1. Grow what you will eat in quantities you will be able to use. This is one of the simplest and most overlooked gardening strategies! Because of water restrictions on California farmers, it's likely that produce prices will increase sharply this summer. It will be more cost-effective to grow your own, provided you plant the appropriate varieties and amounts so that your harvest does not go to waste. (And if you do have excess, find out which local food banks will take fresh food to give away.)

As long as you incorporate a bunch of water-management strategies, I don’t think the drought affects the choice of annual crops. I would not, however, plant fruit trees, brambleberries, asparagus, or other perennial crops that won’t produce a crop this year. They will struggle to survive and will be better off planted next fall or winter.

Some crops do not need much water once they set fruit, such as dry beans, winter squash, and tomatoes. One of my neighbors at the community garden does not water her well-mulched tomatoes after July 1; it both saves water and improves the flavor.

Herbs are easy to grow and nice to have on hand when all you need is a snippet. Many of them do better when kept on the dry side -- not including basil and cilantro, which like water.

2. Mulch mulch mulch. This has always been important in our summer-dry climate and is especially important this year. Mulch helps keep the soil alive and reduces the amount of water you need to add. I’ve used tree trimmings (usually aged in my paths a few months before applying to my veg garden), straw, and garden clippings (chop and drop) as mulch.

Add compost, which increases the water-holding capacity of soil. I add it under the mulch or lightly raked in, rather than digging it in. I let the worms work it into the soil.

Don’t till. Preserving the soil structure in an established garden is an important way to optimize its water-holding capacity. I also use a humic-acid product to help build soil structure.

Water the surface, near the roots, rather than using sprays. I occasionally wash down the leaves, but when I'm hand-watering, I direct the water at the base of the plants. I like to use a water breaker, which delivers a gentle rain of water and does not disrupt the soil or damage seedlings. Another alternative is drip irrigation (checked regularly for leaks, clogs, and timer malfunctions!) or soaker hoses, which can be installed under a layer of mulch to further cut down on evaporative losses.

Watering early or late in the day also reduces evaporative losses.

Needless to say, reserve your outdoor watering for edibles. if your ornamental plantings are not drought tolerant, consider whether you want to spend part of your water budget on them, or let them fend for themselves. Add lots of mulch, available free from tree trimmers, to keep your soil alive -- 4 inches to existing plantings and 6-12 inches or more to unplanted areas. Lose the lawn. Hold off on replacing ornamentals or planting drought-tolerant natives until the next rainy season.

If you’re starting a new garden, consider planting at ground level this year rather than building raised beds. The soil in raised beds will be a little warmer earlier in the season, but it will dry out faster than soil at ground level. In arid climates, sunken beds are used to retain as much moisture as possible.

Containers are a good choice if you don’t have a garden plot, but they will require regular monitoring and will use more water than plants in the ground. If you must use containers, consider a double-wall system (a smaller pot inside a larger one), a system such as the Earth Box or a do-it-yourself equivalent, or a structure where the containers wick water from below (I’ve seen plans for a row of containers sitting on a covered rain gutter, with a valve that fills the gutter when water falls below a certain level).

Random strategies include putting a bucket in the shower to collect water, or installing a greywater system to water ornamental plants and fruit trees (not edible crops).