolted way too early, so production was way down.

Am itching to get back in the dirt... spring fever has a'hold on me!! Am hoping for a less intense heat this summer.

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I built my raised beds under the trees. My mother ( a traditional row farmer ) had a fit and told me I was crazy as a bat. My tomatoes and peppers were very productive and beautiful. It is just getting to hot down here for fruit to sit out in the sun. My plants received dappled sun light all thru the day. I am strategically placing nut trees around my farm with the intention of growing crops underneath their protective shade.

I have been studying alternative ways of gardening. This year, I am going to experiment with building berms. You take all your fallen wood and brush, pile it up and cover it with straw and dirt. It is supposed to soak up water like a sponge and is working out in very dry areas of the country. Our winters and springs are wet here, but the summers are turning hot and dry. I am excited to try out new things and see how they work.

Well, I'm curious how you irrigate without water? You wouldn't be able to catch much on 4" a year, and any lake or tank would dry up fast.

Here, the lake we get our water from is not being replenshed so the whole area is under severe water restrictions -- once a week where I live. I have the capability of storing 2600 gallons of rainwater, but no rain, no catchment. Also, as others have said, 100+ weather for months on end, nothing sets. I usually plant a mixed green garden in late September/ early October and eat greens all winter long. This winter has been so mild the lettuce and spinach all bolted before Christmas. The only green I have left is Swiss Chard, which is doing fairly well.

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I am battling the same as all of yall. Heat and lack of water in the soil. It is dry dust 12 inches down so no matter how much you water it is not doing much but keeping the plant alive. They will make in the cooler part of the year if you can keep them alive in the heat. I have top rail fence posts. Some are hooped and some are like an a frame. I use these and sahde cloth to help deflect some of the heat. This yaer I am incorperating wood chips (deep) to retain mosture for the root system. I am putting in Drip irrigation to use my water. I also built a rain water harvester to collect what rain comes. I currently have 500 gallons to use. Good forune to yall.

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I think alot of you will find that gardening can still be successful if you adapt and adopt some of the cultural practices we use in the desert southwest. We are above 100 degrees for5 months straight. Hell at times it doesnt hardy drop below 100 degrees at night! Still we grow in abundance. We dont try to grow tomoates, brocolli, etc in the summer, it just doesnt work. Squash of all types. corn, melons, etc shrug off 115 degrees with no issues. We DEEP mulch with straw and set up drip irrigation systems on timers. It can be done folks, you just have to make adjustments.

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Belfrybat we have a well. First time on one for me! There are no shallow wells here I do know that much.

Just checked, our well is 165 feet

City water was expensive, but we watered regularly. We deep mulched. We did everything we could, but the garden didn't survive the summer, with a few exceptions- the Jerusalem artichokes, and some of my herbs, and my wildflower bee garden. They are all fine, still. But we lost tomatoes, peppers, squashes... it was terrible. We are still working on amending our soil, so it isn't great yet, but getting there. I think we'll be doing a lot more container gardening from now on.

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My well is about 200' deep. Pretty shallow for this area, actually. Some places have 800' wells with less than 2GPM.

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If you get wind, you could get a windmill, and never have to worry about power to get water from your well.i love the setup Dorothy Ainsworth set up at her place!

http://dorothyainsworth.com/wind/windmills.html

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Popeye

That would be considered shallow around here. Mine was 185' at the last place I lived and it went dry during our last drought 6-7 years ago. I understand it's bone dry now. But drill any deeper and you hit brackish water.

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I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it. Attributed to Voltaire

Another thing we have to worry about is sunlight. Many don't understand that the southwestern US is in the SUN BELT. Even parts of LA. The sun IS brighter and hotter here than further north and east.

I will build small berms around rows and flood the rows, areas about 2 x 10 feet roughly with double rows of beans, single rows of okra, etc to keep water near roots, search Zuni gardening to get the idea. Shallow soil keeps me from digging down so i build up and around.
Ed

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"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness."
Thomas Jefferson to George Washington 1787

Common Tater, only time we get wind is when there's a bad bad storm. The topography of this area protects us from a lot of wind and storms that hit. Of course it means we miss the rains at times.