"Billy" wrote in message

FarmI, and any other farmers who live in drought stricken areas,
I would appreciate hearing on how you are coping and what plants are
performing best for you.

Sorry Billy, haven't been reading for a few days so didn't see your
question - too bloody hot here to do anything but loll around contemplating
one's navel.

Yes, I've "googled" drought resistant vegetables and found some good
sites like
http://extension.oregonstate.edu/new...toryType=garde

I assume you are interested only in veg so will talk about that (if
flowers, use plants from South Africa or Aus) and probably wont' get to
cover all the things I do but here's a few thoughts:

Mulch and shade are very important! When you plant seedlings, use a fine
mulch. I use chaff (alfalfa or wheaten chaff). As plants grow use bigger,
less fine mulch (hay/straw). For corn and tomatoes, shove it on in buucket
loads as both these plants put out new roots into the mulch. For spuds,
mulch as the haulms grow.

If the sun is really severe, then shade plants. I do this with either shade
cloth, cuttings off Sacred Bamboo (I also use this if I have to plants when
it's hot - the leaves fall off over time as the plant hardens up) and even a
light bird netting - it seems to just give a bit of protection to make a
more gentle microclimate. I often plant things in semi shade - like
lettuces or herbs so that they get afternoon shade but morning sun. I also
use upturned plastic pots with huge cuts in the side over things If I notice
that the sun is causing then to shrivel.

I have one bed that has wire all roudn it so I can drape an old floor
leangth curtain over if need be. Old sheets are also useful for this.

Don't waste water. Plant things into a depression so that if you have to
hand water, the water stays around the roots and percolates down. Mulch
depression. Evening watering if you can. As soon as you notice something
needs water give it some - dont' wait 'cos an hour or two later can be too
late. We're often moving hoses around long after dark which makes fun when
you have the sort of venomous snakes that we do and that are supposedly
nocturnal - we go through lots of torch (flashlight) batteries.

Plant early and late if weather allows. In our early spring it's sometimes
too cold and in our mid summer it's too hot to plant so I plant after the
local gardening calendar says I should and hope that the
seeds/seedlings/plants survive. One example, this year Broad (Fava) Bean
seeds went in about 2 months later than was supposed to be their last Spring
planting time. Not a huge crop harvested but still enough to be wortth the
time and the space and the small outlay. Himself has always cliamed to hate
all forms of beans, but I convinced him to actually taste one Broad Bean and
he loved it so much that I then had to share the crop with him. Guess I'll
have to plant a greater number next year to allow for a new addict.

Some forms of planting can also be counter intuitive. Some things I plant
very close together and somethings I plant further apart. Close - trees,
lettuce, herbs, spuds, corn. Further apart - Rhubarb, Asparagus,
Artichokes, tomatoes.

Wind - stop it if you can. We get hugely hot westerlies and they can fry
things to a crisp in a few hours. Over the years I've put up an 8 ft shade
cloth fence with a windbreak on the windward side of it using acacias and
small native shrubs. On the veg garden side of it, I've planted things like
figs and apple trees and Prune trees. On the east of the veg garden I have
a low hedge of Photinia Red Robin (or somesush name) with artichokes in a
row inside that and flowers such as Agapanthas on the far (lawn ) side of
the Photinia hedge.

Depends on how hot it gets where you are Billy. Here it gets over the ton
and can stay that way for a week of so. That isn't too bad if it comes on
gradually, but lately it seems to be cold then a couple of days later it's
stinking hot. That, I think is more of a problem that ongoing heat (except
if therre is hto winds along with the heat).

Hope some of that helps. More might occur to me as responses twig my
memory.