concentrated in the bottom part of the diamond.)- With this method, use the following information to
determine how much of the diamond to plant: Well-
prepared soil needs to retain approximately 10 inches
of water per unit of area (623 gallons per 100 square
feet) to grow 1 complete crop during a 4-month
growing season. To retain this much water, the soil
needs about 20 inches of rainfall (1,246 gallons per
100 square feet) per season. If only 10 inches fall, you
would have only one-half the water needed, and you
would plant only the bottom one-half of each
diamond. If you had only 5 inches of rain, you would
only have one-quarter the water needed for a crop,
and you would only plant the bottom one-quarter of
the diamond (more or less). Experimentation will be
required before you have optimum success. Be careful
not to overplant. A completely dry soil does not rewet
or absorb water easily, which will lead to erosion. To
be on the safe side, start with a small area and plant
one-quarter less crop than the above recommendations
to ensure that the soil retains some moisture. Once you
achieve success, you can increase the area under
cultivation. Please share your experiences with us and
others so this approach can be better understood. - See John A. Widtsoe’s Dry Farming for more
information on dry farming.
Weeding