digitS'
Garden Master
No, not from the sky, irrigation. The technique gets lots of bad press about inefficiency but is common over many acres of cropland. We had flood irrigation when I was a kid on the farm. Terribly inefficient but carrying a shovel over my shoulder still takes me back to those days ...
I tried a soaker hose once but I had three problems. Water tends to go straight down here )unless it appears as ice on this glacial till
). I would have needed a great deal of hose to cover all the ground, even in one small garden. I also couldn't separate the soaker hose bed from the schedule for all the sprinkler irrigated ground, nearby. Finally, I had no idea how much water I was putting down!
The amount of water is important, of course. It doesn't help most plants, beyond a shallow-rooted KBG lawn, to only have an inch or 2 of soil wet.
Soil type makes a difference. So does the crop. I can't put too much emphasis on the crop type, however. I'm growing lots of different things, sometimes in every square foot.
Age of plants makes a difference. In my annual vegetable gardens, young plants are pulling very little water out of the ground. Tiny plants also have tiny root systems. They may need that frequent light watering perhaps even more than the lawn grass. If they are to reach some size, a deeper root system would be helpful. Make them go searching for the moisture!
I've never thought wilt is a good thing and I've got the idea that running the sprinklers about every 3 days through our hot, dry summers would be best. Unfortunately, I wasn't in charge when calendars were set up and days were grouped in 7's. A 7 can't be divided by 3, evenly! And, I'm on schedules with everybody else. So, I water twice a week.
How much to put down? Look, summer rain account for very little here. A 1/4" is a big deal but it won't get through the trees, hardly wet the ground in the open, and will evaporate quickly in the sun and wind!
I try for 3 times that much, at least. At 3/4" of water, moisture is going down to plant roots. Consistently adding that water twice a week gives plants the opportunity to grow, up and down.
How do I measure that? By the clock and with an old pan from the kitchen. Set the straight-sided pan about half way from the sprinkler and the distance it's supposed to water. Check the pan about every 15 minutes. Couldn't be easier!
Steve
I tried a soaker hose once but I had three problems. Water tends to go straight down here )unless it appears as ice on this glacial till
). I would have needed a great deal of hose to cover all the ground, even in one small garden. I also couldn't separate the soaker hose bed from the schedule for all the sprinkler irrigated ground, nearby. Finally, I had no idea how much water I was putting down!The amount of water is important, of course. It doesn't help most plants, beyond a shallow-rooted KBG lawn, to only have an inch or 2 of soil wet.
Soil type makes a difference. So does the crop. I can't put too much emphasis on the crop type, however. I'm growing lots of different things, sometimes in every square foot.
Age of plants makes a difference. In my annual vegetable gardens, young plants are pulling very little water out of the ground. Tiny plants also have tiny root systems. They may need that frequent light watering perhaps even more than the lawn grass. If they are to reach some size, a deeper root system would be helpful. Make them go searching for the moisture!
I've never thought wilt is a good thing and I've got the idea that running the sprinklers about every 3 days through our hot, dry summers would be best. Unfortunately, I wasn't in charge when calendars were set up and days were grouped in 7's. A 7 can't be divided by 3, evenly! And, I'm on schedules with everybody else. So, I water twice a week.
How much to put down? Look, summer rain account for very little here. A 1/4" is a big deal but it won't get through the trees, hardly wet the ground in the open, and will evaporate quickly in the sun and wind!
I try for 3 times that much, at least. At 3/4" of water, moisture is going down to plant roots. Consistently adding that water twice a week gives plants the opportunity to grow, up and down.
How do I measure that? By the clock and with an old pan from the kitchen. Set the straight-sided pan about half way from the sprinkler and the distance it's supposed to water. Check the pan about every 15 minutes. Couldn't be easier!
Steve
