Garden Tip 193

Summer is hot, humid, and extremely dry. Many of us are spending much time again this season, watering the garden with a hose. Making this commitment of time and water, we should be sure that we are doing the task correctly.

We need to deliver enough water to benefit the roots of the plants. Deep watering every few days is more beneficial than light watering every day. Many of the trigger-type nozzles deliver only 2 to 4 gallons per minute (gpm). Water breakers, nozzles with hundreds of holes that spread the flow of water without much restriction, can deliver from 5 to 12 gpm depending on the model.

I tested my water breaker (manufactured by Dramm) to find out just how much water it was putting out. It filled a two-gallon watering can in twenty seconds, so its flow is 6 gpm. The old garden adage of counting to ten while watering a plant makes sense in this case.

Whatever type of nozzle you use, check the soil around the plants after watering to ensure the moisture reaches a reasonable depth. We want to take the time to ‘water’ plants, not just wet them.