[Runwell-Steve]

Last year which was my first year I watered everything every day.  Not just did this take loads of time, I also realised I was using loads and loads of water.

This year I have a different approach.  I'm leaving it to it, I have watered the seedlings but as soon as the plants are established they can get on with it.  We have clay soil so there is moisture down there somewhere, the plants will just have to root down a bit deeper to find it.

I am saving loads of water and loads of time, and the plants don't seem to have suffered.  I do water my tomatoes and cucumbers in the greenhouse at home, but thats all from water in waterbutts.  The allotment is getting no water now unless it rains.

[kermit]

I've got pretty high raised beds, and they were heavily manured over winter (but the manure seemed very light rather than water retaining).  If I trowel down - even a foot - its bone dry!  If I dont water every night at the moment, things are wilting (spinach, chard, beets, courgette etc).

[chris23005]

I've got pretty high raised beds, and they were heavily manured over winter (but the manure seemed very light rather than water retaining).  If I trowel down - even a foot - its bone dry!  If I dont water every night at the moment, things are wilting (spinach, chard, beets, courgette etc).

Same here!

[hamstergbert]

I find I need to keep up with the lettuces in particular otherwise they seem to want to bolt if drying out too often.  Those in pots outside the kitchen door doubly so, along with  the other kitchen door salad leaf farm......  (although they are easy as we always catch in a spare watering can and use or keep any clean/ish water run in the sink - running the hot until you get hot, couple of seconds cold before filling kettle/glasses, after veg washing etc etc)

other than that I'm afraid that certainly the outdoor stuff generally has to cope unless it shows major signs of droop.

[Paul Plots]

I have a feeling that when I arrive on the plot at 6am this morning to water I will find my newly planted out lettuce looking like small lumps of origami rice paper - not been down today at all! 

[Zippy]

I am only deep watering my squashes (sunk pots) and puddle in my plantings and sprinkle water my seed lines until the seedlings show signs of having found deeper water.  The soil on the plot is sandy but my soil is much more moist and fibrous than that of my chemical neighbours.

I put it down to not digging my beds or walking on them, which preserves soil structure and living communities within it, top dressing with compost which the worms work into the growing depth of the bed and green manuring. The only manure I use comes from alpacas and one horse which belong to a friend who keeps a small organic field at home. He is the Farm Manager of an organic agricultural college nearby so he doesn't garden at home and has no use for the manure his animal friends produce - lucky me.

In comparison, my fellow plot holders rely on chemicals to nutrify the soil and rotovate every autumn and spring; destroying the soil structure and tilling up more weed seeds. I don't suffer the same amount of weeding as my neighbours because I am not watering the surface soil so often.

[greenun]

Our local garden club had a visit from a water expert . he was selling a galv. steel  open top bottomless tank  3' high. the trick was to put a shallow tank inside it. (10" high from memory). Anyway he filled it with gravel and fitted a piece of shadecloth over it.  Then the main tank was filled with growing medium and planted out with whatever. When it was watered  the garden was wetted and the extra drained into the bottom tank. The garden never dried out. If the lower tank overfilled it overflowed and drained into the earth  It was expensive but there is no reason why you can't fill plastic bowls with gravel and put them in the bottom of a trench . Don't forget to mulch.

[mumofstig]

Yup ...........same principle as putting a marge tub into the bottom of hanging baskets to act as a reservoir

[greenun]

Of course if you have a tap handy you could always use a low pressure hose made from recycled  tyres they only use 4 litres an hour. Stick it under the mulch or in the earth and turn the tap on very low. The water seeps into the earth. Just plant your seedlings close by it.

[chris23005]

Yup ...........same principle as putting a marge tub into the bottom of hanging baskets to act as a reservoir

Do you put gravel in the marge tub too? Never done this before - sounds like a good idea!

[mumofstig]

no i still fill it up with compost..but as there are no drainage holes in the shallow marge tub it acts as a reservoir, and when you water it doesn't all run straight through 
I also put half a little pop bottle into the tub and level with the top of the compost, so that I can pour water straight into the tub if needs be. The flower foliage soon hides the plastic.

[chris23005]

no i still fill it up with compost..but as there are no drainage holes in the shallow marge tub it acts as a reservoir, and when you water it doesn't all run straight through 
I also put half a little pop bottle into the tub and level with the top of the compost, so that I can pour water straight into the tub if needs be. The flower foliage soon hides the plastic.

Goodness you are all a very clever bunch. No wonder my hanging baskets have dried out in previous years!  I bow to your great expertise and retire in wonder!!!

[Paul Plots]

Some good ideas and tips here for sure... 

I "spot" water in dry weather when I have to... so the water goes just around the plant from a watering can. I only use water that has stood in a bath or barrel for a few hours so warmed up before it hits the soil rather than cold from the tape / hose.

All around rows and individual larger plants (corgettes for example) I create a low bank of soil (a dam) so water remains where I put it and sinks in where I want it rather than flooding the soil surface all over the place. This helps to keep weed seeds dormant and discourage them from growing and makes the best of the water.

[JayG]

Probably helping the thread drift further off the original topic but I have to put a good word in for the plastic troughs with water reservoirs built into the bottom and a tube sticking up through the compost to fill it up through; they're not expensive and readily available.

Easily got my indoor chillies and peppers through my week's holiday despite the heat (even the 18" trough holds 1.4 litres of water in addition to the water already contained in the compost.)

[Paul Plots]

Holiday watering is a real head-ache... usually costs a bomb in mobile phone calls to remind my son that he offered to lend a hand on the pot, in the garden and the greenhouses. 

Apparently holidays are not so much fun these days as when he was little and came with us!