The nearby fire looks like a volcano from our house in Southern Colorado. It is heart breaking to look at the plumes of smoke rising into the air, ashes of lives beneath it.

We’ve had the most lovely winter, just as warm as can be. Feels like we live in California. My garlic has overwintered, and in all likelihood, I could have sustained a garden all winter. Sixties and seventies for most of the season and it is to hit 90 degrees today. Unusual? Yes, but it happened in 1954 and a drought of the same proportion happened in 1889. Weather is cyclical and always has its pros and cons for sure. Our state is always on fire each year in various areas but as we all watch the weather, we brace for the repercussions of a mild winter. I will be ordering more cat kennels just in case.

It’s not all doom and gloom, now, it’s just life in the arid high desert of Colorado! There may be water shortages (or two feet of snow in April, one never knows around here!) but I am always mindful of how much water I use and I have come up with some pretty great tricks.

Unlike me and my friends at the hot springs, Mother Earth hates to be naked.

from my latest book, Whiskey and Hoes; Successful Gardening in the Wild West

Our good mother is quite shy and requires her beautiful body to be covered at all times. This means mulch, people! Straw, wood chips, cardboard, leaves! In the west/southwest, we have to water every single day two inches. I have found that a well mulched garden can go 36 hours instead. That is a lot and buys you time if you happen to be traveling to every state park in Colorado!

Secondly, water with a hose directly to the soil. Sprinklers just shoot out lovely water droplets that land willy nilly or evaporate all together. If you can take the time to water just the gardens by hand, you will also keep up with what is going on. You might see grasshoppers (boo!) or worms (yay!) or need to plant more seeds, or it is time to harvest. It helps you enjoy your gardens and gives you a better chance of growing food in a drought.

I spent the morning transplanting cold crops. It is a few weeks early, but it’s July out there in March for goodness sake. I’m going to take advantage of the warm germination window…or month. My favorite place to be is outside, hunched over, sore, dirt under my fingernails, dreaming, wishing, and talking to bumblebees. I cannot give that up even in a year of extreme heat and drought. We’ll make it work. But the first step is watering wisely.