Carol, you're a hoot! Like most of you, with the exception of things that are newly planted (we planted two new trees this year to replace two that we lost in a storm over the winter) and my potted vegetable garden which is on the deck and in bright sun for most of the day, we don't water daily or on a routine basis either. The veggies do get watered daily as a rule, but I also try to capture rainwater which I then use to water them - a trick we learned from some friends in GA who lived through the drought involving Lake Lanier. It's easily done by directing water from the gutters into 55 gallon trash barrels. If it's been a week or two with high heat and no rain, we look to see who is wilting (OTHER than ME) and we water if the plants are showing signs of significant stress, but honestly, that doesn't happen very often and we only give a good soaking to those beds that are looking haggard. But when we water, we do soak them thoroughly, and we do it either in the very early AM or late evening. One thing we did a couple of years ago that has made a tremendous difference was to invest in SoilMoist and add it into our beds around every plant. This is a synthetic additive that holds a tremendous amount of water (200 times its weight) and then releases it during times of drought, when the plants need it most. Adding it after the fact is a major chore because you can't just spread it around the garden or rake it into the soil around the plant -- you need to get it down near the roots. That meant either digging down along side the plant or lifting the plants out completely, adding the SoilMoist, and then replanting. It took us an entire growing season to get started with it. Now when we plant, we add a couple of tablespoons or more for something larger like a tree and we add it in the bottom of the hole with the compost and manure. Putting it where it can help larger shrubs and roses can be challenging and very time consuming if they aren't easily lifted. When we were dealing with some of the huge roses and shrubs, we dug down next to them using a heavy duty long handled weeding tool and sometimes a bulb planting tool to make a narrow tunnel next to the plant so that we could be sure to get the SoilMoist deep enough. I've been told that it does have a "life span" but so far, it seems to be doing the job and has shown no signs of losing it's water retaining ability. Other than the trees, which need watering a couple of times a week at least, and some new things we planted, which were watered liberally until they got established, (and the vegetables on the deck), I don't think we've watered more than 6 times this entire season. And once even a new plant becomes established, it often only needs watering when the entire bed does -- the SoilMoist is that effective. Mulching also makes a big difference. We use shredded leaf mold for mulch and that also reduces the amount of watering needed as it provides protection from the sun and slows drying considerably. Best of all, it composts right in the beds and becomes the darkest humus you've ever seen (except for that gorgeous black dirt in Minnesota). We make our own mulch. We get several truckloads of leaves dropped off in the fall by a landscaper friend who only brings leaves from properties that he maintains so we know that they are going to be free of serious pest problems (like nasty blights) and unwanted chemicals. Over the course of the fall, we run them through the Mighty Max and then we let them compost over the winter, covered by tarps. Then we run them through Max again in the spring. This gets put on the beds as a mulch and in the fall, we top them off again and add a bit of manure as well with another couple of inches Having done it both ways in the same garden, I can tell you with certainty that the combination of the SoilMoist and the thick mulch really makes a dramatic difference in terms of watering. Our gardens are pretty extensive and people often ask us where we hide the irrigation heads. (We don't have an irrigation system at all.) We have only a half acre but the entire thing is a series of garden beds. (We do have a token bed of "grass" and yes, it did turn brown during the recent dry spell we had -- it isn't blessed with the benefit of SoilMoist or mulch LOL -- but the rest of the beds were only watered in some cases once, some cases twice, and some cases not at all. Before we started using this regimen, we were watering some part of this garden daily and we were losing plants despite our best efforts. Now, even the weeds look like they're right out of Jurassic Park. Cathy (MA)

Can I make a couple of suggestions? Rather than outright removing the roses that you do not plan on keeping, that instead offer cuttings to people who can root and donate to future rose sales. And then track and share just how those bushes handle no watering. Maybe we can use the drought to find out if some roses are tougher than others and can stay relatively dormant during the dry season. They may not bloom or look great, but I think it would be valuable information for all on how rose handle the drought. Kitty, not sure which spring bloomers you have, but I found I had not put the big Felicite Perpetue on the drip system when in September she started loosing leaves. I still have not put her on it, am going to leave her off since she made it last year, is really growing like mad and she is happily blooming away. I am very curious to see if once bloomers are really the way to go in droughts for the future.

bluerosebud, Well, I think it is good you got rain even though it came with severe weather. Here in OK, we never know when the rain will just suddenly stop falling and then refuse to fall again for weeks or even months. Usually when a storm doesn't show up well on radar, it is because the storm is a great distance from the nearest radar stations so they aren't picking up on it very well. It can drive you crazy if you're sitting there under that storm and the radar isn't picking it up. Sometimes that happens to us here in Love County where radar coming out of OKC doesn't show much is going on here, but I can see it on locally-based Doppler radar owned and operated by local TV station KXII, which is based in Sherman-Denison, TX, and has a studio in Ardmore, OK, as well. stockergal, The farmers and ranchers here have been busy haying, mowing, fixing fences and water gaps, etc. but now we are in the situation of being too dry, at least in the upper few inches of the soil. So, the ranchers may be making hay while the sun shines, but my garden is roasting in the heat. I watered twice last week, and probably will have to water twice this coming week, or risk having plants start dying. It seems ridiculous that we have gone from having water standing everywhere to having to water the annual plants in the veggie garden (the perennials in there are more deeply-rooted and haven't shown any signs of drought stress yet). When the high pressure dome moved over us last week (or was it the week before?), I knew we were in trouble. Often, once that dome settles in, we can go weeks with little to no rainfall. The plants that have been having plentiful rainfall have lots of lush new growth that needs some moisture to keep it happy. I'm starting to fear we won't get any more rain at all in July, and there's lots of July left. Dawn

I devised a plan for hauling water in our garden cart (a little trailer pulled by our lawn tractor) that I have never used, but that might work, which is to use a rain barrel to transport water. I notice that rain barrels have a hose connection at the bottom of the barrel, so that, rather than siphoning water from the barrel, gravity does the work for you. However since that time, we have discovered that the garden cart/trailer itself can be filled half way with water and driven to far reaches of our property without spilling or sloshing out en route. When we get to the distant perennial beds I can dip buckets out to water plants, and when the water level is too low for dipping, we just tip the cart and let the last of the water run downhill to the last garden. I have set up an outdoor kiddie pool for my goldfish who outgrew their aquarium. It needs to be emptied every one to 3 weeks, and that nutrient rich water is what we transport to the plants. I fill watering cans too with the "fish water" for hydrating plants closer to the house and plants in containers. When I'm out of fish water I fill watering cans with tap water. I'm in rural Vermont and we have a well, so no water restrictions here other than our own conservation measures. The thing is though, that we have so much water pressure in our well that it necessitates an overflow pipe which runs continuously into our brook (now almost dry), so saving grey water for instance would be rather pointless. I often do carry the dogs' water buckets out to the plants when I change their water several times a day, providing I am dressed at the time. Molie, your comment "Personally, I think my gardening practices will have to change. Not only are we getting less rain, we also have fewer bees." I think is the quintessential truth to this whole thread/situation. I suspect that this drought is the leading edge of the prediction of scientists about desertification coming our way. Not in this decade perhaps and incrementally as opposed to a sudden shift, but I believe it is coming. Fortunately it is coinciding with my advancing age and a desire to cut back on gardening somewhat. My perennials are pretty much a fait accompli. I'm converting another garden from both annuals and perennials to all perennials, and will then just grow annuals in pots and in the vegetable garden. I'm going to plant a few more trees this fall, and then just sit back and watch the forest grow.