Question from DN: Can you grow crops without any water?
Answer from Coastalfields: YES!
Many crops are adapted to Colorado's semiarid environment and there are plenty that are hardy enough to withstand even true desert conditions. Coastalfields grows some of these amazing plants, and is always increasing the number of xeric crops grown.
Xeriscaping is not just for flowers, but for your home garden or farm. With such delicious choices as the Sunchoke (also known as the Jerusalem Artichoke or Sunflower root) (tastes like potatoes), the prickly pear, the pinion pine, amaranth, quinoa and many others, you can dine on fruits, vegetables and grains until you burst!
Most crops consumed in the United States are grown with irrigation: they came from places with much more water than we have here. Favorites such as tomatoes, potatoes, melons, and others require either irrigation or many adaptations to standard farming techniques.
If you are going to grow crops that require lots of water in the desert, you'd be wise to install lowered beds: lowered beds are the antithesis of the East-Coast "raised bed," and require digging trenches to hide the crops from the harsh summer sun and collect water from the stingy clouds.
Another great way to conserve water is to allow the weeds to grow. Weeds will collect water and keep the soil moist by releasing that stored water when and where it is most needed. Some weeds will even send down great taproots and pull up water from the depths of the earth like a well! Your crops can be symbiotic parasites to these weeds, eating their hard-earned water, enjoying their shade and, in return, earning the weeds the protection of you-their human.
You must care for all creatures in your field...whether you planted them or not. See that all the animals have adequate shelter and food, that all the plants have adequate shelter and food, that no creature is a bad neighbor to any other. Care for them when they are sick.
Seek friends with the ants and other animals that practice domestication: these native farmers are usually better at farming than you are. Not only can you learn from them, but you can coordinate your resources and encourage each other by caring for each others' crops, caring for all the creatures in the field, and keeping the soil fertile.
If you do still require water, consider where it comes from. Though city water comes from a spigot, it originally came from a ditch, a creek, a pond, a river or from under a mountain. Consider that by using that water, you rob other creatures of the chance to use that water and that, if you are to care for every creature as best you can, you must ensure that even the creatures not on your field are well fed and sheltered.
Without the forests beyond your field, you'd have no rain; without the grasslands and vast wildernesses beyond your fences, you'd quickly die. Humanity's refuge lies in the wilderness, in the untamed places that no one has yet trod. Step lightly and use as little water as possible: you can use that water to heal the biosphere, and improve the lot of all creatures!
Humanity has the ability to understand and harness the complicated dynamics that define the biosphere's self preservation. By caring for your farm, your garden, your own lawn better, you can secure a better future.
Use what water you have to permanently improve biodiversity and biodensity, and you will do a service to not only your bottom line, your property values and your crops, but to all posterity all over the world. The entire world encourages your work...return the favor, and take pride in your world. Use what water you have to make more water!
Besides letting the weeds grow, you can conserve water by tilling in the aisles, tilling in the beds in the winter and otherwise practice Active Fallow to improve the biodiversity, biodensity and increase the organic layer in your field.