How to water a backyard
Thanks for the replies everyone. Haven’t had a chance to check or to respond. Will do so this weekend.
renoishard2
in Garden 12 years and 9 months ago
7
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7 replies
renoishard2 | 12 years and 9 months ago
We finally got serious about creating a garden in the backyard of our house. But I seem to be killing all of our plants. I think I may be watering the garden the wrong way. I have been using soaker hoses once a week, I leave them on for one to two hours. I am trying to get the soil moist down to 12″ deep. I thought a week was enough time for the soil to dry out (and so avoid root fungus). I read on the internet that this was the “correct” way to water a garden. As opposed to shallow, quick watering with a hose. But my plants have been dying. I think it is “leaf scorch”. See link. My plants look like Figure 6. This has happened with many different types of plants: axillaris, provence lavender, hyrdrangeas, etc. The internet seems to say these problems can be caused by overwatering but also by underwatering. http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02911.html Please let me know if you use this “deep soak” method with good results or have tried it and switched. Or have any other ideas on the best way to water a backyard garden in Brooklyn. Thanks! Other details of the yard: south facing, surrounded by trees so its mostly partial or full shade, I believe I have a loamy soil, I amended the soil with compost, a home test said it had plenty of K & P but lacked N so I added some N.
NewOwner | 12 years and 9 months ago
It’s been really hot this year, so watering once a week was probably not enough, even if you did it thoroughly. I had a few shrubs die off this year from the combo of heat and poor watering (a well-meaning friend volunteered to do the yard while I was away for a few weeks – grrr). Also, if your plants were newly planted this year, they might not have had a chance to get established and therefore were more susceptible to the heat. Finally, when it’s hot, make sure you water very early in the morning or, barring that, late in the evening, so that your water doesn’t immediately evaporate.
biki | 12 years and 9 months ago
Soaker hoses are great. The only problem is you never really know the quantity of water which is reaching the roots. Until you get the hang of it, you need to check the soil around your plants to make sure it’s damp, but not wet and heavy. If it feels dry below the first inch of soil, water again. Don’t let the soil dry out completely between waterings. There’s no formula for frequency, it varies depending on the time of year, how much rain or sunshine we’re getting, and the size of the plants you’re watering. In very hot weather, you may need to water every day, or every other day. It’s best to water early in the morning before the real heat begins. You’ll get the hang of it!
slopegirl | 12 years and 9 months ago
one of the things I’ve found that makes a HUGE difference in gardening is to use sand in the soil for certain plants. It makes my potted herbs grow like crazy, and I would think it would help with lavender too…I’m not sure what hydrangaes like, but soil is very important. Some plants like it sandy and some plants like it damp, some are heavy feeders (roses love compost for instance and some sand too). As for watering, we’ve hardly watered except for some high sun potted plants this summer because it’s been pretty wet since July. I’ve never used soaker hoses so sorry can’t offer an opinion on watering method. I do agree it’s better to water less often and more thoroughly but everything depends on your sun and wind conditions and of course the soil itself.
NeoGrec | 12 years and 9 months ago
We use soaker hoses but run them much more frequently, as often as everday when the weather is very hot and dry. It also depends a lot on the plants themselves. Some suffer quickly when their roots dry out; others are very drought resistant. By the way, soaker hoses don’t last forever. We just pulled up and replaced a course we laid 6 years ago. We realized when a favorite shrub died that it hadn’t been getting enough water because the soaker hose had given up the ghost.
snowman2 | 12 years and 9 months ago
You need to learn your own garden but my guess is that you are not watering enough. My south facing sunny back garden requires less watering than my north facing shady front. The front has maple tree roots running through it and I run the soaker hoses about 6 hours once a week during dry periods, less frequently during rainy periods. With tree roots you’d be surprised at how quickly the soil drys out even after prolonged rain. The adivce to dig down in spots after watering to test the depth of the moisture is a good recommendation. Also, pine bark mulch or mini chips especially around the shrubs will retain moisture which is good.
wyckoff | 12 years and 9 months ago
1-2 hours a week from a soaker hose isn’t nearly enough – not even close. I would run a soaker hose at least 6 hours at a time, and even then I would do a test dig around the hose after 6 hours to make sure I knew how big the area of wet soil was. Get a timer and run the schedule so the watering stops around sunrise, and you will minize rot/fungus issues. You may also want to consider switching to a drip irrigation system. They are easy to set up and you can better control how much water each plant recieves. (Point of comparison, I use a drip system that runs 4 hours every other day (and doesn’t run in the rain), and have had no leaf scorch (or fungus or rot) this year. It’s really easy to kill indoor plants with too much water, but if you have good air circulation and sun, it’s almost impossible to overwater outdoor plants in July/August in the city.