Please share how you might go about establishing xeriscapic plants, so as to gear them up for maximum drought tolerance.
I am using the word "establish" in the way some plant tags advertise that plants are "drought tolerant when established"... the landscape sense. I'm curious about how your approach might differ from my own, and how that might relate to your climate and the plants we choose.
My plants are almost all succulents and xerophytic plants. I prefer to start with a 3 gallon size plant. Our soil drains very fast and does not hold water, so I do mix some extra compost into the hole. We get 70% of our 10" annual rainfall in the winter and 0% of it in the summer. I water well but not particularly deeply.
The short answer to my original question: I water new installations every week or so through their first year or two, specifically up until their second rainy season. At that point I might relax to watering every 2-4 weeks, or stop watering completely. The drought tolerant plants become zero water plants at that point, or I might continue watering every 2-4 weeks if I don't want them looking too scrappy.
Your approach to watering while you're waiting for new plants to get properly settled in?
