Gardening isn’t just about making your house look nice (although a little curb appeal certainly never hurts). Tending to your garden and plants can also do wonders for your own wellbeing – the physical exercise can contribute to a healthy weight and blood pressure levels, and just interacting with flora can improve your mood and mental health and really help you to destress.
Roll up your sleeves and get digging, planting, and weeding (yes even in winter!). Here are some of the easiest and most basic tips for making sure your plants always have their most basic requirement…water!
Watering Your Garden
While every gardener knows that you need to water your garden in order for it to grow, it is surprisingly difficult to get right. When you first start out, it can take a lot of trial and error to figure out how often you should water your garden. Every garden has different needs, so we have compiled a list of tricks and tips in order to give you a fighting chance at keeping your garden alive. During winter, you likely won’t need to water your garden much, but definitely keep an eye on your plants as you’ll likely be able to tell if any need a little top up.
If you think your garden is suffering because of lack of water or too much water, firstly make sure that this is indeed the reason. Sometimes hidden weeds can cause symptoms that are similar to water problems. If you find that weeds are destroying your garden, invest in a good herbicide to keep the pests away. Be careful, however, as the gardening world is still reeling from the recent series of Roundup cancer scares. Make sure you investigate the ingredients used in any herbicide you use.
When should I water my garden?
The best time to water most gardens is early in the morning before the sun comes up. This gives your plants the best chance of absorbing the water during the day, in turn, this prevents them from being damp at night. When plants are damp overnight, it increases the chance of diseases that thrive on moisture.
When watering your plants, try and get the water as close to the soil as possible.
How regularly do I need to water my plants?
In your gardens’ early days, you need to go out and physically check the soil in your garden for moisture every day. Push your finger into the ground close to the stem and judge the moisture level. If the soil feels moist, you don’t need to water your plant. If the soil feels dry, give your babies a drink.
What is the best way to water my garden?
This will depend on the size of your garden. A small garden can be tackled quite efficiently with just a watering can. If you are dealing with a medium to large garden, you have several options.
Firstly, you can use a hose with a sprayer attachment or sprinklers. These are the easiest and most cost-effective way of watering larger gardens. Just make sure you do not soak the leaves on your plants, as this can lead to problems as they grow.
If you have a large garden or you want to give your plants the best possible access to water. We would advise you to get a drip irrigation system.
Using a drip irrigation system will ensure that your plants get the water they need with no risk of their leaves getting wet. This will stop them from burning in the sun. Another benefit of a drip irrigation system is the ability to use a timer system. This means you can set your irrigation system to come on at a pre-set time or program. This saves you the hassle of watering your plants daily.
There we are, hopefully, we have answered your questions about watering your garden. If you are just entering the world of gardening, welcome! We wish you the best of luck!
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