Save Water, Grow Food: The Best Strategies and Plants for a Drought-Resistant Garden
When we set out to create our demo vegetable garden on our off-grid wildflower seed farm, we quickly realized that relying on constant watering wasn’t a sustainable option. While we do have a water tank for emergencies, we knew from the start that some vegetables would simply require too much water to thrive on the property with the limited time and water access we had to put into the garden space.
To conserve moisture, we made heavy use of the woodchips we had on hand for mulching, which significantly helped retain rainfall. Another key strategy has been enriching the soil with plenty of organic matter, which plays a crucial role in holding onto limited moisture. This is an area we aim to improve even further this year by top-dressing the soil with a thick layer of compost in the spring before replenishing the protective mulch layer on top.
Vegetables That Tolerate Drought
It's true that if you're aiming for the largest yields possible, you will want to keep most crops watered quite well. However, there are lots of things that will grow just fine and still give you a decent harvest without large water inputs.
If you're growing off-grid like us, or just want to use less water in the garden, focus on these vegetables.
Small Peppers - peppers, especially smaller hot peppers, handle drought conditions quite well. The fruits will be spicier if the plants are dry, but they will still produce. Large bell peppers are a different story, the fruits will turn out very small.
Cherry Tomatoes - similarly, cherry tomato plants do ok as long as they get a deep watering occasionally. Since they have very deep roots, they can access moisture deep down in times of drought.
Beans - Our bush and pole beans did quite well despite receiving very little water last year.
Zucchini & Summer Squash – Can tolerate dry spells, but benefits from occasional deep watering.
Garlic & Onions – Need some moisture early on but require very little as they mature.
Kale – Tough and resilient, it can handle dry conditions better than lettuce or spinach. It's also more tolerant of a wide range of temperatures.
Swiss Chard – More drought-tolerant than other leafy greens, with deep roots that help it access moisture.
Vegetables to Avoid That Require Lots of Water
Cucumbers - Require lots of water to stay crisp and prevent bitterness. The plants will droop very dramatically and let you know when they are thirsty.
Celery – One of the thirstiest crops; requires constant moisture to prevent toughness and bitterness.
Cabbage - A heavy feeder that require steady moisture for dense, healthy heads.
Lettuce and Spinach - Needs frequent watering to stay tender and prevent bolting.
Melons (Watermelon, Cantaloupe, Honeydew) – Need a lot of water early on, though less as fruit ripens.
Carrots and Beets - The roots will crack if they go too long between watering, or if they don't receive adequate water when establishing they will stunt and stay very small.
Remember that growing in containers often requires more frequent watering as well because the sides of your soil are somewhat exposed to the elements and heat. So if you have the option to grow in raised beds or in the ground, frequent watering will not be as necessary.
Varieties We Chose
A full list of varieties I grew in this drought-tolerant veggie garden in 2024:
- Hot Early Jalapeno Pepper*
- Doe Hill Pepper
- Costata Romanesco Zucchini*
- Dark Star Zucchini
- Principe Borghese Tomato*
- Dark Tiger Tomato*
- Costoluto Fiorentino Tomato
- Blueberry Tomato
- Farthest North Tomato
- Scarlet Runner Bean*
- Provider Bush Bean*
- Blue Lake Pole Bean
- Rocdor Yellow Wax Bean
- Purple Peacock Sprouting Broccoli
- Flat of Egypt Beets
- Red Russian Kale*
- Pink Beauty Radish
* = my personal favourites
With careful soil preparation and protection, it’s possible that even thirstier plants could thrive on rainfall alone. However, based on my experience, I’ll be focusing primarily on the more drought-tolerant vegetables for our demo garden this year. That said, I might experiment with a cucumber and a melon variety, fully expecting that they may struggle with dry conditions.
To sum up, choosing the right crops, improving soil health, and using water-wise techniques can make all the difference in maintaining a productive vegetable garden, even in dry conditions.
Harvests
And here's just some of what I harvested in 2024 out of our demo vegetable garden on the farm. This all grew with just rainfall and about once per week watering out of a water tank...
