Desert Growing. How to farm with little water

Hey, with all these grow threads and others on ATS, I am wondering what plants I could grow with very little water and care, yet able to live off them for years..

Any ideas?

that's tough.. depends on what climate you're in, but a few tropical fruiting trees are pretty drought tolerant and can survive a dry season and once established are pretty carefree...but I'm not sure about desert conditions.
ex...mango, guava, figs, citrus

You might have to resort to sprouting only but that would require care.

Okay, like cactus and other plants found in US Southwest.

Which ones would be good to live off of?

I'm looking for plants that won't need much care in case I can't care for them due to an injury or some disabling illness, such as a back injury or blindness due to poisoning..

[edit on 26-4-2008 by Ihavenoidea]

You'll want to learn how to dig a well, seeing as you'll need water to live anyhow. research how the Afghans do their irrigation ditches, they really have it down packed. With good irrigation you're choices are opened up signifigantly. You'll want to get good with a shovel though.

[edit on 26-4-2008 by ppskylight]

I wouldn't count much on cultivating a garden in the middle of a desert without serious hardware to back you up.

You should probably look into hydroponics before you start looking into types of desert plant, it'll give you some idea on how to grow food in that kind of environment.

hyrdoponics require electricity, and I'm assuming this guy isn't gonna have power. Seriously, take a look at how the egyptians did their irrigation, how do make a large, deep well, terracing, etc.
if people can farm in Afghanistan, people can farm anywhere

I think he might have power actually - he hasn't mentioned a specific SitX, and anyway, this is the bit i'm focusing on;

I'd reccomend potatoes, they can be grown in quite sandy soil, I have done so myself. The Potatoes were only watered a few times over their entire growth, and they were fine. I relied on nature to water them mostly.

I live in the middle of the desert, and it's hard to grow stuff. I know some good desert crops are jalapenos and green chile. you should really think about hauling some soil to where you are (if you aren't in town) and get a good base for your garden. tomatoes are a good one as well. you should really start with a good large compost heap or bin too. Throw everything you can into it and get it as big as you can. You're gonna need it. Water is always a problem. If you have a well then problem solved. if you don't then you might need to think about a second cistern strictly for watering. I would recomend a green house. No need to go over bored, but a good green house that can have a 10x10 garden should be enough for a small family if you do it right. (and it uses less water) use drip hoses under the garden and water in the morning and at night. make sure to rotate your crops and if worse comes to worse, If you are far away from civilization you might want to think about throwing hemp in your garden. It's the only crop i know for a fact that will increase the fertility of the soil as it grows. ohh and corn grows pretty well as well.