I know everyone is having crazy weather this year. From droughts to floods, tornadoes, etc. Does everyone water twice a day in order to keep their garden from wilting? It has just now turned summer (calender wise) and I am wishing for fall. I look out the window and see the wilted plants and almost don't care! Maybe a rain dance would help.
I don't water my gardens at home unless we are in a drought. (I think I watered my gardens twice last year!) I water my planters twice a week. When it's hot my planters need water almost everyday. I usually chose drought tolerant plants so I don't have to water often. I also have clay soil so it holds moisture a long time.
When it hits mid summer here and isn't raining a lot I water my garden before 8 in the morning and again after 6 at night. the only thing that I don't water everyday is peppers.
I usually water everyday but not the same plants. I water things in the back one day and things in the front the next day and the trees and bushes the next day. I only water everything about every third day. I plant where they don't get constant sun for the most part. Pretty soon they will put in water restrictions and then I will use more gray water for the flowers and bushes and only water the vegetables with water from the hose. dooley
Fortunately we don't have water restrictions, but it just seems like everything is wanting to 'croak' before it's time. Glenda said a lot of her things are turning to dust!
Things are getting dryish here now and the weather is heating-up...I have had to water my veg and some of the new flowering plants and transplants. At the moment it isn't really bad, but if we do not get rain soon...I will have to water some outside veggies daily. Sorry to hear about your wilters, KG ....Truly. BTW... Do you use mulches around your little babies to prevent rapid evapouration ?
No, as a matter of fact I don't. And I don't know why I don't. Dumb on my part. Will be getting some soon. In addition to it being hot and dry, we have had several days of real high wind, so that dries the plants out as well. Thanks, Sjoerd for mentioning the mulch.
We've watered a few times since we got our garden in. But our weather here has been very unusual. Storms and rain just pop up out of nowhere. Its been good for the garden, atleast I don't have to water so much.
You're welcome, KG---if you do get the mulch, I would suggest first scratching the ground around your plants until it's good and loose (perhaps carefully digging a bit with a spade where possible to get a little deeper)then watering it very, very thoroughly. Only then applying the mulch and then water it all once again, soaking the mulch from above very thoroughly. This scratching /digging before watering is to let the water soak-in and down into your soil where the roots are, so it won't juststand or run off. ...And of course, the excessive watering is sort of like putting money in the bank--if you leave it out on the dresser, it might get spent too quickly, but if it's in the bank it will get spent alright, but slower. See what I mean? Good luck with this project--it's an important one. Oh, one final note: unless you are growing things that absolutely need acid soil like blueberries, azalias, rhododendron etc. do not use a pine bark mulch. Look in the sacks for a hint as to what the mulches are for and what the pH is. Of course if you have things at home like compost or leaf mould you could use those. You know, KG--it just dawned on me that you may already know all this stuff. If so, please don't be offended. My heart is in the right place, I ment well.
Good luck with your mulching Kuntrygal. It should help. We are still in medium drought here in NC, but pine bark helps a lot! I also use a soaker hose in my long border every couple of days. Gardengater
Lately I have been watering once a day. I usually look at the ground to see if it is dry or not (it almost always is lately). I do find that anything in containers usually doesn't need to be watered as much (makes me wonder why I transplanted some of my stuff into the ground ).
drought resistance I practice xeriscaping with drought resistant plants i've just discovered water-gel capsules online - you mix them into the soil of garden or potted plants and they hold water in the soil, which is dispersed as needed. Last year's drought was awful in s.c. I am a part-timer there. None of the plants were watered during the drought and all but the baby hollies survived. These methods can change your garden into a more drought resistant and low maintenance area even if you start late. Mulches -whether barks, pinestraw or pea gravel, are superb for conserving water below the surface.Gardengater is right! Get a few soaker hoses (install them under mulches and no one's the wiser, just hook up your regular hoses to the ends and turn on the water) - you can effectively drip irrigate large areas with no wasted water and no effort. the plants utilize the water in half the time and get all of it, sprinklers are not in sight and you can water any time of day, even in the worst heat. Weave the soaker hoses in and out of your beds and cover with soil or mulch. They come in lots of sizes, i have a couple that are 100 ft. Your water isn't lost to evaporation in the air or on the surface of the garden, watering walkways, burning the leaves, or watering anything other than your plants. you will water much less often and in much less time. these methods can be used to remedy your drought issues at any time and are easy to implement. Better of course when you start a garden. They can be made inconspicuous. i leave mine in the gardens and hook them up to a water source when needed. if you live in a freeze zone, store the hoses. A healthy worm population aerates the soil and water is better used because of the tunneling they do for a living. Gardener's Supply Company has self-watering planters in all sizes. I just bought the largest rectangulars, free shipping, for the front porch area. they hold 4 gallons of water in a reservoir and wick the water to the plants when they need it. Pine bark mulch - i've used it for 30 years in two zones around every plant imaginable. All flowers, bulbs and shrubs have thrived, none have ever suffered from the acid content.I've replenished as it when it breaks down many times. A landscape architect told me -and i don't know if it's true.. by the time it's mulch, the acid is a lot less concentrated and it breaks down very slowly, over a period of years. I'm told it's "washed" and i don't know the details. Pine straw, the same thing. It hasn't hurt anything i grow. for what it's worth!
You don't always have to water your garden as much as you think. Over watering your lawn can actually be worse than not watering it all. Watering too much just causes unwanted weeds and moss to enter the lawn. Try and water your lawn at times when the moisture is more likely to soak such as early in the morning or later at night.
