Hand watering vs. Drip Irrigation

[devdally]

I'll be retiring in August and have decided to take our garden more seriously. I usually do hand watering as I can't find the time to install a system - yet.

 

[Ladyhawke1]

Speaking of water, I bought a water gauge at Home Depot for about $7.98. It takes three measurements, one for water, one for light and one for PH. I was just curious to see how it worked. I have raisied beds.

The light is of no concern, and PH leaves me puzzled, however, I am concerned about the how much water to use. The needle on the gauge keeps telling me that below the surface it is wet. It has three settings on the water gauge...dry....moist....wet. Wet is
"waaay" to the right on the gauge.

I only water when the ground looks very dry, and I sometimes poke my finger in the dirt. Then I just hand water a little bit. Now I am not sure how accurate this thing is, but it sure looks great. Does anyone have any experience with things like this? Am I overwatering? :watering

You have to learn to interpret it for your own conditions. Clay soil will almost always read as wet unless it is baked into adobe. Sandy soil can read dry when it really has plenty of water.

I have raised beds with combindations of different composts, peat and vermiculite. ?????