Watering “Only” Once A Week Is Doable!

Leonitus leonurus and Salvia canariensis thrive on rain only!

What a great harvest all at once! A real taste test of seven different varieties. I purposely don't grow any that have thorns!

Asparagus transplants settling in.

Bush and pole beans beginning to blossom.

Boysenberries ripening a bit late for Mother's Day.

Chard bolting, but small leaves are still tender.

Cilantro bolting. I tuck the stalks inside the bed borders so the scattered seeds will germinate later this fall for a continuation of cool-season eating.

Grapes setting unevenly so I won't have to do much thinning as they enlargen.

Arctic Star nectarine fruit set is protected with bird netting tied securely around the trunk. As ripe fruit falls into the netting, I punch as small a hole as I can manage to remove the fruit.

Beautiful purple breadseed poppy and seed pods developing.

Wait to harvest poppy seedheads until they're completely dry and crispy. Hold a pan underneath each pod as you snap it off, to catch the seed coming out of the "salt shaker" tops.

Volunteer tomato that I dug a hole on the uphill side so I could insert a plastic bucket with bottom holes to serve as a watering bin. We'll see what harvest results and what they taste like!

Celebrity tomato fruitset.

Crookneck squash set. When this batch of plants begin setting their fruits, I plant another batch of seeds that will begin bearing when this bunch finally quits. I'll repeat that two more times through the summer for a perpetual harvest through fall.

Beautiful pinky peachy rose.

     With all the hubbub and gnashing of teeth about pending water restrictions to once a week, I’m blasé about the issue because my productive edible garden has always done well with far less.  I’ve always conducted my watering timing as an only-when-imperative operation.  Yes, I’ve lost some plants because I did indeed wait too long, but by far my successes have taught me that generally recommended frequency and amounts of water have been way beyond what the plants needed to thrive.
      But it does take training the plants and trees from the moment they’re seeded or transplanted to grow deeply to retrieve the water that you’ll make available less frequently.  And that means now.  Even if you’ve already planted your summer garden, in the several weeks before the June 1 reduction start, you can get those plants to stretch further downward in search of the water you provide, so the once-a-week restriction will be nary a change.
 
Some guidelines:

• Water deeply – just below the genetically-determined length of the specific plant’s roots – such as 6” lawn, 1’ lettuce and ornamentals, 18-24” beans and peppers and squash, and 30-36” asparagus and tomato.  The point is to always provide those bottommost roots with the water they need so they’ll withstand the frying heat in the top 1-2 inches of soil.
• Water infrequently – only when the soil 3” down is dry.  Again, you want the water to keep the soil moist further down, where you’ve taught the plant roots to establish the bulk of their rootsystems.
• Keep soil surfaces covered with 1-3 inches of mulch to shade the soil from the beating heat of the sun and therefore lessen evaporation of moisture from the soil.
• Incorporating organic matter like compost into the growing beds will help all soil types stay both moist and well-drained.  It’s the magic for both sandy soils (holding the moisture from draining too quickly) and for clay soils (providing miniscule air pores for better drainage) that will enable plant roots to remain well-moistened like a wrung-out sponge.
• What’s the best method to water my garden?  Choosing which of the many modes of delivering water to your garden depends upon your time and effort and can be a combination.  Several options include hand-help hoses, overhead sprinklers, mini-tube drip emitters on timers, soaker “leaky” hoses under mulch, and buried 5-gallon plastic containers with bottom holes.

  
See my previous blog articles where I’ve described these specifics in more detail –

Start Watering The Garden - 2/7/22

Watering -- When, How Much, and Methods - 3/19/22

​How Deep Is “Watering Deeply”? - 7/21/18
 
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