Depends on how much time you have to keep up with watering. I would only put in a modest amount of new plantings looking at the current weather trend. If you put in a lot of plants you'll be spending more time than you may have available to keep up with watering. You can try soaker hoses placed so they snake around each plant. Soakers work well only when the area is level. I have an acre and always home, so have never considered a widespread tube irrigation system.

Rain Barrels seem to be growing in popularity, hook up to downspout. I am not aware of predictions of drought, however it may be good to go easy on planting until we see what the summer looks like. Mulch is always a good way to help with water conservation.
I use mulch in my veg garden, it helps esp with the tomatoes

I am researching rain barrels...but if there's no rain, what's the use? I can't picture how much help a rainbarrel would be. I'm wondering how long the average rain barrel (55 gal) will last when watering, say, 5 or 6 new trees & shrubs, some groundcover/patio landscaping & a small veggie garden. Also, if there is a heat wave, what about evaporation?

If there's no rain, (not sure I can predict that) then I would not plant anything.
Good luck -

Also, you don't need to water everyday. Thoroughly soak, once a week give or take, until it feels dry again, after inserting your finger down past the knuckle. Don't bother planting if you do not mulch. As well as conserving moisture, mulch keeps moisture hogging weeds away from your plant. Set up a schedule of a dripping faucet leak from a hose, until soaked - for each plant , including new ones added last June...they are still settling in and will need the water until established.

Hi woodswalker....I agree about the weather...want rain very much. I use drip irrigation. It saves what little water we have. I have a large yard and 12 gardens. At this point I have 3 water stations in my back yard and 1 in the front. All have timers and I water about 5 minutes in the early morning with each station starting 10 minutes apart. Occasionally, I water for 5 minutes in the evening. The advantage of drip irrigation is the water goes directly onto the roots and not all over the plant wasting water. My plants thrive and the only work is when you first install it...and then when you put your plants in. I put a dripper at each plant. It is so easy to install...I use individual timers for each station, but if you are mechanically savy they have things that will let you do all stations together...have never been able to figure out how to use them though. Each timer is contected to a hose that is connected to tubing that then has smaller tubing to each flower...My gardens go up hill and it still works great. It works great and is pretty inexpensive to set up.
You can email me at rcsheeler@gmail.com and I can tell you where I get my irrigation supplies since I'm not sure if I can say where on here.