X is for Xeriscape

 

April marks the 15th anniversary of my blog, so during the A-Z blogging challenge, I will be sharing previous posts from over 2,100 I have written.

I didn't have much to choose from for the letter X from previous years. Here's one on xeriscaping that I did for the letter X during the A-Z Challenge in April 2021. Just in case you're not familiar with the term, xeriscaping is a gardening method that conserves water.

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X is for Xeriscape Vegetable Gardening

Fig trees like dry feet, so they would be good for xericaping.
(I know. Figs are a fruit, not a vegetable.)

 If someone had asked me if xeriscaping was compatible with vegetable gardening, I would have said no, at least not for the vegetables I'm familiar with. I would have been wrong. There are some vegetables that will do okay without lots of water. With a bit of poking around, I found information that will be useful to me while gardening here, even though, on paper, we have adequate rainfall. The problem is it's all an average, and we usually have a long dry spell at some point in the summer. Here are a few tips I learned about growing vegetables without much water.

Miss Lander's oregano

--There are many herbs that do well in dry conditions. Oregano, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, and lavender are some of them. Currently, I am not growing any herbs, but I have had good luck with oregano, rosemary, and lavender in the past. They thrived in the "plant and forget" environment I provided for them.

--Plant vegetables that mature quickly, so they will be ready before the long dry part of summer arrives. Good ones for this are radishes, broccoli, cauliflower, leaf lettuce, and beets. I have all of these growing now. I got them in earlier than last year, so maybe I will have a better yield before the warmer, drier weather sets in.

Miss Lander's sweet potatoes

--Okra, sweet potatoes, and muskmelon do well in drought. I won't be growing any of these since they're not my favorite.

 --Raised beds and/or well-tilled soil allow roots to grow deeper, so the plant will be less affected by no rain. We put in raised beds last year and tilled the soil below them before we filled them. The soil in them is a big improvement over the native rocky soil.

 --Mulching is a good way to retain moisture. We mostly use straw for this, and we have some leftover from last year.

 --Legumes do not need as much water as many vegetables. We're growing peas now, but not sure we will have room for any of the warmer weather ones. 

--Install a rain barrel to collect water to use later. Ward installed a rain barrel last year for my birthday. It has been very handy this spring for watering the new plants.

So how about that? I am already doing some of the things recommended for xeriscape gardening. I was just doing them to make things easier.

How much rainfall do you have where you live? What do you do about watering plants?

Sources:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/xeriscape/integrating-vegetables-and-herbs-into-the-xeriscape-garden.htm

https://www.rainharvest.com/blog/?p=474

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeriscaping#:~:text=Xeriscaping%20is%20the%20process%20of,eliminates%20the%20need%20for%20irrigation.&text=In%20some%20areas%2C%20terms%20such,smart%20scaping%20are%20used%20instead.

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Until next time...