127. How to Garden During a Drought: Mulch Ado About Watering

⚠️ Gentle Warning: This episode contains mild adult humor, gardening innuendo, repeated use of the word “moist,” and an emotionally intense relationship with mulch. Listener discretion advised. Hi Friends! It’s hot. It snowed yesterday. The tomatoes are confused. So are we. It’s Spring 2026 and gardening has officially become a survival skill. This spring on Upside Down Tulips, we dive headfirst into drought gardening during one of the weirdest weather years yet. Denver Water restrictions are here, mulch has become a personality trait, and apparently California uses giant floating shade balls to reduce evaporation? Neither did we. Gardening remains weird. Edith somehow achieved basil immortality. Christy finally turned her compost pile and found inner peace. We discuss emergency tomato-cage frost blankets, boiling water tricks for surprise freezes, and ask the important question: Why can’t we grow spinach and peas anymore?! Then we dig into practical and surprisingly hopeful ways to garden during drought — from smarter watering and drip irrigation to xeriscaping, hydrozoning, compost, mulch and shade cloth. We share how to water less but smarter, why mulch is basically therapy for soil, which veggies can actually handle the heat, and how to keep your containers from turning into tiny terracotta ovens. Plus: why your tomatoes may need shade, and why your soil desperately needs a weighted blanket. PLUS: terrible jokes & bad gardening puns strange weather stories a possible dystopian “Letter from the Future” from the mail bag  a new dramatic mulch podplay because apparently this is who we are now So grab your soaker hose, aggressively spread some mulch and join us for a funny, heartfelt and practical summer episode full of dirt, drought and determination. And remember: When in doubt… mulch it! Oh — and yes… There may be an Easter egg after the credits. Get a UDT Coffee Mug or other cool Merch! Visit our website for pix, good info and Upside Down Dictionary Learn How to Winter Sow! Don't Know Your Zone? Find it HERE Find Your Last and First Frost Date