Varieties: I’ve had very good results dry-gardening Amira II (TSC), even without any fertigation at all.  It is a Middle Eastern[-]style variety that makes pickler-size thin-skinned cukes that need no peeling and have terrific flavor.  The burpless or Japanese sorts don’t seem to adapt well to drought.  Most slicers dry-garden excellently.  Apple or Lemon are similar novelty heirlooms that make very extensive vines with aggressive roots and should be given a foot or two more elbow room.  I’d avoid any variety touted as being for pot or patio, compact, or short-vined, because of a likely linkage between its vine structure and root system.

Eggplant

Grown without regular sprinkler irrigation, eggplant seems to get larger and yield sooner and more abundantly.  I suspect this delicate and fairly drought-resistant tropical species does not like having its soil temperature lowered by frequent watering.

Sowing date: Set out transplants at the usual time, about two weeks after the tomatoes, after all frost danger has passed and after nights have stably warmed up above 50 degree F.

Spacing: Double dig and deeply fertilize the soil under each transplant.  Separate plants by about 3 feet in rows about 4 feet apart.

Irrigation: Will grow and produce a few fruit without any watering, but a bucket of fertigation every three to four weeks during summer may result in the most luxurious, hugest, and heaviest-bearing eggplants you’ve ever grown.

Varieties:  I’ve noticed no special varietal differences in ability to tolerate dryish soil.  I’ve had good yields from the regionally adapted varieties Dusky Hybrid, Short Tom, and Early One.

Endive

A biennial member of the chicory family, endive quickly puts down a deep taproot and is naturally able to grow through prolonged drought.  Because endive remains bitter until cold weather, it doesn’t matter if it grows slowly through summer, just so long as rapid leaf production resumes in autumn.

Sowing date: On irrigated raised beds endive is sown around August 1 and heads by mid-October.  The problem with dry-gardened endive is that if it is spring sown during days of increasing daylength when germination of shallow-sown small seed is a snap, it will bolt prematurely.  The crucial moment seems to be about June 1.  April/May sowings bolt in July/August,:  after June 1, bolting won’t happen until the next spring, but germination won’t happen without watering.  One solution is soaking the seeds overnight, rinsing them frequently until they begin to sprout, and fluid drilling them.

Spacing: The heads become huge when started in June.  Sow in rows 4 feet apart and thin gradually until the rosettes are 3 inches in diameter, then thin to 18 inches apart.

Irrigation: Without a drop of moisture the plants, even as tiny seedlings, will grow steadily but slowly all summer, as long as no other crop is invading their root zone.  The only time I had trouble was when the endive row was too close to an aggressive row of yellow crookneck squash.  About August, the squash roots began invading the endive’s territory and the endive got wilty.