Sauk County Gardener: The art of watering the garden

“The watering of a garden requires as much judgment as the seasoning of a soup.” ~Helena Rutherfurd Ely

With all the heat these last couple of weeks, I am starting to question the number of potted containers and various hanging plants I should have in and around my yard. With as hot as it has been, it has been taking over an hour to water everything and that is just the containers, hanging baskets and raised vegetable garden. However, I know if I want beautiful flowers and delicious vegetables, I have to make sure they have enough water. If they do not get enough water, they can develop all kinds of problems and even die.

Container plants typically need to be watered at least once a day. The smaller the container, the more often you have to water. Luckily, I have some really large planters so I can get by with watering every other day unless it’s really hot. The only way to really minimize your time spent watering is either fewer containers or installing a drip system on a timer.

However, there are ways to minimize your watering of your flower and vegetable gardens. Generally, you need about an inch of water a week from either rain, the water hose or an irrigation system for the vegetable garden and perennials. Before you start dragging out your hose though, take a moment to assess your soil. Is it sandy, heavy clay or a nice loamy mix? Sandy soil is going to dry out more and will not hold the moisture as long. Clay soil has the advantage of retaining water better, which is great when it’s dry and you have to water a lot. With clay soil you might be able to get away with watering once week or not at all if you get an inch of rain. Sandy soil will require more watering.

So, now that you have an idea how much water your garden needs, it’s time to measure how much water you receive. There are a variety of rain gauges out there, from simple plastic ones to fancy ones that are ornamental. I have a cool copper one that uses a float type system and it rises up as it fills with water so I can read how much rain I have received. Record how much rain you receive and schedule a time to really water your vegetable and flower beds that you have.

If you have to water (like we’ve all had to do most likely the past few weeks), try to be as efficient as possible. The most efficient way is drip irrigation. However, it can be expensive to do it throughout all of your beds. I use drip hoses around my tomatoes and various squashes to help prevent the various problems these types of vegetables are susceptible to) and sometimes in newly developed flower beds. If you cannot do drip hoses, try to water at the base of the plants to prevent the water from getting on the leaves. The key is to water deeply, but less frequently, so your plants develop deep roots. If you have newly planted transplants, they will need a little more water to get established but wean them off as soon as they start to put on some growth. Seeds need consistently moist soil to germinate so a couple watering a week may be necessary if we don’t get rain. If it is really hot, you may have to water every day until they sprout. Avoid overhead sprinkling as a lot of the water evaporates, especially when it is hot.

If you can, water in the morning to minimize water evaporation. And if you get water on the leaves, they have all day to dry out. Water on the leaves can lead to various fungal diseases, especially on tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash. If you can’t water in the morning, try to get out in the evening but do your best to avoid getting the leaves wet as they won’t have as much time to dry off.

Finally, mulch around your plants as much as possible. Mulch not only help retain moisture, but it also can help suppress weeds. Less watering and less weeding, what could be better than that!

As a side note, my garlic is starting to get its scapes. Garlic scapes are the thick stalks that grow out of the center of the garlic plant and curls around into a loop. Cutting off the scape encourages the plant to put all its energy into growing a large bulb instead of producing a flower and seeds. Garlic scapes taste just like garlic and are easy to harvest. Check online and you can find numerous recipes and uses for them. To harvest the scape, simply cut the looped stalk down as far as you can without cutting any leaves off. They don’t all come in at once, so check frequently your garlic bed frequently to harvest all the scapes.

Jeannie Manis is a Wisconsin-certified Sauk County Master Gardener. For questions, email trripp@wisc.edu or call the University of Wisconsin Madison Division of Extension Sauk County office at 608-355-3250. You can also submit questions using the online format “Ask a Gardening Question” found at hort.extension.wisc.edu/ask-a-gardening-question/.