Sonoma County has a Mediterranean climate with a hot, dry summer. And, while we may have an occasional fall/winter downpour—or, even, a rare El Niño winter, scientists predict that an overall drought condition will persist throughout California for many years. You may be wondering if you can have a food garden with limited available water. The Food Gardening Specialists (FGS) of the UCCE Sonoma Master Gardeners believe that the answer is, “Yes!” All you need to do is to scale planting to your family’s likes and needs, and to apply water-wise strategies to your vegetable garden.
Learn strategies to grow a food garden with less water in the video created by the Food Garden Specialists of the UC Master Gardeners of Sonoma County.
Video: Growing a Thriving Vegetable Garden with Less Water (time 7:16)
Instructions and resources for creating a food garden with less water
To complement the video are a schematic of the planting plan for the 4x8-foot bed and a drip irrigation instruction and shopping list for the system recommended in the video:
Instructions and Shopping List for Drip Irrigation for 4 x 8 Foot Vegetable Bed
For more detailed information about food gardening with less water, see the following publications from the Food Garden Specialists of the UC Master Gardener Program of Sonoma County:
- Food Gardening with Less Water (186 KB)
- A More In-Depth Look at Food Gardening with Less Water (249 KB)
- Drought-Resistant Crops and Varieties (154 KB)
- How Much Water Does My Food Garden Need? (185 KB)
- Worksheet for “How Much Water Does My Food Garden Need?" (22 KB)
- Drip Irrigation in the Food Garden (186 KB)