Dry as a bone

One of the advantages of a garden like mine - a multi-layered food forest with a canopy of native trees, a mid level orchard of fruit and nuts, shrubby layer of berries and perennial vegetables, understorey of herbs and annual vegetables and flowers and root and bulb crops below the ground, is that it doesn't dry out during droughts to the same extent a 'flatter' garden does. Part of that is due to the shade provided by the overhead canopy, part from the mulched leaf litter that covers the soil and also because of the shelter from the wind provided by the trees and shrubs. The loss of moisture from the effect of winds is a major factor in Southland's dry soils and it was demonstrated yesterday, when we had a little rain that gave my garden a refreshing boost, but had no apparent effect on other parts of the town, where the wind that followed, claimed back and moisture that might otherwise have staved-off desiccation for a while at least.
My son has demonstrated with his most recent sowing of peas, another important aspect of water conservation - minimal cultivation. He cut down a standing crop of oats, leaving the roots and cut-stalks in situ, hoed a shallow drill for the pea seed, sowed them immediately, then recovered the lines with the oat straw. He didn't water the peas, yet they were up and growing within a few days, despite the 'drought' conditions Southland is experiencing presently. Farmers I know are reporting that their brassica crops, sown earlier in the dry spell, are not showing and won't unitl we get a decent rain. Learning to garden (and farm) without irrigation is a skill we'll all need to learn, if droughts become more common.
Even if they don't.