Watering: What you need to know!

The one question that I get more often than any other is ‘How often do I need to water my garden?’ The simple answer is to water your garden (plants) often enough, with enough water to let the plant grow and produce flowers/fruit. Too much water, and you will drown the plant, not allowing the roots to receive enough oxygen. Not enough water, the plant will not grow.

I my vegetable garden, I keep an eye on the plants and let the plants tell me when they need water, no they don’t talk to me, but when they start to slightly wilt, they’re thirsty.

I like to use drip irrigation for a number of reasons. 1st, it conserves water, giving only the desired plants water. Not watering between the rows, and watering any weeds. 2nd, Drip irrigation regulates how much water is give at each dripper. These precise drippers will allow ½, 1, or 2, gallons of water per hour to pass through. When the plants are newly planted, with 1 gph (gallon per hour) drippers, usually 30 minutes, twice a week is good. As the plants mature in the summer usually an hour is required twice per week. With drip irrigation there is very little evaporation which again conserves water.

Mulching the garden or landscape area will also reduce the amount of water needed to grow healthy plants. I use straw mulch (watch out for wheat that will germinate) and cypress mulch or cottonseed hulls in my landscape or bedding areas.

Patio Gardening

This year, instead of putting in a huge garden in my backyard, I decided to try my hand at a little patio garden. Keeping things simple is my M.O. these days, so a patio garden is right up my alley. I've used four of the Earth Box kits and two bulb crates that our spring flowering bulbs come in. In the Earth Boxes I've got two with tomatoes (Jet Star and Black Krim), a green bell pepper (Big Boy), and a cucumber (Burpless Bush). There's a zucchini (Aristocrat) and yellow squash (Goldy) in the bulb crates.

For the soil, I used Fox Farm Ocean Forest Potting Soil combined with Happy Frog Tomato & Vegetable. I then watered everything in with Fox Farm Grow Big. Placed at the edge of our patio, with adequate sunlight, I foresee a great yield of fresh grown veggies in a few short months!

What did you plant this year, and what's your favorite soil and fertilizer to use? Leave us a comment!