Photo Credit: Jodi Torpey

This demonstration waffle garden at the Denver Botanic Gardens is planted with the “three sisters” vegetable combination of corn, beans and squash.

The newest techniques for conserving water in the garden are over 1,000 years old! And if they worked for ancient people around the world, these water-saving ideas are sure to help keep your garden healthy even when it’s dry.

Native Americans survived for centuries in the desert by harvesting rainwater to grow their crops. Three of their ancient traditions continue to provide lessons in water conservation because the message remains the same: Collect all the moisture you can, and hold onto it for as long as you can.

The Zuni in New Mexico used sunken beds called waffle gardens for growing high-value crops like tobacco and chili peppers. It’s easy to rebuild these prehistoric gardens today and benefit from their water-retaining capacity. Waffle gardens have sunken 2-square-foot planting areas surrounded by ground-level berms. These berms are several inches high and made from unamended soil. Each depression in the waffle catches rainfall and holds water close to plant roots.

Buried clay pot irrigation is another ancient water-saving method used in areas of perennial drought like Mexico, Central America, Asia and Africa. This method is estimated to be two times as effective as drip irrigation and 10 times more efficient than conventional surface irrigation. Large earthen jars were used 2,000 years ago, but unglazed clay pots work just as well today.