How often do you water in hot weather?

Good afternoon missmoneypenny, I presume you mean hot weather,  I was amazed just how quickly the plants appear under stress during hot weather, so all I can say is "Water when required" by looking at your plants.

Cheers,  Tony.

Once or twice a week if it is actual hot weather, not an average sunny summer day, on my clay soil crops seem perfectly fine after a week of no rain. I water French beans and squash twice a week if there is no rain. I haven't watered anything on my plot so far this year apart from stuff in the greenhouse, that will change if we don't find a way to return our current Meditereranean climate back to its rightful owner.

Oh really???
I’ve been watering twice a day!

Soil seems to dry out - top inch probably, I’ve only started turning the soil.

So, my new tomato plants, surely they need watering often??

Before watering, stick a finger in as far into the soil as you can. Most likely it's still moist an inch or two deep. The top will always dry out quickly in the sun, but it takes a good while to dry out under the surface.

I think it depends whether you are growing outdoors or in a polytunnel or greenhouse, and also on your soil.

Our soil is clay over an impervious granite underneath, but has been much improved with mulch, manure and cultivation over the last 10 years.   It is still very variable though.   The beds at the top of the plot, plus those that are very deep are much drier and seem like dust even down a few inches.   These I have been watering often and extensively.  Beds at the bottom of the plot hold the water much better and are nowhere near as dry and I have been leaving to a big watering once a week.

The polytunnel at the plot and the greenhouse at home are getting very hot at the moment.  Maximum in the greenhouse was 40.1 today, even with vents and doors wide open and blinds down.  Having to water in the polytunnel daily.   In the greenhouse I am using Dalefoot Compost for Tomatoes made from wool and bracken which holds water so well I only need to water every other day even in this heat.   The tomatoes are looking fantastic in it.  Compost very expensive though.

My soil is clay, also enriched with organic matter but unevenly throughout the plot like yours AnneB, some areas are richer than others. I grow everything outdoors. I popped round at dusk yesterday and gave most things a good watering. Hopefully that will hold them for a couple of days. Thanks everyone for your advice.

At the moment I am watering establishing plants every 2-3 days. My only source of water on the plot is my well (no mains water) so even a light soaking of young plants on my fairly large plot takes quite a long time. I know it is better to give a good soaking less often but unfortunately it's not really an option- my plot is 6 miles away, often I have to cycle there and I just do what I need to keep it all alive! My main concern is the potatoes as it's not practical for me to water such a large area with a watering can, so they just have to tough it out most of the time. Most larger established plants (e.g. fruit bushes) generally have to fend for themselves.

That said I'm often surprised by how long things can manage without rain. We are just outside flood plain so I think high water table may be a factor...

Edit: this report on current UK water levels may be of interest: https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/blogs/uk-hydrological-status-update-may-2020

It indicates while rainfall is, as we all realise, very low for this time of year, parts of the UK, especially the south, still have quite high river flow and groundwater from the winter/early spring heavy rains. Long-term forecast is, however, suggesting an extended dry period is likely.

That's really interesting, Silva.  Usually you'd expect the south to be far drier than the north, but that's not the case.

It has been very dry in the south for the last two months, but the autumn and winter were very wet (February especially so), which will have filled the ground water reserviors. We also had a potent Channel low dump a lot of rain on southern counties at the end of April, which helped somewhat to mitigate the lack of rain this spring.