Have you considered sunken beds? That might work better for you.
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I have considered it. I’ve also been intrigued by the “mini bed” on a huge tarp concept the whizzbang guy on YouTube promotes, at least for watermelon and pumpkin seems like it might work well.
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I’ve no experience in a climate reliably that warm. Sounds perfect for finding things to grow in the winter and more traditional things on what I call the edges. Late winter into spring and very early summer. Then again in very late summer thru winter. Just forget that hot dry crap of July, August and September. Probably half of June too. Drop the hundred or so hottest, driest days and subtract out a few more for when it might be too cold you have over two hundred days left for a productive gardening season.
I wonder if such a climate and practice might end up excluding some so-called heat loving species. Even though they like heat it’s too much expense and effort to provide them with water and the edges might be just a bit too cool. Still, I wonder if it would be possible to lots of good food, maybe just not some that I am used too but eliminate the whole issue irrigation.
I have been halfway working on a two-season system for several years with some pretty good success and some miserable failures. Forget January and February, consistently too cold. Forget July and August, consistently too hot and dry. That would leave me with two distinct 120 day growing seasons and largely solve or at least minimize watering. Summer might not need to be completely ditched, just stop thinking of it as prime time and drop the stress of watering and laboring in the heat.
I already have corn, tomatoes, beans, and several other things that might would work in either of the 120-day seasons. I’ve had a “full maturity in 100 days or less” for all my stuff rule, for several years already. I’ve been doing that for a number of reasons but just now considering the possibility of eliminating or at least significantly reducing need for irrigation.
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I was surprised to learn that in some Mediterraean climates — such as in Italy — the winters are warm enough that they don’t even bother trying to grow anything in the summer at all. Summers are hot and dry, so they just leave the vegetable garden fallow, and they only grow fruit trees that are drought tolerant enough to not need to be watered. Pretty interesting change of strategy from what most people in temperate climates would expect.
I think I’ve inferred that this may be a fairly common practice in places that are arid or semi-arid, zone 9a and above, and get most of their water in the winter? But all I know is that I’ve seen reference to that being something some specific gardeners are doing in such climates. If it’s not widespread, maybe it ought to be in those climates because it works so well for growing in them. 
My climate is zone 7b, so I can’t get away with ignoring our arid summers altogether. If I want cucurbits or summer beans, they have to be able to grow in our hot, arid summers. Not to mention everything I want to grow that’s perennial! But my winters are warm enough, and my summers are dry enough, that any species I can shift towards germinating in August, growing through the winter, and giving me a harvest by late spring is ideal.
Forty years ago, my climate was zone 5a and got 30 inches of precipitation a year. Now it’s zone 7b and gets 18 inches of precipitation a year. Given how rapidly the pace of climate change keeps accelerating, I am closely observing the gardening practices of people living in zone 9b Arizona (the state just below mine), because I wouldn’t be surprised if Utah in twenty years becomes just like Arizona is now . . . and imagining how hot southern Arizonan summers might become at that point is a little frightening. 
I like the way you’re looking at it: having two 120-day growing seasons. That seems entirely sensible.
I seem to be dealing with the challenges of my climate by planting more and more perennials and fewer and fewer annuals. I still plant the winter annuals, which need no intervention aside from me sowing the seeds, but as for summer annuals . . . the only summer annuals I think I’m even trying anymore are cucurbits, beans, highly drought tolerant grains, and local edible weeds that taste good and are happy to grow through our summers.
By the way, blue mustard is currently one of my favorite winter annuals, and garlic is one of my favorite winter perennials. They’re so tasty and productive and easy!
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My area went from zone 5 to zone 6a, and talking to old timers confirms that things used to be different. Water table is dropping year over year but we do get extremes of rainfall too. I agree that it’s a good strategy to consider what and how folks are growing crops in the next zone or two over.
This last summer we had both extended drought and saturating rain followed by stifling heat and humidity, later on followed by drought again. We lost most of our carrots, quite a few onions, all of the broccoli and cauliflower, a lot of cabbage and kale and collards to rot. They just rotted in that sopping heat.
Fall planting was largely a bust due to returning drought all the way up to hard freeze time.
It’s definitely been challenging here.
Regarding Arizona, I don’t think it’s being a doomer to foresee that there’s likely to be a major outmigration from there and other heat stricken, water starved states. My hope is that we will collectively pitch in to help integrate the newcomers into our communities. Currently that doesn’t look like the way things are headed though. But I’m still hopeful that people will realize that treating migrants with hostility is a self defeating way to go, and that working together for the common good is the better strategy.
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Here here! 
I completely agree.
I really like looking at climates that are hotter and dryer than mine for ideas to successfully dry farm here. I figure since things have been becoming steadily hotter and dryer in my climate over the past twenty years, that trend is probably going to continue, and even if it doesn’t, those strategies are often excellent for any climate that doesn’t get water straight from the sky every week in the summer. 
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