[originaltext] There are dust-dry areas of northern India where good rains a

There are dust-dry areas of northern India where good rains are as common as teeth in a chicken. Yet gardeners there frequently produce good crops of that most water-consuming plant, the melon.
    How these desert residents accomplish this may well help gardeners in other parts of the world as they face what is predicted to be another drier than-usual growing season.
    The idea is simple: The Indians don’t waste a drop of their precious water with surface irrigation or spray irrigation; they put it right where the plants need it most —underground among the roots. They do this by using a narrow-necked, clay pot.
    First, the pot is buried in prepared garden soil so that only the neck is above the ground. The pot is then filled with water, and a stone is placed over the mouth of the jar to reduce still further any chance of evaporation. Then the melon seeds are planted around the pot.
    The water seeps through the walls of the pot to moisten the immediate soil and feed the growing vines. Because this movement of water is so slow, none of it was wasted. Simply, it provides a slow but constant supply to the plants.