It completely slipped my mind that we haven’t yet talked about watering your gardens this year! This seemingly common sense thing does have a bit of nuance to it and is especially important for those getting used to watering a garden.
In general, it’s better to water deeply and less frequently than it is to water more frequently but less deeply. What this does is encourage the roots to go deeper into the earth, which means in later maturity, your plants will ultimately have access to more water.
We can often get away with watering our plants every two to three days using deep watering techniques. We, of course, continually pay attention to the weather and increase our watering frequency with heat waves.
Don’t be afraid of overwatering in the ground or in various garden beds. Any excess will simply drain away, there’s very little risk of overwatering when you’re growing in the ground.
If you’re operating a container garden, now that we’re getting into the peak of summer, it’s very important to water them regularly. When container plants are mature, they can really suck up a lot of water. Sometimes a gallon or more a day! Containers often see at least daily watering requirements. When it’s really hot (80F+), it can be multiple times a day.
Watering is deeply tied to your plant’s root development, so that’s why it’s important to pay a bit of attention to what you’re doing. Healthy plants will often have deep, intricate root systems that are encouraged by deep watering!
