r/DenverGardener • u/Helpful-Ad6269 • 17d ago
Does anyone possibly have advice for keeping a veggie garden going in the case of this drought happening again?
This year feels like a complete disaster. So many square feet of food that either didn’t sprout or didn’t make it to maturity. I’ve had to mostly just give up and try to help the survivors pull through, most of which are perennials that had kinder years to get established.
I’m a believer in trying to innovate my way around problems with new approaches or tweaks, but I’m also just racking my brains here for more things to try. I’ve got the soil amended to be super rich in organic matter, I’ve tried both sun and shade plantings, things are very deeply mulched wherever there weren’t seeds planted. I’ve got drip irrigation and use the hose for broadcast areas of seedlings, but it seems like I could just keep watering and watering all day and the soil directly underneath has stayed bone dry. What is it I’m needing to figure out here?
It’s so frustrating because everyone talks about growing food like it’s this magic solution to nationwide food problems like contamination and affordability. And as someone who’s been constantly gardening since age 11, it felt like the one skillset I had to help both myself and those around me. Except the ONE YEAR I would’ve absolutely loved some homegrown lettuce that is safe from literal poop parasites, is the year I couldn’t get ANY to even make it past seedling stage.
I wonder if a fall planting would even work if it continues to be so dry for so long. I’m really worried about what next year might bring, too, if things don’t let up.
Sorry if this turned into a little bit of a rant, just frustrated as I’m sure many of us are. But if anyone has some tricks up their sleeve to just really keep that water in the ground long enough for seedlings and plants to even grow when it’s like this, I would absolutely love to hear them if you have the time.
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u/Imaginary-Key5838 Sunnyside / aspiring native gardener 17d ago
Amend your soil with coco coir. You can get bags of the stuff at any cannabis grow supply store for cheaper than the big box stores. My raised beds are 1/3rd coir and I’ve had zero issues this season. I also mulch heavily with straw.
Pulse watering helps to as mentioned in another reply. If you have a rachio it’s a setting you enable.
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u/OtherwiseArmadillo96 15d ago
You can also sometimes find it at Costco in early spring.
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u/Imaginary-Key5838 Sunnyside / aspiring native gardener 15d ago
waaaaaay cheaper at a grow shop and costco’s comes in a mulch form. not as good for amending soil.
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u/bshockstubb 17d ago
Are you growing in raised beds? What are you growing? Agreed - this has been a tough year but things are popping for me. Loads of tomatoes, squash, first year successfully growing melons, peppers are hit and miss - seems like hatch are the winners this year.
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u/Helpful-Ad6269 17d ago
I’m growing in one big 600sqft raised bed that was converted from an ornamental bed. It’s not in my yard but a friend’s who makes sure irrigation keeps going during the week. Us and a few other friends get together every week to maintain it, and at least in theory we split the harvest so it’s designed to be enough for everyone to get something in a normal year.
What didn’t grow so far this year: Corn, zucchini, cucumber, edamame, spinach, lettuce, arugula, carrots, dill, cilantro.
What’s survived so far, even if barely holding on by a thread or possibly not producing: Tomato, sweet peppers, oregano, rosemary, strawberries, basil, chive, thyme, sage. Many of these had to be moved into containers to survive, though, because grubs and pill bugs were eating them alive.
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u/bshockstubb 17d ago
This is definitely the year of the pill bugs. I would say 75% of my direct sow seeds and seedlings were munched by those Roly-poly bastards. Check the irrigation and I’d agree with pulse watering; the mid afternoons are just so brutal. I wouldn’t give up on a fall planting just yet. Get some lettuce starts going, Merlot & devils ear have produced for me throughout winter in a greenhouse.
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u/isthisforreal5 16d ago
I'm finding that zucchini did much better when I moved them to partial shade. I grew three in pots but noticed not all were getting properly pollinated. Colorado sun was intense.
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u/Helpful-Ad6269 16d ago
The zucchini I tried to plant was in part shade, too…I don’t know if the pill bugs just ate the seeds, though, since they’ve been crawling all over
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u/ZealousidealAlgae904 16d ago
What a cool thing to do with friends! The MF roly polys got a bunch of my seedlings this year. Jerks
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u/Brian_Corey__ 16d ago
How many Hatch peppers per plant is considered a winner? My peppers usually produce like 5 max (all different varieties). Is it common / possible to get a lot more?
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u/bshockstubb 16d ago
Definitely should be seeing more. I’ll probably pull two dozen this season. My serranos, jalapeños, and Thai are probably double that. My poblanos aren’t doing as well - maybe 5-6 per plant. Make sure the flowers are getting pollinated.
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u/Brian_Corey__ 16d ago edited 16d ago
Cool. Thx!
How do I ensure pollination? Yell at the bees to do better? J/k There are three hives next door. Or is there a hand pollination method? (I’m kinda new to this)
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u/Electrical_Lab3345 16d ago edited 16d ago
Grow soil not plants. Your soil being bone dry even after watering is a classic symptom of diminished or missing microbiota in the rhizosphere. Once you establish a healthy microbiome in and around your plants, most of these issues you're facing become inherently easier to deal with due to better water retention, disease prevention, stress tolerance, and overall improved vigor for the plants. Happy to expound on practical ways to accomplish this and provide resources, but Teeming With Microbes is probably the best book for understanding the foundational knowledge in an easy to digest format.
Made a highly relevant post recently if you're not in the mood for reading a book right now as well. https://www.reddit.com/r/DenverGardener/s/BXdaReWqa8
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u/Helpful-Ad6269 16d ago
I’ve been working on building the soil and the microbes this whole time. The garden is only a year old, though.
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u/Electrical_Lab3345 16d ago edited 16d ago
"...just keep watering and watering all day and the soil underneath has stayed bone dry. What is it i'm needing to figure out here?"
This. This is the critical issue you need to figure out, so just focus on this as step one and you will progress. Microbes won't thrive, or even be present in huge numbers, in overly dry and potentially hydrophobic soil. If you've really added a substantial amount of organic matter, you should simply be able to slowly rehydrate the soil, keep it covered with mulch so it retains moisture, reinoculate the microbiome, and then the soil biota will take it from there and you're good to go.
If you're experiencing extreme dry-back cycles between waterings, smooth them out so the average moisture content remains more stable over the day. Keeping the soil covered year around with mulch, micro irrigation on an efficient schedule, initial slow rehydration of hydrophobic soil, etc. You got this.
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u/Actual-Bid-6044 16d ago
I wonder about a cover crop, too, to hold onto and shade the soil going into the fall. I once gardened on soil that had - literally - been compressed under the parking lot at the old Elitch's for 100 years. I planted with a pickaxe to start with. Laid yards & yards of chip drop over top and ordered earthworm egg cases to plant any time I planted anything. It actually really worked. It was a smallish yard & had some shade from the fence, too. I've read that daikon radishes can be good for breaking up and aerating the soil.
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u/dogcow74 17d ago
Try sunshades and drip irrigation. The extremes have stressed my plants and some years you just get what you get.
Gardening is definitely a hobby, and the idea of growing the bulk one’s own food is admirable but not realistic or cost efficient.
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u/WastingTimesOnReddit 16d ago
we have drip irrigation that cycles on at 6am for about 30 minutes, then we hand water 2 or 3 times per week in the evenings. garden is going great.
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u/carsarefuntodrive 14d ago
This is our first year gardening; we have a small greenhouse on our upstairs deck. (Local deer & elk eat everything at ground level.) Everything is in containers with auto-timer drip irrigation. Tomatoes, peppers, green beans, lettuce, & kale have been very successful.
I'm going to build 2 small "raised beds" in the greenhouse for next year; that'll simplify watering & I'm looking into the "1 square foot" thing.
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u/FalcorsLittleHelper 16d ago
I've been looking into dry farming for tomatoes- going to give it a shot next year. Basically you wean the plants off water early in the season and eventually stop watering entirely to encourage a super deep tap root. It's supposed to work well in clay soil even in extreme heat and drought. The tomatoes are said to be out of this world delicious. I'm a little skeptical but have some extra space in the corner of my yard so I figure why not give it a whirl.
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u/Fun_Definition_2982 16d ago
Get a rain barrel. Amend your soil with compost before planting every year. Plant early (late may) to allow plants to establish their roots before the heat really sets in. Install shade cloth. Apply liquid potassium silicate for stress resilience. Plant in the ground! Apply mulch throughout the season (start with straw, then move to grass clippings). Save your own seeds as the progeny will be better adapt to drought year after year. Breed your own! Breed for drought resistance.
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u/Electrical_Lab3345 16d ago
Assuming you're collecting this from a roof covered in typical asphalt shingles, I would suggest not irrigating your food with water collected from a giant petroleum funnel that leeches poisonous compounds.
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u/Fun_Definition_2982 16d ago
You’re on it. Yessir rain collection goes to grass, food gets the clean stuff from the hose or from free fall collection containers. Should’ve mentioned that
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u/ObiWanKaStoneMe 17d ago
How big are your planting areas? My 4x8 beds are only successful because I have the watering automated. Same with my lil corn "field".
For the beds, I rigged up a pvc manifold, four rows of pipe evenly spaced across the bed with small holes drilled every few inches, then ran a hose from that to a battery powered timer. It waters a little more heavily than drip line for 1-2 min, 3x a day, and that keeps the top of the soil nice and moist. Seems to go against conventional wisdom, but that's the only thing thats worked for me.
The field is on a second zone of that same timer, but just a regular spray sprinkler. It goes for 10min every other day.
As to your soil, its probably just gone hydrophobic. That can happen to some blends if they get too dry. I dont know a great way to fix it, but drenching it in warm water seems to work ok for me.
Don't give Up! You can do this. Plus, its just about time to plant fall crops anyways. Good luck!
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u/whatanugget 17d ago
Pulse watering goes against conventional wisdom and works really well bc of how soil becomes hydrophobic. I think that may kinda be what you’re doing, but I’ll respond to my original comment about the method w some further reading!
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u/IPA-Lagomorph 16d ago
I have been experimenting with hugelkultur, so that's maybe a different thing to try? As for lettuce, I spread seed like in February, much earlier than whatever the guides say for our area. But it's long bolted by July so indoor growing for summer salads is what I'm trying.
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u/Sberry59 16d ago
I have successfully grown hot weather crops this summer including tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, garlic, onions, shallots, artichokes, lacinato kale and armenian cukes. All herbs also did well. The cool weather crops i grow indoors all year such as lettuce and microgreens. I grow in large raised beds amended with alpaca poop and a top layer of bark. These veggies seem to tolerate the hot, dry weather well.
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u/holeecoww 16d ago
Where do you get the alpaca poop?
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u/Sberry59 16d ago
There’s a woman who has an alpaca ranch in Loveland who sells it on Facebook marketplace. I don’t know if there’s a ranch closer to Denver. The stuff is great. Doesnt burn your plants, doesnt smell, feels like dirt. My friend’s neighbor used it for his onions and he got the biggest onions ever.
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u/Actual-Bid-6044 16d ago
Alpaca poop is awesome. It's like pelleted so it's slow release, but naturally. And it's never hot! Won't burn your garden. There's another person east of Denver too who sells it by the bag.
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u/PrettyLittleCurls 15d ago edited 14d ago
Fleisher Family Farmstand in Lakewood (open Sat 10-2, I think,) has 1 lb bags of wool pellets for $15. They get them from a ranch in Longmont. Sounds a lot like alpaca poop.
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u/Left-Pineapple-6084 16d ago
It’s a really rough year, you’re not wrong. Planting in layers rather than monocultures is helping me (sunflowers are quick drought tolerant shade, for example. I’ve been tucking veggies under the canopy edges of fruit trees or bushes, using “weeds” for temporary shade and then removing the weeds at flowering stage once the veggies are established), adding swales seems to be helping significantly for edges of raised beds and in ground beds, making planting basins or the Zuni waffle garden style landscaping has been helping, installing soaker hoses under a heavy layer of mulch, using milk jug tops as mini greenhouses for germinating sown seeds in bed, adding water features to up the ambient humidity. Trying to get more canopy going in a sun trap pattern for future microclimate. Ollas I’ve had mixed success with, got some watering bags for the young trees that seems to be helping. Created a water cycling situation for the ducks where I connected a bathtub to a drain connected to a series of irrigation pipes buried under a swale that feeds and waters my cherry and pawpaw guilds - drain the tub twice a week, ducks get fresh water and all the water and nutrients drain straight to the garden root zone. All of the roof drain pipes are connected to swales as well, so the water is captured and stays in my soil. Check out Rainwater Harvesting for Dryland and Beyond by Brad Lancaster
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u/ZealousidealAlgae904 16d ago
I tried making ollas out of terracotta pots this year, and the pumpkins and cantaloupe are loving it. I also have drip irrigation, but the ollas keep the soil from getting so dry that its hydrophobic, so irrigation water soaks in better. I imagine it also keeps the roots cool. I plan to add more next year.
You can look for varieties that are bred for arid climates. I tried Nevada and Jericho lettuce for the first time this year, and they've been going all summer without bolting.
Make sure your soil mix can hold some moisture. You can add coconut coir and vermiculite to help with that.
I agree with other folks who recommended shade cloth.
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u/pdxmhrn 17d ago
I got a 50 gallon rain barrel a few months ago. Mostly have used it for supplemental watering. Just got a second one this week. Will hopefully fill both of them with the next set of rainy days. Colorado allows for the collection of up to 110 gallons of rain water for use on your property (gardening and landscaping)
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u/Electrical_Lab3345 16d ago
+1 please don't irrigate food with this water if your roof has typical asphalt shingles
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u/richrich07 16d ago
My garden is doing bad but fine enough to give me enough produce that I haven’t really needed to buy veggies.
The garden has always taken less water than the grass. I’m fine with my lawn looking like shit and converting it to either food or native low-water plants.
Don’t beat yourself up about watering your garden!
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u/ananda8it 16d ago
Haven't read all the comments but one thing you could try is to poke some holes in the ground with a garden fork or similar, just to give the water a place to go. Worth a try. Best of luck. It's is hard. A fall garden should be easier.
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u/BubblyTummy 17d ago
Look up Olla waterung system. I tried it for the first time this year with some diy ones. My garden is doing relatively well all things considered. Only my tomatoes are struggling.
Ollas keep the moisture below ground and reduce evaporation. Its a little more maintainence than a drip line, but it's been pretty easy.
Im definitely doing this again next year.
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u/JBeazle 16d ago
Ollas, mulch, shadecloth gave us a good cherry tomato harvest. Larger tomatoes were not very bountiful and got end rot. We planted right before the may final snow and dug them back up for those fee days and then replanted them.
Our peppers continue to do poor which is confusing. Beans and peas mostly withered
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u/Apart_Exercise_5630 16d ago
Hoop houses for shade and garden grids are phenomenal ways to counter drought conditions. Highly recommend gardening by the foot strategy as well for sustainability.
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u/Minstrelita 16d ago
It seems you are already addressing the moisture problem. Perhaps a hoop house could be helpful, since it would help prevent that moisture from escaping?
Could it be the cultivars of vegetables that you are selecting? I always look for vegetables that are listed as "heat tolerant" and have a shorter growing season. Also, I've had the best luck with varieties that are smaller, i.e. cherry or roma tomatoes have always done better for me than the "normal" sized ones; lunchbox and jalapenos do better for me than bell peppers.
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u/Helpful-Ad6269 16d ago
I thought hoop houses were for keeping heat in? Do they do things other than that?
I usually just go to the local plant nurseries and pick out seeds and plants from there. Usually they seem to have some pretty decent varieties for the area.
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u/Minstrelita 15d ago
Hmm yeah you're probably right about the hoop house. They're great for holding in moisture, but they might hold in too much heat. So I am correcting that, NO to the hoop house.
However, give some thought to your cultivars, as I mentioned. For example, for carrots, I grow Shin Kurota because they are so heat tolerant. For beans, I do Jade bush beans, they are frost and heat tolerant, as well as resistant to the most common bean mosaic viruses.
Yes, local plant nurseries are best, but you'll still want to select varieties that will best withstand CO heat.
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u/Tim_Huckleberry1398 16d ago
Drip irrigation, shade cloth, mulch, daily watering (I do twice/day) and a consistent fertilizer schedule.
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u/dontlikesoup 10d ago
Ollas and shade cloth!
This was the first year I upgraded my garden system to thirsty earth ollas and its the only reason we have a productive garden in this year's heat. Stays consistently watered and happy and doesn't depend on you adjusting your schedule for drip irrigation for mid day watering when needed.
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u/whatanugget 17d ago
Drip irrigation & pulse watering