Drought resistant vegetables?

[remnant]

Most of the vegetables I usually come across require watering for them to thrive like kales, zucchini and coriander. Most other categoriers of plants have drought resistant representatives but this is hardly the case with vegetables. Not so with the veggies. Are there drought resistant vegetables one can grow in the tropics?

 

[Thomas Gannon]

Mature Rhubarb and Asparagus do extremely well, but if you're just starting then things like sweet potatoes, artichokes, eggplant, okra, squash, and swiss chards do well. Make sure to add a lot of mulch (about 3-4 inches) in order to reduce the amount of water the plants need. From personal experience the sweet potatoes and okra do really well.

 

[Beverly]

Here is a nice little article packed with good information regarding growing drought resistant vegetables and agrees with @Thomas Gannon with a little more information. Also, don't forget the Moringa Tree (yes, some vegetables grow on trees).
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/xeriscape/drought-resistant-vegetables.htm

 

[Corzhens]

Here is a nice little article packed with good information regarding growing drought resistant vegetables and agrees with @Thomas Gannon with a little more information. Also, don't forget the Moringa Tree (yes, some vegetables grow on trees).
http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/special/xeriscape/drought-resistant-vegetables.htm

We have lots of moringa here and last night our dinner was chicken soup with lots of moringa leaves. It is a hot summer we are having now and there are very few grass, most are dried. I noticed that the moringa in the neighborhood are alive and green although the leaves are not that many. It's a good thing that our moringa is being irrigated regularly.

Another drought-resistant vegetable is sweet potato which is well known here for the nutritious leaves - boiled or mixed in vegetables dishes. But too much dryness also destroys them so they need some water even for twice a week.

 

[Beverly]

Hi @Corzhens Is this the same Moringa you put in the ground as a "stick" a month or so ago? It sounds like it is doing very well. Maybe the trees in your area do not have many leaves because people are eating them? Do you ever pluck those leaves off the tree and eat them raw? They are so good fresh, tasting a little bit of radish. I wish i had more space to grow a tree, maybe i'll try growing one in a container again. Thanks for the information about sweet potato leaves. Are they always cooked? or can they be eaten raw as well?

 

[Wolvendeer]

In addition to what's already been suggested, you can also try the following:

• New Zealand or Malabar Spinach
• Edible Cacti (Dragon Fruit in particular is definitely recommended)

You're probably too far south for Sunchoke, otherwise that would possibly be a good addition as well. As @Thomas Gannon mentioned, definitely don't forget to mulch. It'll help not only keep moisture in, but it'll also help control soil temperature. Shredded leaves make a pretty good mulch that will provide tons of nutrients to the soil when they break down.

(Edit - Also, if we're including Herbs in the list, Rosemary and Oregano come to mind, but I know that there are a lot more herbs that are drought tolerant - particularly the woody stemmed varieties.)

 

[Corzhens]

Hi @Corzhens Is this the same Moringa you put in the ground as a "stick" a month or so ago? It sounds like it is doing very well. Maybe the trees in your area do not have many leaves because people are eating them? Do you ever pluck those leaves off the tree and eat them raw? They are so good fresh, tasting a little bit of radish. I wish i had more space to grow a tree, maybe i'll try growing one in a container again. Thanks for the information about sweet potato leaves. Are they always cooked? or can they be eaten raw as well?

Yes, people are eating the edibles around here particularly the moringa. I'm talking about other moringa trees because the newly planted are just sprouting some leaves as of now. Pardon me for the chuckle but we do not eat raw moringa leaves. We mix them in soup dishes or in vegetables dishes. Some others mix moringa leaves in rice.

Sweet potato leaves are also cooked, boiled or mixed in vegetable dishes. But it can also serve as salad with a vinegar dressing - this is usually eaten with broiled seafood.

 

[RamblingChicken]

I started writing up a long post and then realized, ohhh, tropics. Dryfarm experiments are my biggest garden hobby, but they depend on a rainy season before the dry season. Are you always dry?

I'm going to paste the post anyway, because, well, I wrote it:

Dryfarming! Dryfarming--growing plants at very wide spacings, with ruthless weed control, and little or no watering--is my garden focus lately.

Specific varieties that have worked so far, in my Pacific Northwest garden with a very dry--almost or entirely rainless--summer.

- Early Girl tomatoes--planted pretty early, tall skinny plants buried down to the top tuft of leaves. Six foot spacing in both directions. No watering whatsoever after the first couple of weeks.
- I think that Sungold would have worked, too, if I had planted it the same way and at the same time. I planted later, and it survived, but never grew enthusiastically.
- Orange Rave Pumpkins--my plant had produced a big half-colored pumpkin on just a single gallon of water to help the seeds sprout, before I lost my nerve and started watering and thus destroyed the experiment. I should have waited. This year I'll be growing these strictly dryfarmed. More like twelve foot spacing.
- Costata Romanesco Zucchini--shot out of the ground and produced just fine, on very little water. Actually, I think on no water. Six foot spacing.
- Armenian cucumbers--these also tolerated very little water, somewhat to my surprise, but I did give them a little. Six foot spacing.
- Red Russian Kale. Water? Who needs water? 3 foot by 6 foot spacing.
- Delicata squash produced plenty (6 foot spacing) but the taste was very bland.
- Chard produced plenty (18 inch spacing). I don't know how the eating quality was, because I don't like chard anyway; it's just pretty.

Book recommendations:

Gardening Without Irrigation: or without much, anyway, by Steve Solomon. Only available electronically, as far as I know; I think it's out of print in paper.

Gardening When it Counts, by Steve Solomon. Edited to add: This has a handy chart of plants and spacings for low-water situations. (And N/A's to let you know which ones won't tolerate drought.)