The Project Gutenberg EBook of Gardening Without Irrigation: or without
much, anyway, by Steve Solomon

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway

Author: Steve Solomon

Posting Date: August 8, 2009 [EBook #4512]
Release Date: October, 2003
First Posted: January 28, 2002

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GARDENING WITHOUT IRRIGATION ***

Produced by Steve Solomon. HTML version by Al Haines.

Cascadia Gardening Series

Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway

Steve Solomon

CONTENTS

Chapter

1 Predictably Rainless Summers
2 Water-Wise Gardening Science
3 Helping Plants to Need Less Irrigation
4 Water-Wise Gardening Year-Round
5 How to Grow It with Less Irrigation: A-Z
6 My Own Garden Plan
7 The Backyard

Introduction

Starting a New Gardening Era

First, you should know why a maritime Northwest raised-bed gardener
named Steve Solomon became worried about his dependence on
irrigation.

I'm from Michigan. I moved to Lorane, Oregon, in April 1978 and
homesteaded on 5 acres in what I thought at the time was a cool,
showery green valley of liquid sunshine and rainbows. I intended to
put in a big garden and grow as much of my own food as possible.

Two months later, in June, just as my garden began needing water, my
so-called 15-gallon-per-minute well began to falter, yielding less
and less with each passing week. By August it delivered about 3
gallons per minute. Fortunately, I wasn't faced with a completely
dry well or one that had shrunk to below 1 gallon per minute, as I
soon discovered many of my neighbors were cursed with. Three gallons
per minute won't supply a fan nozzle or even a common impulse
sprinkler, but I could still sustain my big raised-bed garden by
watering all night, five or six nights a week, with a single, 2-1/2
gallon-per-minute sprinkler that I moved from place to place.

I had repeatedly read that gardening in raised beds was the most
productive vegetable growing method, required the least work, and
was the most water-efficient system ever known. So, without adequate
i