Saving waterGuide

Grow vegetables with less water

By The Downspout · Updated Oct 11, 2026 · 1 min read Share

Mulch 3 to 4 inches deep, water with drip on a timer, and grow only what your household will eat.

Soil and mulch

• Add compost. Sandy soil holds more water once it has organic matter.
• Spread mulch 3 to 4 inches deep. Keep it 2 inches back from each plant's base.
• Skip plastic sheeting. It blocks oxygen to the soil.

Water

• Use drip. Put plants with similar needs on the same valve.
• Water only long enough to wet the root zone, early morning or cool evening.
• Add a timer and a shut-off valve at the start of each line.
• Example: emitters rated 1/2 gallon an hour, spaced a foot apart along 10 feet of tubing, use 5 gallons an hour.

Plants and spacing

• Grow what you will eat. Four tomato plants instead of ten.
• Favor beans, chard, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and squash.
• Go easy on crops that need steady moisture, such as most brassicas, lettuce, beets, carrots, celery, leeks and onions.
• Choose short season varieties. A 62 day tomato needs fewer waterings than an 85 day one.
• Space plants 50 percent wider, or double if you can.

Check the soil

Squeeze a handful. If it crumbles, it needs water.

Water you can and cannot use

Do not use roof collected water for overhead watering of food crops. It can go through underground drip. Graywater suits ornamentals and fruit trees, not root vegetables or crops whose leaves touch the soil. See laundry to landscape for the permit rules.

This follows a February 2014 handout from Sonoma County Master Gardeners. Rules on graywater may have changed since.

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