Watering 101

It's hot here again. And no rain for quite awhile. A good time to talk about proper watering.

It's always better to water a few times at length rather than every day for a few minutes.  True for gardens and lawns.  True if by hand or by irrigation system.  You do not want the roots coming up to the surface for water. Deep watering encourages roots to go deep to get moisture and nutrients, and stay cool. Plus after a drought the ground is hard and a light watering, or rainfall, will just run off.  Don't be fooled by our increasingly hard but brief rainstorms. 

Containers should be allowed to absorb water slowly. A pool of water on top won't get down to the roots. Water, let it sink in, then water again - or maybe three times. Remember, moisture attracts moisture.

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies... a child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you change something from the way it was before you touched it into something that's like you after you take your hands away. The difference between the man who cuts lawns and a real gardener is in the touching... the lawn cutter might just as well not have been there at all; the gardener will be there a lifetime."

--Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451