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RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 1194 days ago

Hi, well I have never had to grow fruit and vege on limited water, but thyme and lemon grass would probably do fine. You could grow potatoes in cages or big mounds with a lot of straw that hold the moisture in so they don't need any/very little watering (gardening Australia have a fact sheet). As for greens, mustard lettuce, amaranth (eat the leaves, don't let it go to seed as it can spread and be a real pain), and maybe some of the indian greens. The problem with greens not getting much water is they get very bitter. Anyway, that is all I can think of.

Good luck.

RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 1194 days ago

If you are able to set up a dripper watering system then you are able to have most of the 'water loving' vegetables and not be wasting water as it is being fed directly to the roots.
Its rather cheap to set up and you are able to water everything at once, saving time as well :)

RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 1193 days ago

Bella83's idea sounds good. Also, using mulch can help conserve water, of course. If you put the drippers under the mulch, you might be able to grow more than you imagined.

As for what to grow, herbs such as thyme, sage, oregano and marjoram handle dry conditions well. Most vegies need water to taste good, but I'd just suggest that you don't plant too much of any one thing and instead start experimenting. Sow seeds of all sorts of vegies and see what happens. Be ruthless. Anything that struggles, get rid of it. Anything that thrives, plant more of it.
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RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 1193 days ago

I've kinda already become a little ruthless about some things - and I'm planning to become more so. According to natural herbal remedies for diabetes - bitter is good. And I don't mind bitter veges - though they do take a bit of getting used to. I love lemon juice unsweetened and I don't mind endives and grapefruit straight.

I've heard about amaranth becoming a pest - but I had considered it as a grain crop at one stage. I don't mind it going a little bit wild around here - I think the sheep will be able to keep it in check. I've got chickens and geese too. I'll check out the different varieties again and do a small planting test patch.

When I can get hold of straw or hay (and I have a good pile of it at the moment) I do mulch my gardens well. The drip system is not an option presently - not with our water tank set up for the garden (using dam water - which might clog up the dripper holes) - though I do hope to set one up eventually (when we can set up another rainwater tank). Finances are prohibitive presently so we have to make use of what we have. I find I can regulate my water usage better by hand watering, though it is time consuming.

I had thyme growing nicely in the front garden until I took the shade away that was protecting it from the full afternoon sun. I thought it would be hardier than that (maybe I can plant it on the morning sun side of a corrugated iron windbreak I've set up around the veg patch). The front garden gets the most water as I run the washing machine water to it. I always get oregano and majoram mixed up with each other - one of them is still doing well in the front garden despite lack of water, I think it's the oregano.
I recently put sage in, I raise the edges of my garden beds to keep the water in where I want it, but with the sage I've planted them on the raised edge because they don't like wet feet - so far the young plants (about 2 inches) are still doing well around my vege patch. I find basil has been hardy too - the perenial basil did well until I left them in the care of my non gardener husband for 2 months over winter.

I have tomatoes coming up from seed that was thrown into the chook pen - these have not been watered at all except when it rains. I decided to mulch around them (though the chooks soon scratched away at this) and see how they progress. Last year a few tomato fruits came up in the same area without much care - though the skin was pretty tough. I was surprised the chooks didn't destroy the tomato plants. I'll probably water these a bit more and fence them off from the chooks when I can get hold of some more chicken wire. I'll have to try and prevent water run off a bit too as the ground slopes a little). Pumpkin came up in much the same way - but because of lack of water they did not produce well either. Lots of fruit - but not very big. So I am experimenting somewhat Ozmac.

I used to have lemon grass at my old home. I might try it again here, when I can get hold of some, I don't see it around much. I have society garlic and a form of chives growing well in the front garden too - the chives are a bit of a pest where I have it, so I've been digging up clumps of it and trying it in other places where I don't mind it spreading (like the chook yard - which has citrus trees growing in it and chives are a good companion plant to these apparently).

I'm trying to get a potato patch going - so far it's still surviving after 2 years of near neglect (though not very productive - my fault), and I do need to mulch this one still - I'll do that asap.

Thanks for all your advise so far

14theroze
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can).

RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 1191 days ago

It seems that, once fully established, the regular mint withstands lack of water. Where I have mine planted it can keep it's roots protected near a concrete slab and some wooden sleepers. It's on the east facing side of a shed in a sheltered fern house but has crept to the north of the building (under the base of the fern house). In the same area, and, as with the mint, protected from the wind by fern house walls made of perspex windows and boards (the shade cloth has not been added to cover the roof, yet) is a cape gooseberry that is doing very well - though also neglected concerning watering.
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Even the hard, dull, dry ground harbours life - which is brought to the surface with the fresh touch of drenching rain (or the humble watering can).

RE: What kind of veges will tolerate limited watering?

Posted 762 days ago

Just intending on where you live the pineapple plant is a great plant to grow it needs little water at all it likes the full sun and doesnt like water logged roots so dont water to much
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Cheers,
Triggy