After a hot weekend and nearly three weeks without rain it looks like we are in for a rainy spell. This will be what a lot of our gardens need. As I was working on a few tasks at the garden last weekend I notice a trend especially among our new gardeners of inadequate watering.
Whenever I plant new crops, whether seeds or transplants, I water those every day until those crops are sprouted or established. Every day! Especially when it's hot. Once the crops are growing, then I back off to a less frequent watering schedule. Every other day. For those of you with the new soil, a more frequent watering schedule will help the soil from getting a hard crust. With a hard crust, the water you apply seems to just run off. Take a trowel or small hoe, scratch the surface of the soil between you plants and seedlings and then water. The water will soak in much better.
With our raised beds, we have no problems with over watering, any excess water will drain out. That's good and bad. Good because you really can't overwater your garden especially in this recent hot dry weather (more of which IS coming). But you don't want to over water constantly, you'll wash away some of our fertilizer. We all have the best water gauge in the world, an index finger. Stick your finger into the soil, if your finger comes out dry, water. If your finger comes out moist, maybe wait. And certainly after you finish watering and your finger comes out of the soil wet the entire length, you've watered correctly. Your plants will be happy and productive.
With 2-3" of rain possible over the next week some of our crops will especially benefit. Our baby potatoes will love this water and really start growing. The fruit will love a good deep soaking rain, blueberries will get plump.
Use the time between showers over the next week to take care of weeding, the moist soil will make those weeds easier to pull.
Happy Gardening
Whenever I plant new crops, whether seeds or transplants, I water those every day until those crops are sprouted or established. Every day! Especially when it's hot. Once the crops are growing, then I back off to a less frequent watering schedule. Every other day. For those of you with the new soil, a more frequent watering schedule will help the soil from getting a hard crust. With a hard crust, the water you apply seems to just run off. Take a trowel or small hoe, scratch the surface of the soil between you plants and seedlings and then water. The water will soak in much better.
With our raised beds, we have no problems with over watering, any excess water will drain out. That's good and bad. Good because you really can't overwater your garden especially in this recent hot dry weather (more of which IS coming). But you don't want to over water constantly, you'll wash away some of our fertilizer. We all have the best water gauge in the world, an index finger. Stick your finger into the soil, if your finger comes out dry, water. If your finger comes out moist, maybe wait. And certainly after you finish watering and your finger comes out of the soil wet the entire length, you've watered correctly. Your plants will be happy and productive.
With 2-3" of rain possible over the next week some of our crops will especially benefit. Our baby potatoes will love this water and really start growing. The fruit will love a good deep soaking rain, blueberries will get plump.
Use the time between showers over the next week to take care of weeding, the moist soil will make those weeds easier to pull.
Happy Gardening
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