In the landscape, mulch as large an area around the plant as you can. In the vegetable garden, use mulch between rows. You may want to tape together rolls of newspaper pages to make applying the newsprint liner easier. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a drought-stressed garden or landscape is to not do some things, said a University of Georgia scientist. Fertilizing and routine pruning, for instance, encourage new growth that requires more water.
Fertilizers are, chemically, salts.
They can actually dehydrate plants' roots. Routine pruning stimulates growth, too, he said. That's not what you want when your main goal for your plants is survival. You may need to do some selective pruning, though, when a plant wilts and begins showing leaf scorch, and branches start dying. In this case, cutting back the top will reduce the water demand the foliage places on the roots.