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Watering Plants

photo credit: daitaWatering a garden or plants seems like it should be quite easy. But watering too much or too little can harm your plants, and some of the damage  may be irreversible.

Watering tips

The best time for watering is in the morning before heat and evaporation take their toll.  Grass clippings and mulch spread on the soil help to prevent the water from evaporating and let it soak into the soil.

Watering in the evening after 5 p.m. when the heat of the day so cooling will also work for most plants.

But if you plan to water in the evening, make sure you give the plants and soil enough time to dry before dew forms in the night. If you water too late at night you will have a tendency to attract slugs and other non-beneficial insects and disease into your garden.

Water the soil in your garden completely once a week. This means there must be enough water to soak down through the soil and get to the roots of the plants where it is needed.

Note: A few minutes of surface watering only encourages weak and shallow roots.

New plants need to be watered daily for several weeks to root growth. This is especially true for shrubs and trees.  Once your plants are established, be careful not to over-water them. Too much water will take air out of the soil and the plants will suffer or die from lack of air.
photo credit: Gnosticgardener

How to Water your Plants

Generally, plants should be watered at the base of the plant. Water the area long enough for the water to be able to soak into the soil.  You can check how deep the moisture is going into the ground with you finger. You want at least an inch of moisture; 3 inches would be better.

A light misting of the leaves occasionally can be beneficial, especially for houseplants.  But too much water on the leaves can promote fungal blights. And during the hottest hour of the day leaves outdoor plants can actually suffer from phototoxicity (burning of the leaves).

I like to water with a dipper and water each plant individually with water from a rain barrel. The water is warm and not as cold as from a sprinkler. Cold water can shock plants and set back plant growth and production.

But all people don’t have time to hand water and a sprinkler or irrigation-type hose is a much easier and faster. Just make sure to water the area long enough to get the moisture down to the plants roots.

And last but not least, different plants take more or less water. Check in gardening books and online to learn plants water needs and group plants in certain areas according to their needs.

Technorati Tags: plant care, watering a garden, watering plants

You may design the perfect garden and enrich the soil to prepare the best environmental growing space possible but if the weather decides to be temperamental, gardening takes on new challenges. After planting and planning a garden you want to see it thrive and grow.
photo credit: Lorri37

Both drought conditions in gardening and cool damp weather creates their own growing problems but with planning you can head off possible challenges that would slow down your crop production and beauty in the flower gardens.

This year my growing climate started out dry and warmer than normal, now I have moved into nights that are too cool and damp weather. I also live in a zone 5 growing zone so my growing season is shorter than most to begin with.

Here are a few ideas that have helped me keep my gardens warmer and drier in those cool summers.

Grow you crops and flowers in raised beds. Raised beds dry out faster, warm up quicker in the spring and can be built in such a way as to place a cover over the garden to keep rain off the plants and soil if you really are suffering from too much rain. (Plants that have too much rain will start to have yellow leaves, thin out and look unhealthy)

If your garden is already planted you may want to add a raised bed for plants and crops that are not doing well and replant or plant container planters. Container gardens can be moved onto porches if there is too much rain. I also have made mini tents to cover my containers when I have had wet cold summers.

Cover your crops with plastic or if you growing zone is short you may want to consider using a mini greenhouse for certain plants. I grow a few tomatoes, peppers, most of my gourds and a variety of flowers in a greenhouse n the summer. I can start these plants earlier and grow them late into the fall.

If your garden has a problem draining put in a small drainage channel with a hoe or spade to re-direst water. One year we had too much rain in the summer and I put in mini ditches in the garden. It helped.

I also let my nephew have a section on the lower garden for playing with his farming toys. It tended to be a little moister in that area and one day after a heavy rain while he was playing he hit water with his toy backhoe, which he thought was funny. I wasn’t quite as impressed at the time.

Black plastic will keep the soil warmer and will keep some of the water off the soil. I am not that much of a fan or plastic on soil but my neighbors have used it and seem to like the results.

The main thing to remember if you have too much water is to try and keep the soil dry and additional rain off if possible. And if cool temperatures exist at the same time covering with clear plastic to hold in heat in the evening and to keep additional rain off will help.

Usually a cool wet spell will pass in a few weeks and if you can keep the plants healthy during this time they will flourish later.

Also with flowers, make sure to deadhead the old blossoms. In cool weather they will get wet and rot which may lead to plant disease.

Technorati Tags: garden challenges, gardening tips, growing successful gardens in cool wet summers

When you plant a garden you always want to have a beautiful garden area and successful plants. No matter how well you plan you garden unexpected problem like “Mother Nature” can create havoc.
photo credit: adobemac

This year I am hearing mixed reviews of gardening problems that relate to droughts or too much rain and cold. Both problems can slow down plants growth and the success of you plants. And of course I seem to be having a mix of both problems this year.

So how do you prepare for weather related garden problems? The answer, be prepared!

Drought Conditions

The best way to prepare for drought conditions is to set your garden up to deal with the lack of water. Here are a few suggestions that will help you.

Rich soil with loam and compost will hold water better than poor soil. So add compost and fertilizer to your garden at the beginning of the year.

Mulch your garden plot. After I have planted my garden I water the area well and immediately cover the ground with 2 to 4 inches of mulch. My mulch is a mix of compost, leaves, grass clipping and straw that has sat for a few weeks to age.

If you don’t have these materials on hand newspaper will also work. But you should be able to round up grass clipping from your yard or your neighbors.

Weeds require water, so remove all weeds as soon as they appear.

Use native plants in your flower gardens and around the yard. Native plants are drought tolerant.

Mow less and do not cute the grass not as short. Also if you live in an area that suffers from drought a lot you may want to consider removing the grass and going for a wooded look or add hardscape and rock and retire that lawn mower.

As a rule, lawns need about 1 inch of water a week. Test how much you’re watering by collecting your sprinkler water in a can. And if conditions are very bad in your area you may have to let the grass go brown and use that water for you garden vegetables.

Add a rain barrel to your yard. It’s amazing how much rain you can capture and reuse for plants and the garden area.

You can water by using an inverted plastic bottle that you have placed in the ground by a plant. Cut out the bottom of the bottle, take off the cap and place in the garden by water hungry plants. This bottle will act like a funnel and take the water directly to the plants roots. I use this technique with tomato plants, melons and my gourd crops. The funnel is put in place at the same time I plant the plants.

If your garden is small and you are using the “intensive garden method” water each plant with a dipper. Create a small inverted saucer near the plant to keep the water near the plants and hand water each plant. You will have no water run over suing this method and a small garden can easily be watered in 20 minutes.

If you have a sprinkler system, make sure its in good condition. Repair any broken or missing spray heads or emitters. You can also install a drip or low-volume irrigation system.

You may want to check out this Home and Garden article. It’s all about different irrigation systems and packed with great information: How to Build a drip Watering System.

I would also check plants for moisture before watering. Curling leaves, a grayish color and permanent wilting indicate under-watering. Leaves that turn yellow and drop off indicates you could be over-watering.

One other trick I have used in a drought is to cover my plants and give them shade during the hottest hours of the day, noon to 2 p.m. I only do this if the drought is very bad and the plants look like they are suffering.

With a little care you can keep you plants healthy when there is a drought. And hopefully the problem will end and your garden will be able to flourish without extra steps.

An article on gardening in cold and damp weather will follow in a few days.

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