Watering Properly
Watering your vegetables properly is very important to their growth and almost as essential as getting the proper sunlight. Water is needed for photosynthesis, but how much water your plants get and how often they get it is critical.
How Much Water Do My Vegetables Need?
Most garden vegetables need approximately an inch of water each week during the growing season through rainfall or irrigation. This amount is average, though, and you may need to give them a little more water if the weather is unnaturally warm, if you live in an arid climate, or if your garden bed is high in sand.
What Exactly is an Inch of Water?
An inch of water each week is the standard recommendation since many gardeners rely solely on rainfall to water their plants. For them, it’s easy to measure an inch of water in a rain gauge. In areas where rainfall is low and you’re watering plants by hand, aim to give each plant about two-thirds of a gallon of water weekly.
The goal is to wet the top six inches of soil each time you water.
How Often Should I Water?
You may have heard (or read) that it’s best to water your plants deeply, infrequently, which can be confusing. You want to give your plants a good dose of water a couple of times a week versus giving them a little bit every day.
For most gardeners, you can expect to water your vegetables two or three times a week when the soil’s top one or two inches are dry. You don’t want to give them an inch of water every time, though—you want to break up that inch of water over a week.
Watering thoroughly yet infrequently helps develop strong, drought-tolerant plants. When you don’t water every day but water a large amount, the root system grows deeper, looking for water. In turn, it improves the plant’s drought tolerance.
Special Considerations When Watering
- When your plants flower and form fruits (corn kernels, tomatoes, or peppers), they need a little extra water to aid in flower and fruit formation.
- Leafy greens need their soil to be consistently moist since they have shallow root systems, and their leaves have high water content.
Tips for Watering
- Water the soil around the bottom of the plant instead of getting water on its leaves to minimize fungal problems. Watering the soil directly also decreases evaporation, so more water is available to the roots.
- If possible, water early in the morning (between 5 and 9 am).
- Consider using a soaker hose or drip irrigation system to water efficiently, and save yourself time.
