Low to no RAIN

[The Future]

Any thoughts on navigating extended dry spells without irrigation?

For the second year running, we have experienced an unexpected dry spell.  In the last 7 weeks we have had just 1.4 inches of rain when we normally would have about 6.8 inches.  80% below the norm.  The good news is that we has rains ahead of the norm for jan - mar and most of my plants were established then and have made it through this dry period.  I have lost some squash, about 20% of them (I restart them with a single direct seed) but the tomatoes and most other things are doing ok.  Chard is had about enough and is wilting daily.  I have been transplanting new crops in - more squash, watermelon, melons - and them seem to be doing ok also if I mud them in.  I am using mycorhizzal inoculant combined with dried molasses and it seems to be doing the trick.  The lastest squash I put in (35) and growing fast and look healthy.  Only lost 1.  The ground has become so dry - of we have had warm weather too - that rather large cracks are showing up in my beds.  I haven't noticed anything like this is prior years.  I know one commercial gardner without a water supply who just gave up last year. 

I am about to take on another plot that is double he size of my existing spaces with not water supply (well it is there but do to straining water situation govt moratorium on connecting them).  Quiet as it is kept, June gives an inch of rain per week on average here.  August (the hottest month) too.  Will plant some squash and melons there (later I know) and see how they fare with only rain.  The plan is too have whatever I am putting in done early next year so if we get anothe dry spell then have already gotten their roots down.

And the items surviving this dry spell, their offspring should be prepped for that...

[silverseeds]

Being that you are talking about a normally wet area, that is extra dry, it is a bit harder. Because for me where it is ALWAYS dry, I just do certain things, as a matter of course. For instance, Im looking to grow much of my grains in the winter, when water is more regular.....

you have a long growing season, even if it continues to get drier, Im betting with the right crops, you can readily find a long enough time period that is wet in which to grow..... I need more details of your plans, intentions etc.....

anyway, the basic stuff, is mulch. actually this serves many purposes. Many say this attracts pests, and gives them a place to live, but Ive seen others in the same areas, saying that isnt an issue for them. certainly hasnt been an issue for me, but somehing to be aware of. Use pebbles if thats true for you. Or even fist sized rocks.

the SUNLIGHT, more then the heat cause evaporation. keep that in mind as well.

But knowing nothing of your conditions, or intentions, about all I could say is a good mulch layer, whether it is straw, leaves, pebbles fist sized rocks, plastic(although the soil likes to breath, plastic isnt the best)

[Wellspring]

anyway, the basic stuff, is mulch. actually this serves many purposes. Many say this attracts pests, and gives them a place to live, but Ive seen others in the same areas, saying that isnt an issue for them.

the SUNLIGHT, more then the heat cause evaporation. keep that in mind as well.

I concur regarding mulch.  I don't know about you Future, but I get tree companies to deliver truck-loads of wood chips (mostly small) that I've put over every open surface front and back gardens.  I've discovered that over a couple of seasons, a lot of worm action at the surface.  The only pests it harbors in my area are slugs and sow bugs.  I go hunting with a headlamp at night now and then to gather up slugs/snails for my chickens.  And I put copper strips around strawberries and the like to keep them out.

[opsec]

And I put copper strips around strawberries and the like to keep them out.

Would stripping a length of electrical cord and staking down the bare copper wire around the perimeter of a garden keep slugs out?

[Atash Hagmahani]

I can't help with strategy, other than to suggest evaluating crops in terms of tolerance of climactic variability. We've been blessed with decades of relatively warm, relatively stable weather patterns, that have been reverting to the NORM of destabilization.

Apparently much of Utah just got snow, and Spokane froze last night. Expect the unexpected vis a vis weather, I'm afraid.

[silverseeds]

Also after you water or it rains, throw down a light covering of dry soil..... Like 3/8 of an inch or so.

this inhibits evaporation of the water. If you used pebbles or rocks for the top dressing(using mulch and some pebbles or rocks would be ideal if you have the resources) then the dust mulch would not help much, but if mulch or soil is the surface, then use the dust mulch.....

[silverseeds]

Apparently much of Utah just got snow, and Spokane froze last night. Expect the unexpected vis a vis weather, I'm afraid.

It is ALWAYS best to expect the unexpected, in regards to growing your own food. It can be a very rewarding task. But if you RELY on it, you have to get it right. It is prudent to cover many bases. For grains and legumes, maybe winter, and spring habit, of various types. along with wild types. With legumes, you might try peas, favas, and other cool season types, along with runner beans, which can be perennial, and lima or common beans... and others for warmer regions. also there are trees with edible bean like pods. Might not want them as part of your standard diet, but they might produce many years, other crops fail...... grow a smaller patch of things you dont eat, maybe just enough to have seed in case you find a reason you need to grow it.....

[opsec]

Apparently much of Utah just got snow, and Spokane froze last night. Expect the unexpected vis a vis weather, I'm afraid.

I've been noticing this lately. Snow in places where it normally has no business being in...what is it almost June now? I wonder if the Iceland volcano has anything to do with this.

[MnJRutherford]

The earth is changing and the answers are not going to come easily.  One of the things I like about having this sort of cooperative communication system is that options can be presented from so many different aspects and situations.  At the moment, we don't have watering issues though we will by this time next year if things don't change over the next few seasons. 

Our solution has been to plant trees and large shrubs like mad.  If I can get the accessions I want from GRIN, we'll be putting in a lot of brambles around the garden plots as well. 

My notion is to bring in as much shade as possible yet still allow for full sun on the "plot" areas.  The trees will also provide the material for increasing amounts of deep mulch as time goes by, adding to the ability of holding water and reducing the growth of "undesirables".  Like my current nemesis, horse nettles.

[Beeherder]

Just because we have enjoyed the warmest most stable weather these past 150 years does not mean that is the normal. The year with no summer 1815 had snow in all the known colonies that summer and freezing temperatures all through the summer. The next year was hardly better 1816. I wonder how those times of weather hardship are recorded in the amerindian oral histories?

So the thread about manual harvesting of grain may become very important if we have unstable weather. Grains are the only things i can think of that store well over those kind durations. Now about those cold frames over raised beds, ...

It seems we have satisfied the ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times" so its a good thing i'm curious.

[The Future]

In 1975, we hade only 37 inches of rain, 33% below the norm.  Our dry spell continues and despite the fact that in Feb we were well ahead of the normal for that time period TYD, for the year we are now 33% below the norm.  In other words, the last 3 months are less than half the normal rain.  The last 2, 80% below.  I swear, even the weather forecasters may be getting some type of wishful thinking.  Yesterday they predicted rain for the next 5 days.  Today the forecast is back to at least 5 more dry days...this a great test for drought proof crops, especially given the heat and high humidity.  No rain in sight....

[opsec]

If you live close to the shore, you might want to get a desalinator. They are expensive though.

[Dame]

Rainfall here is generally very low (ave is 12" per year).  Grains will grow well with this amount of moisture if they are planted deeply.  Poppy seed needs even less moisture but needs good protection (mulch cover) to get started. 

Wind is more drying than sunlight.  Low shrubs to stop the wind at ground level can be very useful, however if much higher than about 3 feet they dry out the soil through the moisture lost to the wind through the shrubbery.  A really inexpensive mulch although some what hard work is to use a hand tool to fluff up the top half inch or so of the soil between the rows.  This will prevent moisture loss as the top will dry out while the uncultivated layer underneath will not have moisture wicked out of it.  This is not a good idea if there is no wind break and/or the small plants are not yet established.  Letting small annual weeds thrive to lawnmower height works for the time when the new seeds are germinating and establishing. 

Large seeded and deeply planted crops such as beans and corn planted as much as three inches deep work well.  Make the row spacing extra wide so that the moisture retained in the soil is providing for less foliage.  The plants will develop root systems to reach the moisture. 

Start seedlings in a moisture proof frame raised bed.  Six inches works well and leave room to cover with a moisture proof clear cover.  I like shrink wrap around a lid frame (cheap, quick and readily available)  Also hail/wind/downpour  resistant and easy to fix a hole or make vents should they be needed.  Sew heavily in short rows and mulch with preferably straw because it does not compact.  Add a few big rocks/bricks and seed along the edges to retain more moisture.  Hand water two or three times a day to maintain germination levels of moisture in the shallow seeding bed.  Water to get four feet by four feet of germination bed going can be less than a gallon per day.  Transplant when 2-4 true leaves appear at appropriate to species intervals.  Water once after transplanting (2-4 ounces per plant) sparingly and use a collar for the first week to 10 days.  Toilet tissue tubes work well for most things. 

Last year I got a good cucumber harvest with a minimum water drip tape on a long row watering just enough to keep the top of the soil damp in a strip about 4 inches wide daily.  Then about 30% more heavily once the fruit set.  Low volume drip tape is very cheap (3 cents per foot) and will work at 4 psi pressure.  A five gallon pail on a chair should generate sufficient pressure for flat or down hill applications for a hundred feet of tape.

We are at the end of a 10 year drought even for us.  We have had 4 times the average rainfall for the past 2 1/2 months.  Fortunately we have what is called good drainage.  We may get some wash outs but flooding is not an issue.  The downside is I could use some info on how to garden in heavy rainfall 2-3 inches per week and way less sunlight than I am used to.         

[The Future]

This year is proving so far to be equally off from prior years.  So far this year we have had only 8 inches of rain.  Normally at this point we would have 12.5.  The lowest rainfall on record for the last 50 years is 37 inches.  The average is 55 inches.  If I extrapolate 8.06 inches for YTD across the rest of the year (yes I know these are not straight line realities) we would end the year at 38.7 inches - not far off the 50 year low.

For the house, we've bought 9 loads so far this year (900 imperial gallons each) as our tank was low.  Conservation is a must.

[darwinslair]

Do you have the ability to put in gutters and rain barrels capable of holding hundreds of gallons?  having to buy water in order to keep crops going seems...... inefficient.

Tom