Since Arizona has been in a drought since the early 1990's , and it doesn't look like that is going to change for a good long time.... I figured its time for a re-evaluation of how things are done here--
The Southwest is NOT lush. European Gardening Techniques are impractical if not in-appropriate for our area.It takes an immense volume of water to keep your plants big, green, and healthy. And most varieties are grown in areas where natural rain or aquifers/ground water is abundant. This posses an immense issue for us high-elevation people. Since a lot of the plants purchased from stores are not usually suited to 'roughing' it with out the perfect soil, perfect watering regimen, etc.. Many cultures around the world still use/ implement Dry-farming techniques to grow their crops, and select seeds/plant varieties that are hardy/ adaptable for the natural climate of the area. Using profuse amounts of water to keep your tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans, etc. from falling over dead is crippling the modern homestead in the Southwest where water resources are scant. We discovered, by accident this year (2017) , that dry farming can actually be done successfully! Thanks to my busy schedule-- I only supplemented plants needing water this year, maybe 1-2x a week. And we got HOT this summer-- triple digits in the High Country this year spurred several devastating wild fires. And our monsoons-- well... if it wasn't raining in every other place BUT our neighborhood-- it was hailing. Stones the size of marbles--to quarter size diameter were common place this year...
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