How to care for a garden the Kazak way

Being an avid gardener or at least I used to; I noticed how the gardening and watering are done here and just had to share.
The workers build up small mounds of dirt around gardens to create a pool effect so when they water the plants all they have to do is turn on a hose and leave. Sometimes they leave for hours and I have even seen overnight. Sprinklers and hoses are a luxury here so I am assuming this is the best way to get the job done. I don’t know if they realize that once the water goes past the deepest roots it is wasteful.
In addition to the watering they seem to cut off the tops of trees that were just planted. What I mean by trees might be different than you think. Trees are planted here with little to no support and the circumference is a twice that of a pencil. To cut the top of the tree at that size only hinders the tree from reaching its true height.
With little knowledge and very little tree experience I can understand why this can happen. When you fly into the airport you don’t see one tree for miles. As things westernize I am hoping this will get better.