I bought a book on dry farming because I was so paranoid about another drought, alas it flooded the whole middle Tennessee area this year and rained last year too much too. I panicked at the first year in water restrictions. You live in water restrictions every day, so some of the things might apply to you that I read about. One was very strange and with creating too much of a workload by hand tools. They dug holes in their yard about 2 to 3 feet deep during rainy seasons to collect rain water deep in the soil and then bury it just after the rainy season. Mulch is good, but traps insects, so newspaper or the mulch paper is probably better, I would only guess at that, now battling squash bugs that live in my mulch/leaves at the base of my squash. A deterrent for those were thin mulches like a paper. You can root water only, not just use drip irrigation, saving you even more water bills. A tool I saw, pondered, but didn't buy: http://www.rainbird.com/landscape/products/sprays/RWS.htm http://www.lehmans.com/store/Outdoors___Lawn_Care_and_Equipment___Specialized_Garden_Tools___13302100?Args=# The root soaker is tool "C". It would take a lot of time to root soak individually a full garden for each plant, but it might be worth it. Also there were suggestions of pulling back mulch just before the rains, so the water would soak in, then pulling it back around each plant when the rain is over. You can dig sunken beds or waffle gardens, those are American Indian garden ideas. They found those everywhere, so it was the method of choice in that day. Water at night so the steam created during the midday sun can't damage plants. Most people try to water during the morning to avoid mildew that can grow at night, but that is for different conditions. Are you watering during the morning or night? You could be killing your plants with steam from morning waterings. It could soil ph issue, either way, compost is the best option, buying topsoil and building it up year after year is another option if you want a fast fix. It seems like it would be expensive, but people buying dirt for their raised beds don't complain too much saying the price is not bad. You mentioned you cover your plants, so that is what I saw in an Israeli garden, desert gardens for sure. They have a tan tarp covering their plants. Good luck and maybe it's a bug you are fighting sucking the water from your plants, try companion plants to rid the bugs. I can't help from experience, but those are some of the things I can think of I read about for farming in your area.

I'm closer to the "four corners" area not far from I-40. We get a good amount of snow in the winter and have a short growing season; it got down to 10 below zero last winter and the cold persisted up to June. Everyone here got a late start on their gardens. I actually started my tomato seeds 3 times. I joke about it being too cold to plant here until it's too hot to plant. I have goats and chickens and when I clean out the barn I dump it in the garden area all fall and winter. This spring, after a freak rainy spell, I tilled up the area and then later used the shovel to plant the seeds deep. The clay soil is improving and I actually found an earthworm the other day! The soil is very alkaline, so some things do much better than others. The corn likes it, squash, turnips, beets, brussel sprouts, cabbage. I tried growing some blackberries and blueberries, but they all died. I also planted every sort of bulb from Daylilly to Tulip. I've probably put in over 1,000 bulbs (it keeps me from going nuts in early winter). The ones that do best are: Daffodils, Gladolius, and Red Hot Pokers. A few Tulips come up and the Daylillies, a couple Dutch Iris; everything else was a "no show". I've planted a few spinach and Indian Mustard seeds. It's too late here to start anything that likes it warm. Last year I had to start using heat in the house in September!

You asked about high desert gardeners? We'll be completing our move down the mountain in a few weeks, changing from zone 5\6 to zone 8\9. We're just trying to blast our way through the hardpan soil. Can't even get down to the caliche, the top in or two is like rock. More fun. Looks like raised beds for a while. The previous owner thought that grazing her horses and goats all over the property would be a good idea. We'll be needing to get some landscaping going. We stumbled upon a local nursery where the staff seems knowledgable and the choice of plants and shrubs is good. Norm

Sorry for the atrocious spelling...