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Haha - yes, I've posted before that maybe I should be growing rice. The one problem is that most years, sometime in early July the spigot gets turned off. Then I get to try to keep plants with shallow roots systems (or in pots) going with "irrigation".* Right now I have a good amount of saved rain water, but, that won't last long, so, the new well pump will get a workout! I really wish the wellhouse had more room (especially height) in it. A bigger tank would mean less cycling of the pump. More cycling stresses the motor capacitor, and the pump relay, which are what usually fail first. I've modded the relay setup so the pump relay merely kicks on a heavy duty mercury wetted relay (should last almost forever), but that still leaves the motor capacitor at risk.

If I had more room in the wellhouse, I'd also consider one of those disc type irrigation filters Pollard and I were discussing, in the intake of the pump. Sediment getting in the pump and building up / hardening is what finally killed my last pump, into which I'd replaced the original motor capacitors with pricey(!) polypropylene capacitors in parallel (usually used in high end audio applications). My new pump takes even bigger capacitors - aghh - more $$$.

If I can figure out the right MOV's and other parts to use, I might be further able to suppress the turn-on / turn-off voltage spikes that kill the (stock) electrolytic capacitors, but, the mercury wetted relay on-off pump switching should help quite a bit, there... Back to the garden: This year I've been forced to not plant a lot of veggies in the garden soil, and I still have the plants in pots - a lot of which are undersized, as many are just the bottom half of 2 liter soda (etc.) bottles with drainage holes punched in them. Some are doing better than others. :-( Assuming we are past this crazy "rain every couple days" period, I can try planting them "deep" as practical for a given type plant and water them in well, then hope with "normal irrigation" that they survive the transplant... in 90+ degree afternoons. My lettuce in the basement were doing well, but now are dead or dying. I guess I should just give up on lettuce and stick with Aldi.

Well, you do not necessarily need a paddy for upland rice. (You do need a shallow lake for growing Wild Rice, but that is different!) You do need about 110 days of frost free weather. (Augie has a pond! Maybe something to think about! :)

Grow rice without flooded field

Article has good discussion of this for one type of rice. I use rice but try to get rice from California rather than Arkansas due to arsenic content.