Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway

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Wise G

of a beautiful, coastal Oregon valley. My house and gardens are perched safely above the 100-year flood line, there's a big, reliable well, and if I ever want more than 20 gallons per minu

, thinly soiled hills or gooey, difficult clay as on a tiny fragment of what was once prime farmland. And never does the municipa

ve frequently recalled this experience while learning to dry garden. What follows

n Is the Most Imp

ad a thin mulch to reduce it. But most vegetables can feed deeper, so if wetting the surface can be avoided, a lot of water can be saved. Even sprinkling longer and less frequently helps accomplish that. Half the reason that drip systems are more efficient is that the surface isn't dampened and

w recycled plastic buckets or other large containers can be improvised into very effective drip emitters. Besides, drip tube systems are not t

ing the optimum amount of water to apply from a drip system requires applying substantial, practical intelligence to evaluating the following factors: soil water-holding capacity and accessible depth; how deep the root system

ou drip moisture into a clay soil, though the surface may seem dry, 18 inches away from the emitter and just 3 inches down the earth may become saturated with water, while a few inches deeper

oughly 16 inches of moisture to sandy soil, greatly overwatering a medium that can hold only an inch or so of available water per foot. On heavy clay, a single emitter may wet a 4-foot-diameter circle, on loams, anywhere in between, 5 gallons will cover a 4-foot-

st consider his own unique factors and make his own estimation. All I can do

lanning the Water-W

oosened very deeply without concern for the amount of labor, while fertility and moisture are supplied virtually without limit. Intensive gardening makes sense when land is

must logically ask which vegetable species will give him enough food or more economic value with limited

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nterlibrary

e database listing the holdings of other cooperating libraries throughout the United States. Almost any book published in this century will be promptly mailed to th

and Tom, Dale. Tops

niversity of Okl

tem after another by plowing and deforestation, and its

Ecological, Nutritional and Social Approach to Small-Scale Household

of low-tech food produc

Folly. Norman, Okla.: Univer

kner stresses the vital importance of capillarity. He ex

Soil Science. Eighth Edition. N

science text at a level comfortable

on. Annotated by Donald A. Weaver. Michigan/

vable case that a new epoch of planetary glaciation is coming, caused by an increas

n: A Naturalist in Papago Indian Country

seful Native American

s and Plant Growth. Eighth Edition.

l avoids unnecessary mathematics and obscure terminology. I do not rec

Permanent Agriculture. New York:

igated tree crops that produce cereal-like foods and nuts. Sh

getables West of the Cascades.

regional gard

sting. Portland, Ore.: George

he overuse of compost and a nonideological appro

the Aging, the Busy and the Indolent.

original thesis of

d on Nature's Own Balanced Organic Pasture Feeds. San Diego: R

ped to a high art. Turner maintained a productive organic dairy farm using subsoil

vid K. Todd. The Water Encyclopedia, Second E

erning every possib

ner. Root Development of Vegetable

the amazing depth and extent that vegetab

Agriculture for Countries Under Low Rainfa

gardening, sagely discussing the scientific basis behind the techniques. The