Watering your Garden

[ferice]

What is the best way to water your garden? I purchased a soaking hose from HD, and lay it out in my garden. It's turned on every morning at 6 am for 20 minutes. I'll check on them at 7 am, and the soils will look dry. My tomatoes leaves are turning brown and fall off. Should I try to water them manually instead of using a soaking hose? Should I use a sprinkler head instead? If yes, what is the best sprinkler head to use? My garden is really small. It's a 4x4 raise bed.

 

[Chuck]

What is the best way to water your garden? I purchased a soaking hose from HD, and lay it out in my garden. It's turned on every morning at 6 am for 20 minutes. I'll check on them at 7 am, and the soils will look dry. My tomatoes leaves are turning brown and fall off. Should I try to water them manually instead of using a soaking hose? Should I use a sprinkler head instead? If yes, what is the best sprinkler head to use? My garden is really small. It's a 4x4 raise bed.

Plants do not need to be watered every day. A soaker hose is a great way to water plants but not every day. When you water, water deeply and thoroughly, actually soaking the plant. With a soaker hose probably 2 hours. Then only water when the soil is DRY to about 3 inches deep. Stick your entire finger into the soil and then blow on it. If your finger feels the slightest bit cool when you blow on it the plant does not need watering at that time. On tomatoes if the leaves are not wilted or droopy in the morning they do not need watering. You cannot overwater a plant but you can and will kill it by watering too often.

 

[ferice]

That could be my problem. I am only soaking it for 20 minutes, and the soil always look dry.

 

[Chuck]

That could be my problem. I am only soaking it for 20 minutes, and the soil always look dry.

Are the leaves droopy or wilted in the morning? If not they don't need watering

 

[ferice]

The tomatoes are. My eggplants and peppers look ok.

 

[Chuck]

The tomatoes are. My eggplants and peppers look ok.

Then soak the tomatoes and wait on the others

 

[Beth_B]

I have successful gardens/plants generally and very rarely water. Like maybe once or twice a month. Here in mid-Michigan we have a good rain soaking at least once a week and that is enough. Actually more water than is necessary - I'm losing plants to too much moisture and not enough sunlight right now.

Even in sunny climes, daily watering is excessive. It is OK for tomatoes to lack water occasionally and wilt; in fact it can boost production. You can google this...commercial growers do it.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

I rarely water. Mulch is a great way to water less, it helps keep the soil moist. My native plants never get watered unless mother nature does it. My tomatoes and peas I water once a week with a watering can, twice if it doesn't rain.

 

[ferice]

I live in Florida, and it gets extremely hot and humid. We don't get enough rain lately. I'll have to keep an eye on them.

 

[IcyBC]

I try to collect rain water and save it to water my plant in the late evening to keep the moisture in the soil longer. If there is no rain, I just use the hose and soak them whenever the soil gets too dry and cracking or when I see the plants a bit wilted.

 

[Corzhens]

My husband is the master gardener and I am only an apprentice. He has 3 garden hoses - 2 for using and 1 for reserve. During summer, plants here would die without the daily irrigation. And sometimes the heat is unbearable so we water the plants in the morning and also in the afternoon. Our water bill is high during summer but we are used to that since we cannot afford to see our plants wilt.

 

[ferice]

This is how my tomatoes plant look:

This is eggplant:

 

[Corzhens]

@ferice, it looks like something is eating your tomatoes and eggplant. I'm sure it is a pest but I cannot say what it is. When our plants are like that, my husband would spray the entire plant 3 times a day - once in the morning and twice in the afternoon. He said that small bugs may be laying their eggs and hatching on the leaves hence the ruined leaves.

 

[ferice]

I've been spraying it with neem oil and pepper spray solution one a day since Wednesday. I am hoping that it'll work.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Ferice, I don't think the problem is lack of water! Tomatos and eggplants are closely related, in my own garden they need the same kind of care, and if the problem was lack of water in your garden then they would both look poor. Instead your eggplants look well watered and your tomatos look like they are really struggling!

I wish that I could say what was possibly the problem, but Florida has a tropical climate with poor, sandy soil and a lot of pests and mold illnesses. I live thousands of miles away on a rich clay soil with a different sort of pests and few illnesses. I have probably never seen whatever is attacking your tomatos. Fortunately, a local source of advice is open to you.

As near as I can tell, every state has an Agriculture Extension Service available to give the homeowners information on their gardens. The Extension service is staffed with experts, and it is free to the citizens of your state. It is your tax dollars at work: you have ALREADY paid for their advice!

I have had good results with the Kansas Extension Service, and I suggest that you contact your Florida Extension Service: this appears to be the site for you to contact: http://solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu/lawn_and_garden/