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10/01/2006: "Our First Dryland Garden"

Nate and I moved into the Living Green Farmhouse in April of this year. One of our very first goals was to start up a garden. Not just any garden, a 1/3 acre non-irrigated experimental garden. We wanted to test out different varieties of our favorite food plants, to see which ones could grow without standard irrigation in our dry summers.



We broke ground on Earth Day, April 22, tilling up 1/3 acre of the pasture. I had to do the first pass with the tiller because Nate’s arm was still on the mend from his biking accident. We found the tilling easy enough that Nate could do the subsequent passes without undue strain on his bones. We also found that slowly walking behind the tiller, uprooting the grasses and turning the soil, to be very meditative and relaxing.

Over the next few weeks, Nate and I planted several varieties of squash, corn, beans, melons, tomatoes, sunflowers and brassicas in the dry garden. All of these were pre-germinated on the kitchen counter in old cat food containers. This gave the seedlings a head start on reaching through drying soil to find its summer’s water supply below. We also planted potatoes and sweet potatoes.


Nate was inspired by the book “Gardening When It Counts”, by Steve Solomon. (http://www.amazon.com/Gardening-When-Counts-Growing-Mother/dp/086571553X/sr=8-1/qid=1159742916/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-9265777-4220844?ie=UTF8&s=books). Solomon discusses the principles of dry gardening: establishing the garden plot early while there is an abundance of moisture in the soil, spacing plants far enough apart so that they do not compete with each other for water throughout the summer, and keeping the soil surface clear of weeds, which also compete for water.


My friend, Kelly, and I made a few scarecrows to try and help control the bird population. We found that crows were not a problem, but quail really enjoy tender corn seedlings. And they have no respect for a towering scarecrow.



To give the plants a nutritional boost in this new soil, we supplied them with various organic fertilizers in solution. The fertilizers were dissolved in 5 gallons of water, and then allowed to drain out through a hole drilled in the bucket. These buckets were set at the base of each plant. Steve Solomon refers to this method as “fertigation”. The small hole caused the water to drain slowly enough that most of it went deep into the soil, where most of the plants roots were. The corn, sunflowers, beans and potatoes received no fertigation at all.

Towards July, we started to eat from the garden. I particularly enjoyed eating bean pods fresh off the vine. Gold Nugget cherry tomato plants bore copious amounts of tasty yellow fruits. The Costata Romanesco zucchini performed very well with minimal fertigation and overwhelmed us early on! Early Yellow Crookneck did very well also, though we didn’t enjoy the flavor as much. The Sundak sunflowers were dazzling with their huge heads and golden colors.


The corn was a breeding project in partnership with a local plant breeder. This material, an early flint corn, performed fairly well given the dryland conditions. It was a joy to watch it grow, flower and make its ears. The kernels are a beautiful mixture of bright golden-yellow and scarlet red. The plants were early enough to mostly dry the ears in the field. We’re looking forward to some delicious polenta from the kernels not being saved for seed, and to next year’s progress on this project.




We were completely overwhelmed by the summer squash. Next year we’re planning on planting one or two, not four. The winter squash are still ripening in the field. The best performer appears to be Sunshine F1, which has produced 4-5 fruits per vine. It has a bright, cheery fruit color and the leaves did not show as much temporary wilting on hot days as some of the other varieties. Sweet Meat is also making a decent yield, but has smaller leaves and shorter vines than the variety has in irrigated circumstances. We tried several Delicata types, and all performed reasonably.


Among other squash, we tried Guatemalan Blue Banana, Cinderella, Long Island Cheese, Black Futsu and Jumbo Pink Banana. We’re not really sure what to expect from these plants, since we’ve never grown them before! But my, are they interesting! Here is our friend Marshall helping us tame a wild Jumbo Pink Banana fruit!


One of the biggest treats we discovered this year was Noir des Carmes cantaloupe. This is a French heirloom variety. The fruits were exceptionally fine textured and soft, but not mushy. Juicy and sweet, they had a rich, musky flavor and heavenly scent when ripe. The heavy perfume of these melons filled the house when opened. They performed fairly well in the dry garden and Nate is very keen to grow them again next year.

After the corn harvest, we cleared the field of beans, corn stalk and potatoes. We cultivated the weeds and spread gypsum to correct a sulfur deficiency. Then we broadcast wheat and oats as a cover crop and forage for Queen Aura. We’re just now starting to harvest the delectable leaves from the kale that we planted in May. Hopefully they will continue to give us food through the rainy season. The wheat and oats are about three inches tall and the garden feels ready for winter.