SW USA Drought.

Is every one still planing their spring gardens with the water restrictions?
there has been no rain to speak of for months and North Texas is planing soon to implement Level 4 restrictions maybe even before spring.

http://www.nbcdfw.com/weather/stories/NTMWD-to-Consider-Stage-4-Water-Restrictions-136414683.html

Even though there are no restrictions where I live, I still plan on planting drought tolerant vegetables in my garden.

Easybake - During one period when we lived in South Florida there were water restrictions, but it did not include the watering of vegetables. You might want to check the regulations to see if watering vegetables is excluded.

I have found that raised beds at least 12" deep need far less water than those of shallower depths. The underlying clay here stays damp, so the roots suck up the water from there.

Oh they wont effect me with my plants in pots on the patio that are hand watered.

I'm thinking a bunch of e-buckets for the veggies with trellises above for growth. You can water every day or as needed, but they won't SEE you doing it. :)

hell - thinking of putting my herbs in e-buckets, too.

but if you put in a soaker hose irrigation on top of the dirt around plants, then cover with a mulch like cypress, then who the hell is going to know you're water, eh? (except your water bill)

SFC,
You are right it will show in your water bill. We are lucky to have a deep well and live near a huge very deep man made lake so we do not have water problems.

Our daughter lives in Alabama and had water restrictions big time but they save even shower water.She also has lasagna garden beds and are heavily mulched.

Belle

Well, I'm not a large tree hugger but I think water is going to be an issue for the future generations if we squander it now. And I don't think the drought is over. At least not for Texas but I watched those parts of TX that weren't under water restrictions last summer and they never slowed down on their water usage. Well... now there are water restrictions and they are up in arms.

But there are things we can do.

If it is ornamental plantings, plant with xeriscaping in mind. There are many plants that require very little water to survive. It may not be lush but we can still garden.

Lasagna gardening does work well. Mulch helps retain the moisture in the soil. Adding water retentive crystals will also help.

In gardening, I've been opting for smaller vegetable plants. I don't need huge cucumbers or tomatoes or... Smaller plants have smaller leaves which means less moisture loss thru evaporation. Smaller fruit size requires less moisture also.

There is a type of bed that can be built that is called Hugelkultur. It is built as either a pit or a pile on top of ground. The base is rotting wood. The dirt and compost added to that. I built three of those beds last summer and didn't water so I could let them prove themselves. One bed sat in the scalding afternoon sun, planted with tomatoes. When the plants were done, I dug down to see what the roots had done. They had grown deep into the chunks of rotting wood. The wood was still retaining moisture so that type of gardening appears very effective.

Last summer, I built shallow beds ( 2 x 8 ) that were framed by landscape timbers. I set them in bright shade. I lined them with a durable plastic and filled them with water. I set my potted plants that I didn't want to lose in them, tightly packing the plants together. This would water the plants from the bottom of the pot. It was a very efficient means of maintaining the moisture levels and I didn't lose a plant.

In this zone/heat, I plant the garden spot where it will receive morning sun, evening shade which helps the plants also.

As Bellieg said, you can harvest household water to use as needed. Many folks use bath/shower water. If you let the water run till it runs hot, set a pan there to catch the cold water instead of it going down the drain. I recycle the pet water for plants. I give them fresh water daily and what was left works fine in potted plants or the garden spot.

Another favorite of mine is harvesting rainwater. You don't have to have gutters or even rain barrels. When it rains, you can set any containers under the eaves and catch runoff. The plants love it far better than city water too.

You can conserve water and still garden. It just takes a bit of thought and effort.

I'm sure many of you have tips and ideas that I haven't thought of also.

So Easybake, in answer to your question

Yes, I am. I have been accumulating vegetable seed cultivars that are dwarf and will take less moisture and less space.

Bloomfly22 ~ I'm happy to hear you are being water conservative even though you have no drought restrictions. What types of drought tolerant vegetables you will be planting?

Honeybee ~ I agree on the raised beds holding more moisture, assuming they have been developed properly.

SoFlaCommercial ~ a soaker hose covered with mulch is a very efficient type of watering. Sprinkler systems loose too much water to evaporation and hand hose watering is hit and miss, applying too much in one spot and not enough elsewhere.

Some water systems are allowing watering and simply enforcing water use by charging more for the higher usage. Therefore if you choose to water your garden, you pay through the nose. When it hits the pocketbook, it makes you think twice.

Please share any other water conservation ideas y'all might have.

This message was edited Jan 8, 2012 7:18 AM

SFC - Have you considered putting in a shallow well? When we lived in Palm Beach County we had one. The iron content was high, so the water was only used for irrigation. I seem to remember there being lots of canals in the area where you live, perhaps you coul pump water from one?

I live in a municipality that has 'city' water, so wells are not allowed.

also - we're in danger of losing our house, so we don't have the money to get do a well.

but then with a well, we'd have to do all the other stuff like adding water softeners, filters, etc so there wasn't so much stuff in the water. I don't know if you remember, but the well water down here smells like rotten eggs.

Rotten eggs means it has sulphur in it. Sulphur won't hurt your plants or you but it sure tastes nasty. lol

If Florida is like Texas, digging new shallow wells is prohibited due to groundwater contamination.

SFC - so sorry to hear that you might be losing your home!

Our well water had no smell. Our home had city water, too, but the well was great for watering the garden.

Another way to reduce the amount of water you use for some plants like shrubs or larger veg is to cut the bottom off a clear plastic juice container, remove the cap, place the container into the soil beside the roots (dig a hole first) then when you water into the container, all the water reaches the roots and no evaporated or ran off the top soil, I use this method all the time for planting shrubs or young tree's, it really does work and cuts down on water from the hose going everywhere but the right place. hope your rain comes soon, wish I could ship our wet weather over your way, we are getting flooded out here, had storms, rain for the past month, hail, snow and 1 hour of sunshine, I feel I am going back to the dark old days, the climate sure is very changeable in the last few years.
Good luck. WeeNel.

P.S. If parts of UK get a water ban, there is no watering of any part of the garden, no car washing, no filling kids paddle pools, or ornamental ponds, they local government comes around with huge big tanks of water for drinking and you take your plastic containers to this tank to fill them up for drinking at home, there are always some people who don't give a monkeys about others and fill dozens of containers at a time and then we read about some elderly person who is without water as there is none left till the next day or a mother with baby who cant make feeds due to the selfish people who over fill there own containers and a week later they are having to pour it out because it is undrinkable, jeeeeees we never seem to learn to think about others eh.
Anyway, hope your drought is passed soon guy's. WeeNel.

Well we got 6 inches of rain in the last few days.it helped some, but lake levels are still way below normal.

nice idea for the shrubs and small trees with containers

A friend of mine had some big Magnolia and Pecan trees in his yard.
he rigged up regular hoses with drip attachments on the end and took a masonry drill with a extra long bit ( he borrowed it) and drilled a couple holes about 3 feet down near each tree and ran the hoses down the holes to water just the root ball a couple gallons/hour. seems to have worked since the trees looked good all summer.

Along those lines, I've read to sink a piece of pipe in the ground when new trees are planted to provide water (by hose) to the depth of the roots. I have also done that in larger, planted containers.

Weenel; Do you have piped water into the house? If so, does the water supple get cut off during a water ban.

I don't think any City would be able to cut off peoples water except for non payment.
they just fine you for using it inappropriately like for washing your car or something frivolous.

#1 motto for gardening on less water usage:

Mulch, mulch, mulch. Then mulch some more.

Prevents soil from crusting, keeps down weeds, slows down evaporation, and if it's an organic mulch that decomposes, adds organic matter to the soil. I can't say enough good things about mulching, especially in hot dry climates.

One exception is a bed that's just been planted with seeds that are yet to germinate, or just now germinating. You want to let the little baby plants get at least two inches tall or so before you add anything more than a very thin layer of soil.