You can keep your garden moist in the summer
After heat waves blanketed North America and the Arctic for the majority of last month, it was recently announced that July was Earth’s hottest month ever recorded. It was on a par with, and possibly marginally higher than the previous warmest month, which was July 2016.
That said, unless you’re growing cactus in your garden, you’ve probably found yourself watering your plants much more often.
With most plants, moisture is a key factor in growth and taste. It’s important to keep your garden well watered.
But there are a few other things you can do to make sure your garden is getting the moisture it needs to produce good crops. Here are a few:
- Mulch. The mulch you add on top of your soil protects it from drying out and can protect the roots of your plants from the air temperature. Mulch is also important for limiting the growth of weeds.
- Weeding. Pesticides can help prevent weeds, but the cost is steep. They can also poison your plants and whoever eventually eats them. And if you have a well or natural water-collection system on your property, you don’t want harmful chemicals lurking in your water supply. Weeds steal moisture from your soil, as well as nutrients, so weed your garden regularly.
- Water. This one is a no brainer, but it takes more than just a sprinkler or hose if you’re not getting enough rain. The deeper you can send the water, the more your plants will flourish because the roots will get what they need. Drip irrigation systems work well.
- Shade. Take a look at your lawn after a couple weeks of heat. You’ll probably see that the sections with the most exposure to the sun are the shortest and brownest. Shade can help some plants retain moisture and grow much better than they will if they get too much sun, so use burlap shade cloths if they don’t receive natural shade.
- Arrangement. This is one we don’t hear as much about. To keep moisture and nutrients in each area of your soil well used but not used up, plant corn (deep roots), beans (shallow and wide roots) and squash (in between roots) in the same area.
If you can’t get enough water in your garden to grow the types of plants you want to, then grow the ones that require little moisture, assuming they are established before they suffer dehydration. They include beans, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers, Swiss chard, rhubarb and asparagus.
Do you have tricks you’ve used successfully to keep your garden moist even when there is little rain? What are your biggest water-related challenges? Please share them with us.
Have you heard about the “3 Sisters?” It was used by Native Americans in the southwest. First, use a circular raised bed about 7 to 10 feet in diameter. The 3 sisters consist of Corn, Beans, and squash planted together. Corn supplies a natural trellis for the beans. Beans are a legume, and supply nitrogen for the corn. The squash spreads out and the big leaves supply shade to the soil, reducing soil temps. and the amount of water needed. Look online for more info. HAPPY GARDENING!
Save clean household rinse water to water the garden. Obviously avoid water that contains a lot of detergent, bleach, etc. (I save that dirtier water to use in flushing the toilet.)
To minimize evaporation and ensure maximum availability to the plants, water early in the morning before the sun comes up, after the sun goes down in the evening, or even at night.
When using drip irrigation with mulch, make sure that your irrigation fittings are situated so the water goes into the soil under the mulch layer, rather than running off the top.
Try to plant plants with similar water needs together, so that more drought-tolerant plants are not watered unnecessarily while you’re giving thirstier plants the water they need.
I have my garden on a wick system. Dig your garden out, cover the bottom with thick black plastic them fill 1/2 pea gravel & cover with weed barrier, fill area with water, cover with soil and start planting. You need to water just once a month.
I built raised beds out of rough cut & used lumber. mulch well and if planted properly the leaves of plants touch & shade the ground. They retain wter better, drain better warm up faster & stay warmer longer also
My brother used to live in Nebraska. Every year he had a
garden. He would till the soil then roll out a soaker hose, cover it with black visquine (plastic tarp). Then he would punch a hole for the sets & seeds. He would then put his grass clippings over the black plastic. He would not have to water as often or weed!
My 22 — 100 ft rows need water at times and more O2. I want a way to get water from air and add O2 to it so when watering my rows this ozone water will go to roots thro my injectors each 12 inches in rows. Do this without electricity. Just an example, if 1 tomato bush root system, no dirt, would fill a 1 gallon can, if ozone were added to same bush root system would fill 5 gallon can. This could support a great tomato production for this plant.