Just in time to make the most of the warmer weather, REI is slashing prices on a bunch of our favorite outdoor gadgets and goods as a part of its annual anniversary sale. Now through May 26th, the outdoor retailer is taking up to 30 percent off a large number of items, from Garmin watches and water filters to stoves, satellite communicators, and one of the best camping / backpacking chairs around.RelatedBelow, we’ve rounded up some of the best deals to help you gear up for your summer adventures. In some instances, other retailers like Amazon are matching REI’s pricing, giving you additional ways to save. Also, keep in mind that REI members can save an additional 20 percent on one REI Outlet item or get 20 percent off on one qualifying full-price item when they use coupon ANNIV2025 at checkout.Garmin Forerunner 265 (42mm)$350$45022% off$350Garmin’s midrange Forerunner watch adds a new OLED display, a week’s worth of battery life, and dual-frequency GPS for better accuracy. Read our review.Many of our favorite Garmin smartwatches are also on sale right now, including the Garmin Forerunner 265, which is our top pick for runners. Normally $450, you can buy the smartwatch in either its 42mm or 46mm sizing at REI and Amazon for $349.99 ($100 off), which matches its best price to date. The 265 features a vibrant OLED display, up to 15 days of battery life, and multi-band GPS for more accurate tracking. It also provides insight into a number of running metrics, including stride length and cadence, while supporting Garmin’s PacePro, Training Readiness, and Race Predictor features.Garmin’s Fenix 8, our top pick for endurance athletes, is available in its 43mm configuration from REI, Amazon, and Garmin starting at $799.99 ($200 off). The platform-agnostic Fenix 8 is an excellent training watch with exceptional battery life that easily surpasses rivals like the Apple Watch Ultra 2. Garmin’s rugged, top-of-the-line wearable also includes a sharp OLED display and a built-in speaker / mic, so you can make calls or carry out voice commands using the onboard voice assistant (you can also connect it to your phone’s voice assistant for more complex queries). That being said, the Fenix 8 doesn’t offer built-in LTE, so your phone will need to stay within Bluetooth range for those features to work. Read our review.Garmin Fenix 8$800$100020% off$800The Garmin Fenix 8 adds smart features like the ability to take calls on the wrist, and an on-board voice assistant.Garmin’s 41mm Venu 3 is currently available for an all-time low of $349.99, down from its regular price of $449.99, at Amazon and REI. The Venu 3 is our favorite Garmin smartwatch, one that offers a mix of smart features and advanced health tracking at an affordable price. You can make and receive calls when paired with your phone, use your phone’s voice assistant via Bluetooth, and pay with contactless payments. It also includes a broad range of health features, including heart rate monitoring, period tracking, abnormal heart rate alerts, fall detection, and more. Just note: there’s no cellular connectivity, so you’ll need your phone nearby for full functionality. Read our review.Garmin inReach Mini 2$300$40025% off$300Garmin’s palm-size inReach Mini 2 satellite communicator provides off-the-grid contact with subscription plans starting at $14.95 a month.If your summer plans involve hiking or backpacking, the Garmin inReach Mini 2 can provide some peace of mind. And right now, it’s available from REI, Amazon, and Garmin for $299.99 ($100 off), which is just $15 shy of its all-time low. The rugged, palm-sized satellite communicator — which requires a monthly subscription — allows you to send texts, share your location, check the weather, and even trigger SOS alerts. It can easily outlast your average smartphone with satellite connectivity, too, so you’re free to enjoy the outdoors without having to worry about running out of power.The Helinox Chair Zero — a personal favorite of several Verge staffers — is on sale at REI and Amazon for $104.98 ($35 off), which is its best price to date. Weighing just a pound, the collapsible backpacking chair is exceptionally lightweight and easy to pack. It’s also built to support up to 265 pounds and is both comfortable and stable, despite its portable design.LifeStraw Peak Series Straw$18$2528% off$18LifeStraw’s basic filter removes unwanted viruses, bacteria, and microplastics as you drink, giving you a safe way to hydrate no matter where you are.LifeStraw’s portable water filters make for helpful travel companions, regardless of whether you’re heading into the backcountry or touring cities with questionable tap water. Thankfully, Verge favorites like the LifeStraw Peak Series Straw are on sale at Amazon and REI starting at $17.58, down from $24.95. The standalone straw is perfect for filtering out bacteria, parasites, and microplastics from streams and rivers. The Peak Series model features an improved flow rate and a more durable design than earlier models as well, and thanks to its versatile build, you can drink directly from a water source, attach it to a water bottle, or connect it to a gravity hose system.If you’re looking for a more convenient, all-in-one solution, the 22-ounce LifeStraw Go Series Water Bottle is also on sale for an all-time low of around $34 ($11 off) at REI and Amazon. The BPA-free bottle features a built-in two-stage filtration system, including a carbon filter that’s designed to reduce odors and improve taste, making it a solid pick for everything from travel to your daily commute.The MSR PocketRocket 2 Stove is on sale for $44.89, down from $55.95, at REI. The single-burner canister stove can boil water in just 3.5 minutes. It’s also lightweight, foldable, and compatible with most isobutane-propane fuel canisters, making it a great pick for backpackers looking to shed weight.Black Diamond Spot 400$37$5026% off$37Black Diamond’s Spot 400 headlamp offers great battery life and simple, easy-to-use controls. Best off all, it’s plenty bright, making it a great option for both indoor and outdoor use.$37 at REIIf you’re looking for a reliable and comfortable headlamp, Black Diamond’s Spot 400 is great for everything from camping to hiking to late-night reading sessions. It’s currently available from REI for $37.39 (about $13 off), which remains one of its better prices to date. The 400-lumen headlamp offers adjustable brightness, a red night vision mode, and an IPX8 waterproof rating, so it can handle rainy nights. It’s also dual-fuel compatible, meaning you can use standard AAA batteries or use it in tandem with Black Diamond’s rechargeable BD 1500 Li-ion battery for more flexibility.The pocket-sized Black Diamond Moji Lantern is down to $18.69 (about $6 off) at REI in multiple colors. The rugged Moji lantern offers 200 lumens of warm, dimmable light and adjustable lightness, along with an IPX4 rating for water resistance. It features a double-hook design, too, so you can use it as a table lantern or hang it up. The JBL Flip 6 is selling for $99.99 at REI and Amazon, down from $129.95 and about $20 shy of its all-time low. The portable Bluetooth speaker delivers powerful, clear sound and an IP67 waterproof and dustproof rating. The Flip 6 also offers up to 12 hours of playtime and features JBL’s PartyBoost feature, which allows you to pair multiple JBL devices together for a more powerful audio experience.Garmin’s Varia RTL515 Radar Taillight is on sale at REI and Amazon for $149.99 ($50 off), nearly matching its lowest price to date. The headlight combines a bright LED light with a rearview radar that, when paired with a compatible device, warns you of cars approaching from behind from up to 153 yards away.Coleman Cascade Classic Camp Stove$97$13025% off$97Coleman’s basic Cascade Classic Camp Stove features enough cooking power for most meals, two burners, and a matchless igniter.$97 at Coleman$97 at REIIf you want a straightforward stove that gets the job done, Coleman’s Cascade Classic Camp Stove is a good option that starts at $96.99 (about $33 off) when purchased directly from Coleman or at REI. The compact stove is pretty basic, but it offers everything you need for simple, reliable camp cooking. It’s got enough cooking power to handle most meals and two burners, so you can cook multiple things at once. It also features a matchless push-button igniter, along with built-in wind guards for better flame control and adjustable heat knobs for more precise cooking. It’s easy to carry and set up as well, with a durable steel cooktop and a removable chrome-plated grate for easy cleanup.You can buy MSR’s TrailShot Pocket-Sized Water Filter for $48.69, down from $64.95, at REI. The squeeze-and-sip filter removes bacteria, protozoa, and particulates, so you can drink directly from natural water sources or refill bottles. The filter is highly portable at just 5.2 ounces, too, and can easily fit in your pocket.The BioLite SolarHome 620 Plus kit is on sale for $139.93, down from $199.95, at REI. The compact, solar-powered system is designed to bring lights, charging, and audio to off-grid locations. Along with a 6W solar panel, it features an integrated FM radio / MP3 player, three hanging 120-lumen LED lights, and a pair of USB ports for charging various devices.See More:

Microsoft 365 apps on Windows 10 will continue to receive updates after the company drops support for the older version of its desktop operating system. The Redmond-based tech giant recently updated its support page to announce that the Microsoft 365 apps (also known as Office apps) will continue to get security updates on Windows 10 until 2028. The company made a U-turn on its previous decision to drop support for these apps on the older OS version after October 14. Microsoft has been aggressively pushing businesses and individuals to upgrade to Windows 11. This is likely because the Copilot suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features is only available on the latest version of Windows.Microsoft Decides to Keep Updating Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10In its updated support article, the tech giant now says, “Microsoft will continue providing security updates for Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 for three years after Windows 10 reaches end of support.” These will be available via the company's standard update channels, and end on October 10, 2028. The company said that the extension was provided to help maintain security while users transition to Windows 11.Even if users do not upgrade to Windows 11 after the support ends, they will be able to use the Office apps. However, as Microsoft notes in the document, using an unsupported operating system can cause performance and reliability issues. Further, without security updates, these systems are also vulnerable to malware, viruses, and hacking attempts.Microsoft has been aggressively pushing Windows 10 users to upgrade to the latest generation. At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2025, the tech giant declared the ongoing year as “the year of the Windows 11 PC refresh.” The push is understandable, given that the company is heavily investing in Copilot+ PCs, which come equipped with a range of AI features.The company has also created subscription tiers for both enterprises and individuals to access these AI features. However, Microsoft will not be able to fully monetise its offerings unless its entire user base can access these features. But a marketing push might not be enough. According to The Verge, Microsoft has very strict hardware requirements for Windows 11, rendering millions of computers unable to upgrade to the latest operating system. The only way these users can switch to Windows 11 is if they purchase new PCs. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Further reading: Microsoft, Windows 10, Windows 11, Microsoft 365 Apps Akash Dutta Akash Dutta is a Senior Sub Editor at Gadgets 360. He is particularly interested in the social impact of technological developments and loves reading about emerging fields such as AI, metaverse, and fediverse. In his free time, he can be seen supporting his favourite football club - Chelsea, watching movies and anime, and sharing passionate opinions on food. More Related Stories

Illustration of norovirus particlesJ Marshall/Tribaleye Images/Alamy A norovirus vaccine pill that cuts the risk of infection could be available in a few years, after it showed promise in a trial where people were intentionally exposed to the virus. The highly contagious virus infects the stomach and intestines, causing vomiting and diarrhoea that typically resolve within a few days. “Billions are lost from the economy globally every year because of the lost days of work and hospitalisation,” says Sarah Caddy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Advertisement Sean Tucker at biotech company Vaxart in San Francisco and his colleagues previously developed an oral vaccine that boosted levels of IgA antibodies that can block norovirus from entering cells, suggesting it could prevent infections. Now, the researchers have tested this on 141 people aged between 18 and 49, about half of whom took the pill, while the others took a placebo. A month later, all the participants intentionally swallowed a high dose of the GI.1 strain of norovirus in liquid form, while in quarantine. “In the real-world setting, you need 10 to 100 viral particles to be infected, and we use 1 million particles,” says Tucker. This helped to ensure enough people got infected, he says. In the following week, 82 per cent of those in the placebo group became infected, but only 57 per cent of vaccinated participants did. Get the most essential health and fitness news in your inbox every Saturday. Sign up to newsletter “I think most individuals would be interested in taking [the vaccine] if you can reduce your risk by around [25 percentage points] and avoid getting really debilitating symptoms,” says Caddy, who wasn’t involved in the study. The team also found that vaccinated participants shed substantially less virus in their stool and vomit than those who took the placebo. This suggests the vaccine could slow the spread of the virus, although that needs to be directly tested, says Caddy. In another analysis, the scientists confirmed that the vaccine probably works by boosting levels of protective IgA antibodies in saliva and in the gut, blood and nose. However, it is unclear how long this protection would last. Further work is also needed to verify the findings in young children and older adults, who are especially at risk of being hospitalised, says Caddy. Most noroviruses that infect humans belong to two groups, known as GI and GII. Based on unpublished work by his team, the GI.1 vaccine would probably protect against other closely related GI variants, says Tucker. The team is also developing a vaccine that can protect against GI and GII viruses. If all goes well, Tucker hopes the GI.1 vaccine could be rolled out in two to three years. Journal reference:Science Translational Medicine DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adh9906 Topics:

Monitoring wastewater for traces of infectious diseases is giving this human byproduct a powerful new role in public health. Once used decades ago to detect poliovirus, wastewater-based epidemiology reemerged during COVID-19 and is now proving useful again in tracking measles outbreaks before cases are officially reported.A recent study led by researchers from Baylor College of Medicine, UTHealth Houston, the Houston Health Department, and Rice University showed that measles virus was detected in Houston’s wastewater days before any clinical cases were confirmed. Published in the American Journal of Public Health, the findings come as measles cases rise in Texas and across the U.S.This early detection strategy may offer a new line of defense: spotting outbreaks before they spread.The Measles ComebackMeasles is a highly contagious respiratory virus spread via droplets from coughing or sneezing. Symptoms, such as fever, runny nose, and rash, can resemble other illnesses but can be deadly for young children and immunocompromised individuals.Before the vaccine’s rollout in 1968, the U.S. saw more than 300 cases per 100,000 people annually. By 2000–2009, that number fell below 0.05 per 100,000. But when vaccination rates dip below 95 percent, fresh outbreaks can return, with devastating effects.With lower vaccine uptake and an aging population, experts say stronger surveillance is needed to track this fast-spreading virus.Read More: Scientists Scour Sewage for Coronavirus CluesAnalyzing the WastewaterUsing a sequencing-based approach (a highly sensitive method for detecting viral genetic material) the research team scanned wastewater samples for measles.“In 2023, we showed that systematically sequencing the genetic material in wastewater reveals dynamic changes in human viruses circulating in a community,” said study co-author and professor at Baylor Anthony Maresso in a news release. “Importantly, analyzing these viral changes in wastewater can improve our understanding of outbreaks and transmission and inform public health preparedness, just as one uses meteorological data to better understand and predict weather patterns to anticipate potentially dangerous conditions.”In the latest study, measles virus was found in samples from two Houston treatment facilities on January 7, ten days before two travelers in the same area tested positive.“In such cases our next step is always validating the signal with a second method,” said co-first author Sara Javornik Cregeen in the release. “[The Houston Health Department and Rice University] tested for the virus presence in samples from the same date and collection site and confirmed the signal using another technique.”She added, “As a reference, the 821 Houston wastewater samples we sequenced from the same area were negative for measles virus in the previous 31 months.”Maresso noted in the press release, “Because no other cases have been reported and the detections occurred in the same area where the travelers resided, it is reasonable to assume that the measles signal detected in wastewater is from the two infected cases, which underscores the high sensitivity of the method.”Measles Vaccination Still the Best ProtectionThese results suggest measles may be shed at higher rates than previously thought, or that the team’s agnostic hybrid-capture sequencing method is especially sensitive. Likely, it’s both.The researchers are now monitoring measles activity in other Texas cities, especially in West Texas where new cases are emerging. Their results feed into a public-facing, first-of-its-kind health dashboard: tephi.texas.gov/early-detection.“This work underscores the ability of sophisticated wastewater analyses to serve as an early detection system benefiting public health,” said Eric Boerwinkle, dean of UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in the statement. However, he added, “The best protection from contracting the measles virus is the MMR vaccine, which has been shown to be safe and effective.”Beyond measles, this approach can track everything from seasonal viruses like flu and COVID-19 to emerging threats like avian H5N1 influenza. Wastewater, it turns out, may be one of our best tools for staying a step ahead of the next outbreak.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:American Journal of Public Health: Sequencing-Based Detection of Measles in Wastewater: Texas, January 2025Nature Communications: Wastewater sequencing reveals community and variant dynamics of the collective human viromeHaving worked as a biomedical research assistant in labs across three countries, Jenny excels at translating complex scientific concepts – ranging from medical breakthroughs and pharmacological discoveries to the latest in nutrition – into engaging, accessible content. Her interests extend to topics such as human evolution, psychology, and quirky animal stories. When she’s not immersed in a popular science book, you’ll find her catching waves or cruising around Vancouver Island on her longboard.

If the year 2025 has had a message for developing countries, it’s this: “You’re on your own.”Most notably, the Trump administration began with an unprecedented and ongoing assault on foreign aid, including global health programs. But there have been further ill omens. Other rich countries, including the UK and France, followed the US example by cutting their own aid programs as well. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s tariff campaign has hit poor countries that had been achieving export-driven growth, like Bangladesh, especially hard.RelatedThe worst thing Trump has done so farIf there’s a silver lining for the Global South, it’s that being on their own in 2025 means something very different than what it meant in, say, 1990. Countries where poverty was once near-universal, like India or Indonesia, are now considered middle-income. Some populous countries in sub-Saharan Africa, like Kenya or Nigeria, are, if not completely politically stable, now possessed of enough real state capacity to try ambitious projects like universal health coverage.The resources available to these nations are still highly limited by rich-world standards. But they’re still enough to achieve very impressive feats, and I recently heard of an intriguing project that could serve as a perfect test case. If it works, it could show that major international health projects, saving hundreds of thousands of lives, can be funded largely by the countries they’re meant to help, rather than by forces of philanthropy and foreign aid that have suddenly become unreliable.Neonatal sepsis: When babies’ infections go very, very badlyIt’s called NeoTest.The program targets an extremely common and preventable cause of death in young infants: neonatal sepsis. Sepsis is a catch-all term for infections that provoke an overwhelming immune response, damaging internal organs, and in the worst cases, leading to death. Sepsis can in principle be caused by anything — a virus, a fungus, a protozoa — but in practice, most infants who get it get it from a bacterial infection.In one way, that’s good: We have antibiotics! In another way, it’s bad: The risk of antibiotic resistance means you don’t want to overuse them. The challenge, then, is to match antibiotics to the babies who need them the most.The tests we have now for bacterial sepsis in infants are slow and expensive. The main technique is “blood culturing,” which involves taking blood from the patient, putting it in a liquid “culture” that reacts if bacteria are present, and waiting to see the reaction show up. This is expensive and often takes two to three days, potentially delaying life-saving treatment. It also has very high “false negative” rates, with studies showing that a large share of neonatal sepsis cases occur in babies who test negative.This story was first featured in the Future Perfect newsletter.Sign up here to explore the big, complicated problems the world faces and the most efficient ways to solve them. Sent twice a week.So our targeting of antibiotics to babies is currently bad, with the result that hundreds of thousands of babies die every year from sepsis. The estimates we have on the toll of neonatal sepsis aren’t precise, but the best figure I’ve seen, from the World Health Organization (WHO), is a range of 400,000 to 700,000 deaths a year. That’s in the same ballpark as malaria (600 to 700,000 a year) and HIV/AIDS (630,000 deaths in 2023).Other studies go lower (more like 200,000) but, because they exclude infant deaths from pneumonia-caused sepsis, underestimate the number of deaths that could be saved by better targeting antibiotics to babies.The team behind NeoTest — which includes physician and global health research Akhil Bansal, Center for Global Development head Rachel Glennerster, economist and House of Lords member Jim O’Neill, and Nobel-winning economist Michael Kremer — aims to improve that targeting by getting a better test, one that gives results within minutes and is cheap to produce.If you fund it, they will comeThe NeoTest team does not, itself, consist of medical test manufacturers. But in Glennerster and Kremer, it includes two of the inventors of a tool called an “advance market commitment” (AMC).AMCs are a way to communicate to companies that there’s a big market for a product which doesn’t yet exist. The participants, which can include governments or other businesses or philanthropists, commit to buying a set amount of the new product, at a set price, from any manufacturers who meet the deal’s specifications. The hope is that this provides an incentive for manufacturers to develop the product, because they know for a fact there will be demand for it.It’s worked before. The first AMC, for better vaccines against pneumococcal bacteria at a time when that disease was killing as many as 1 million children a year, resulted in three new vaccines being developed, and in the number of vaccine doses growing from just 3 million in 2010 to around 150 million in 2016. By one estimate from Kremer and co-authors, the new vaccines enabled by the AMC saved some 700,000 lives between 2010 and 2020.NeoTest is an attempt to put together funds — about $120 million in total — for an advance market commitment for a better neonatal sepsis test.More famously, Operation Warp Speed, the US effort that got effective vaccines against Covid-19 on the market less than a year after the pandemic began, used a purchasing mechanism that worked quite a bit like an AMC. The government purchased hundreds of millions of doses from vaccine manufacturers months before the vaccines were in fact approved — giving the pharma firms confidence to start producing doses in large numbers, and encouraging them to keep up their R&D work.NeoTest is an attempt to put together funds — about $120 million in total — for an advance market commitment for a better neonatal sepsis test. Test manufacturers who are willing to sell for $8 per test ($5 funded by the AMC, $3 by the government of the country receiving the tests) would be guaranteed at least 24 million subsidized orders. Ideally, the test will settle at around $3 as a final price, with the initial subsidy helping fund initial costs associated with developing the tests and setting up manufacturing.A rapid test is not some outlandish dream. Neonatal sepsis experts have been saying we need better diagnostics for years; there’s a whole Neonatal Sepsis Diagnosis Working Group that puts out papers explaining the problem. The WHO has put together a detailed description of what a useful rapid test for sepsis might look like, including elements like the size of the blood draw required and the ideal wait for results.Rapid, point-of-care tests that can give answers in minutes are common at this point for viruses like Covid and the flu, and already exist for some bacterial infections like syphilis. But in part because neonatal sepsis is so concentrated in poor countries, developing a test for it hasn’t been a priority for profit-driven firms to date. Dangling $120 million in front of them might change that.This is a problem developing countries could solve as a groupOne of the most intriguing aspects of NeoTest to me is that Akhil Bansal, the physician who first devised the idea, is pitching it first to governments of middle- income countries (India, Kenya, South Africa, etc.) that might actually use the test in large numbers.$120 million is a decent sum, but not enormous for a global health project. The pneumococcal AMC, by contrast, was for $1.5 billion. And it’s totally within the budgets of some middle-income countries to contribute a portion of that $120 million, especially when the result is a product that will save the lives of thousands of babies every year in their country.Of course, money is money, and if any foreign aid professionals in upper-income countries or philanthropists reading this piece want to support NeoTest, they should — they’re still actively fundraising and are in need of support. The most important thing is that the problem gets solved.But I found the approach of going first to countries directly benefiting for funding intriguing, and surprisingly heartening at what is otherwise a dark time for global healthFor one thing, it’s remarkable and encouraging that enough middle-income countries have gotten to the point where funding an initiative like this is within their budgets. That wasn’t true 20 years ago.More importantly, though, it serves as a reminder that the work of development will continue with or without Western governments’ support. That support is invaluable, and I hope it returns. But the Global South is resilient, and increasingly shows an ability to solve big problems for itself.A version of this story originally appeared in the Future Perfect newsletter. Sign up here!You’ve read 1 article in the last monthHere at Vox, we're unwavering in our commitment to covering the issues that matter most to you — threats to democracy, immigration, reproductive rights, the environment, and the rising polarization across this country.Our mission is to provide clear, accessible journalism that empowers you to stay informed and engaged in shaping our world. By becoming a Vox Member, you directly strengthen our ability to deliver in-depth, independent reporting that drives meaningful change.We rely on readers like you — join us.Swati SharmaVox Editor-in-ChiefSee More:

Everything is more expensive this year, and that likely includes utilities like your water bill. While growing vegetables in your yard can be enchanting and empowering, it isn’t very efficient (compared to farms) in terms of water usage. There are a number of ways to become more efficient and sustainable, including using drip irrigation, but another way is to only plant vegetables that don't need too much water to begin with. Watering at the root is keyBefore I get to the specific vegetables, it's important to go over a few general watering tips.Remember that vegetables get hydration through their roots, which live underground. Watering from above, like a hose or sprinkler, has problems: you’re getting the plants wet more than the roots, which creates conditions for disease spread; you’re watering less precisely, therefore wasting water; and the impact of the water against the dirt causes droplets to bounce back up with whatever fungus or viruses are in the dirt, also spreading disease. Watering gently and consistently at ground level with drip irrigation is the best option for both the plant and your wallet. To ensure you’re watering efficiently, group plants with similar watering needs together in your garden, so you can set the drip appropriately to water less. But even more important is remembering that roots grow over time. A new seedling has shallow roots, whereas an end-of-season plant has deeply established roots. More roots means that the plant can absorb more water from deeper underground. Less roots means less hydration from the soil, so more water is needed at a shallower depth. (Though some vegetables, like corn and lettuce, will always be shallow rooted, and thus aren’t good candidates for less water.)Hothouse plantsAccording to Oregon State University, a tomato plant's need for watering is negated by the deep roots the plants establish over the season. As above, you want to water sufficiently early in the season as roots are established while taking care not to over water, which will result in those roots staying close to the surface. If the plant needs water, those roots will grow deeper in search of moisture. Reducing water greatly, if not cutting it off entirely mid-season, shouldn’t harm your harvest. The lack of surface water will reduce disease spread, and tomatoes will ripen if you reduce their watering. It’s not only tomatoes, either: Squash, which includes zucchini, summer and winter squash, as well as melons, eggplants, and hot peppers all behave the same in terms of water needs and roots. Beans Credit: Amanda Blum Most beans, particularly pole beans, have adapted to drought conditions over time. As such, they can survive and produce flowers and fruit with minimal moisture. Beans require water to germinate, so if you direct sow, ensure the seeds have consistent moisture levels. Once germinated, you can reduce (but not eliminate) water. Since beans have such a short season (usually 60 days or less), they require less water simply by existing for less time. Less moisture is going to reduce common bean problems like powdery mildew, a quickly spreading surface fungus.Chard and okra Credit: Amanda Blum For some heat hardier vegetables like chard and okra, they still require water, but do better with weekly or every-other-weekly deep watering, as opposed to daily drip. Okra is native to drier climates and prefers less water. The deep roots of the plant allow it to draw enough water from the soil to sustain itself. Chard and kale can use their huge leaves to shade the ground, which is an effective form of moisture retention. Occasional deep waterings will be enough for the plant to continue growing.Blueberries prefer less moistureI know, blueberries are a fruit and not a vegetable, but I felt compelled to include the advice here anyway. Consider it a bonus tip. A few years ago, Micah Geiselman, a blueberry farmer from Morning Shade Farm in Canby came to inspect my many bushes, and he had surprising advice: “People over-water their blueberries,” he explained to me. They appreciate good drainage and do better with less water. I’ve since changed the elevation of my blueberries to ensure better drainage and moved watering lines further away—the results were astounding. I experienced better yields, but the berries themselves were plumper and better tasting. This isn’t conclusive, of course, since there are too many variables to account for, but I take the advice of a blueberry expert seriously.