Keep lavender and rosemary in a dry garden space away from other plants that want lots of water.

   One of the more frequent questions beginning gardeners ask is “When do I water, and how much?    To which experienced gardeners respond, “It depends”.  Frustratingly unhelpful for everyone!  But, it’s true – it depends on many factors specific to each garden in each season, each plant and each gardener.  What extent of direct sun and shade does the garden get during each month of the year?  What kind of soil is in each garden, and are there different kinds in different places? What plants are growing, how deep are their root systems, and are they drought-tolerant or water-needy?  How attentive is the gardener – walking through the garden daily or weekly or only when there’s something to harvest? 
     Each of these elements balanced together provides a list of possible answers to that basic question of when and how much to water and what methods to use.  Now’s the time to fit these pieces together to get plants growing well as we move into our warm summer season.
 
When Do I Water?
   Frequency changes depending on the weather.  Mostly to this point, we’ve had a coolish spring, so that wonderful quantity of November and December rains that soaked into the soil has not evaporated beyond the surface inch-deep or so.  But, those couple of days of 90-degree air temperatures weeks ago, combined with the current high-80-degree temperatures means that established plants have begun actively growing and pulling moisture from the soil.  Which means that gardeners need to begin consistently replacing that moisture as the air warmth continues and new plants are added.
     A basic timing schedule for watering during each season is:

• Spring = Once every 3 weeks.  Soils are still cool, and roots are just beginning to actively grow.
• Summer = Once a week, with more according to the plants’ specific foliage bulk and respiration rate – like fully-branched-out tomatoes when air temperatures are above 90-95 degrees.  Above these temperatures, plants shut down to wait until cooler temperatures return, so more water will run the risk of drowning them.
• Fall = Once every 2 weeks.  Soil temperatures are still warm, but air temperatures and direct sun are lessened, so plant roots are more comfortable and growing.
• Winter = Once a month if there’s no rain. As cool as we get – perhaps into the low 40 degrees, plant roots basically go dormant and stop growing, so more watering than this will run the risk of drowning the plant.

     You may be surprised at how infrequent this schedule is.  But, it leads directly into our next element.    

How Deeply Do I Water?
    Watering depth stays the same year-round for each group of plants so their entire root zones remain evenly moist.  Each time you water, you apply enough water to reach each plant’s bottom-most roots.  This is why it’s important to grow together those plants that have similar root depths and moisture needs.

• Shallow – to 1-foot depth – carrot (depending on variety), celery, lettuce, onion, radish, potato
• Moderate – to 2-foot depth – bean, carrot (depending on variety), cucumber, eggplant, pepper, squash
• Deep – to 3-foot depth – asparagus, globe artichoke, melon, pumpkin, tomato

 

• Water needs of individual plants are another consideration when you plant.  For example, keep lavender and rosemary (which want little water) separate from basil and cilantro (which want more water). 

      When you water more frequently and not as deeply, as I’ve specified above, plant roots stay close to the surface since that’s as far down as the water goes.  When hot weather bakes the soil, these roots also get baked, and the plant dies or becomes so weak from heat stress that it succumbs to pests. 
     I used to have a neighbor that loved to sprinkle her garden every evening when she came home from work.  It gave her great pleasure to be in touch with her garden and its plants. This worked fine during the mild spring weather.  However, once the daily air temperatures rose above 85 and 90 degrees, her plants were perpetually droopy, even when she took to sprinkling everything before she left for work in the morning as well as when she returned home in the evening.  Within two weeks, the plants died – the shallow roots never had the relief of growing deeply into the cooler soil, and they rotted out due to drowning from being watered twice a day that pushed out all the air pores.

What’s Soil Got To Do With It?
   The soil in the garden determines how quickly water is absorbed and how widely it spreads underground.  Sandy soil drains quickly and mostly downward.  Clay soil is the opposite, draining more slowly and sinking broadly but shallowly.  Loam soil, the middle type, spreads somewhat and goes down somewhat. 
     Incorporating more organic material in the soil – no matter which type of soil – will help the soil both drain and hold water while providing lots of air spaces for roots to develop.  
 
Which Methods Do I Use?
   Depending on how often you like to wander through your garden, and how much time you’d like to spend communing with each plant – or not – there are several watering methods that may satisfy both your needs and the plants’ needs.  In my garden, I employ all five of these options in different locations and at different times under different conditions.

• Hand-Held Hose – Deal with specific plant needs like needing more water than its neighbors or washing down foliage undersides to get rid of pests.
• Overhead Sprinkler – Wash off dust on foliage for more effective photosynthesis. My father installed an overhead sprinkler for each fruit tree 60 years ago and left the water running overnight for deep watering.  This is impractical now, so I now use it once a month to wash the foliage.
• Mini-Tube Drip Emitter On Timer – Especially good for individual plants spaced far apart so water isn’t “wasted” in between plants. Make sure entire root zone gets moist, not just one limited spot due to the type of emitter.
• Soaker “Leaky” Hose Under Mulch – Made of recycled tires, it drips along the entire length of the hose.  Lay it about 9” apart to achieve moisture going to the entire root zone, especially on fruit trees and intensively-planted raised beds.
• Buried 5-Gallon Nursery Container With Bottom Holes – Fill with water to gradually release into soil 9-11” deep, directly to plant root zones.  Adding a small shovelful of manure or compost into the container will enable each watering to add fertilizer as manure or compost “tea”.  Because water is released so deep into the soil, evaporation is minimal and roots remain consistently moist however hot the summer temperatures are.

 
For more monthly tasks, go to March and April.
 
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Freesias' first blooms

Phlomis purpurea on left, Phlomis fruticosa on right.

What crazy weather, huh?  Tons of rain in November and December – totaling our “normal” annual amount of 11 inches.  Then no rain at all, not even a dribble, during all of January and February, which are usually our rainiest months.  Indeed, not only no rain, but into-the-90-degree temperatures which made us all (including the plants) think that Spring had sprung and resulted in some fruit trees blossoming and lettuce bolting (going to seed).  But no, that weather didn’t stick either, and now we’re back to Winter temperatures of 40s at night and merely 60s during daytime.  At least for last week and this week.  We can’t tell what’s coming next, and the garden’s trees and plants just mellow along with whatever is happening at each moment.
 
A walk through my garden an hour ago – see the photos -- revealed that not only is nobody suffering -- quite the opposite – everyone is robustly growing, probably in part to the brief torrent of rain we got yesterday evening that sank well into the plants’ rootzones. And the coolness that they’ve gotten used to both in the air (despite that week’s hot spell we had) and in the soil (which probably stayed cold through that hot spell). 

​And now, as I post this, it's raining again.  Yay!
 
An added bonus is that so many of my succulents are blooming their heads off.  I’m glad that over the years I have inadvertently chosen succulents that color up and bloom and multiply at different times of the year – some with winter’s cold and low sun, and others with summer’s heat and brilliant sun.  So something’s always looking good.
 
At the beginning of our cool season in November and December, we were justifiably concerned with air temperatures dipping into the 40s and 30s because of the potential damage to our tree and plant foliage since they hadn’t yet acclimated to the coolness.  But, by this time of year, even with that hot spell seemingly disrupting their dormancy, most plants are doing just fine because they’re used to the lower temperatures so aren’t shocked by the even-lower temperatures.  And, the rain did help remind the plants that they should continue growing well. 
 
This should be YOUR reminder to make sure that plants – especially those in containers – should be kept watered sufficient to keep the soil or potting mix moist so that roots are kept hydrated.  Not wet, since plants do grow so much more slowly during low temperatures and in many cases – like deciduous fruit trees -- are dormant or close to it so you don’t want to literally drown them.
 
Still Time for Growing Peas
If you’ve not grown edible peas before, you still have through the end of April to get seeds into the soil, although earlier sowing will produce a larger harvest.  Peas, I think, are the cool-season version of must-grow plants like tomatoes are for the warm season.  The flavor and crunch of munching the just-picked raw pea is beyond delicious delight.  And I think this is the case perhaps especially if you don’t like cooked peas.  There’s just no similarity.  Even purchasing them at the grocery store means they’re at least several days old.
 
If you’ll be planting peas soon, I suggest that you purchase the Wando variety because it is more heat-tolerant than other varieties, since the plants will be developing as the weather warms. 
 
I grow three different types:

1. Flat-podded when mature, with small actual interior peas, and the entire pod is edible.  This year, I’m growing Mammoth Melting Sugar, Oregon Sugar Pod, Sugar Magnolia.
2. Full-podded when mature, with large interior peas, and the entire pod is edible.  These are my favorite.  This year, I’m growing Royal II Sugar Snap, Sugar Snap, Super Sugar Snap.
3. Full-podded when mature, with large interior peas, and the pod isn’t completely edible.  These are my husband’s favorite.  After enjoying pulling apart the pods and eating the peas, he chews the empty pod, extracting all of its crunch and juiciness, before throwing the remaining mess of strings into the compost pile.  This year, I’m growing Alaska, Cascadia, Frosty, Green Arrow, Kelvedon Wonder, King Tut Purple, Laxton’s Progress #9, Lincoln, Little Marvel, Wando.

 
For more timely tasks, see March.
 
For major topics from previous blogs, see seasonal listings on Homepage.