Spot watering, I didn't know it had a name, I wondered why my tomato beds had ZERO weeds this year! And such healthy tomato plants! Thanks Luke. You taught me everything I know about single stem and staking method!
I spot water like you did with your tomatoes, but I use 2 litter plastic bottles with little pin holes. Sort of like a pop up drip irogation system. The water goes very deep. I dont have the back or patients to slowly hand water. They aren't pretty but they're a life saver!
Not a techniques but a tip: check the temperature of the water before spraying the plants by letting the hose drain for a bit. My hose sits outside on the sun all day, with the nozzle on, and that water that stays in the hose can get extremely hot. I have killed seedlings like that. Another tip is: look at plants foliage. In most, it’s shaped to direct rain water away from the trunk. That is the area were the “air roots” are mostly located. So, i always concentrate most of the watering away from the trunk of the plant. And if the plant was transplanted, its even more important to water away from the trunk to promote the roots speading out.
We fertigate our raised bed garden (118 sf) with our duck pond that gravity feeds the garden. I created it out of a 300 gallon polyurethane watering trough and it's about 10 feet above the garden on a hillside.
I love it! I run irrigation on my garden and I water every 4 days for an hour. It waters deep and has plenty of time to dry out. Automated, regular and constant watering has been the most beneficial practice I have adapted.
I always allow the boiling hot water to flow out of the hose before I actually begin to water. I let it flow into a barrel and buckets. If I need to bath the dogs i add a little cool water and i have warm water for them. Or i leave it sit to cool down and in a few days it has cooled and use my watering cans and dunk them into the barrel. I'm not on water rations, but why waste it.
I do the same thing. Another method I found that works is to aim the hose into the air so the droplets cool off by the time they reach the ground. The one drawback is that a lot of plants shouldn't be watered from above.
I thought I was the only one who did this, I’m glad to see that others do this too! My watering hose bakes in the sun all day, and when I go to water my plants in the late afternoon/early evening, the water that first comes out of the hose is boiling hot. I let that really hot water drain through before watering, until I feel cool water coming out of the hose. It works great.
We did a drip system this year and it has made gardening so much easier. We also laid down a grass barrier and tanbark between beds and it is so nice. No more pulling weeds (except a couple sprouts here and there). My plants are so happy.
I use 5 gallon buckets full of holes for deep watering. I have a natural stream running alongside my raised garden beds so I use another bucket to dip water and dump water into about 6 1/2-buried buckets. Saves time too.
Thanks for teaching us about the Rhizosphere. Great lesson. That must be why mulching is so important, it helps protect that zone from being baked to death.
Great info I live in northern Mi. and my well water is quite alkaline(8-9ph). I have 3 - 55 gallon water barrels that I fill with the hose. I then correct the Ph with Ph down to the specific needs of my plants. Most plants get neutral (6ph) but I mix one barrel to 4.5 - 5.5ph for potatoes, strawberries, blueberries and other acid loving plants. The water straight out of the hose is usually too cold, So, I mix my water in the morning and water several hours later in the evening. Having the right ph really helps your plants grow big.
Thank you for going into detail about the water temperature affecting the roots. I live in the same zone as you & I water after the sun sets for deep watering. Early morning if the crop needs a bit more. I have found that watering during high heat, you lose through evaporation. Also, if you water the leaves when the sun is hot, you can burn the leaves (depending upon the plant, I guess)
Thanks Luke, I never considered the heat transfer going into the soil when watering on hot days. Luckily most of my beds are drip watered in the summer so never had a big issue, but it's always good to know these things. 👍
In the drought, I have only used a watering can. Spot watering only at the base of the plants. I use my fingers and dig down to see where the water is actually needed. Thanks to mulching my water consumption has been under that of my neighbors with smaller gardens than mine. I also soak the dirt if I know there's going to be rain to avoid the water running straight off.
I learned something new! Question- You spoke about the harmful nature of municipal water for beneficial soil organisms in a previous video, so would it be helpful to install a garden hose filter to remove chlorine, etc? Thanks!
Great info. What I dont do enough of is planning and anticipating the weather. So I often put the sprinkler on as everything is dry, and actually waste a lot of water this way, and dont necessarily take care of plant needs properly. That being said, our biggest problem at the moment is rain. Hasnt let off since January, with a lot of waste of heat loving plants which just rotted, such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc. I mulched some capsicums in containers with plastic (which I dont usually like doing), and they did well as I watered them as needed. Next summer coming will possibly be dry again, so you tips will keep me on track hopefully.
I've mulched pretty heavily this year and put in soaker hoses. If my faucet didn't leak so bad I'd add a timer so I could water in the morning, but I have to work with what I've got. We're in triple digits this week so I've been keeping a close eye on everything, but so far so good!
First off I really love your videos. They are so informative and helpful. As far as watering while I was watching this video it hit me that I could use a battery operated pump to pump dissolve fertilizer from a 5 gallon bucket into my garden. I was ordering one of these battery-operated pumps to take gas out of my 5-gallon cans cuz I can't lift them, and then I thought boy this would be a great way and easier way to fertilize the garden cuz it takes me so long and I spot water. Hope this idea help somebody
Kind of a sub category, but putting down seed free straw will also help avoid soil splash, keep the soil cooler, and cut down on a lot (not all) weeds. :)
In the high desert we have the best results growing in pits or swales, so we just flood them! We haul our water so it makes it easier in that way also :)
I'm using large watering troughs for raised beds with 1-2 drain holes about 4-6" below the soil line. Allows for plenty of depth for water retention so watering (typically) doesn't have to be frequent even with long hot & dry stretches, and roots have a lot of room to spread out. Last year's basil plants had roots 2-3' long and thrived.
I have also been experimenting with the Olla watering method in my containers. Because we've had so much rain, it has been hard to tell how well they worked.
I haven't had to water my garden too often because we've had so much rain. When I do water, I use a combination of spot and deep watering. I water my containers more often. My question for both is, how do you know when the product you are using has been used up? I use a watering can to fertilize because I am afraid of under-treating the garden with a hose-end sprayer. I like the Easy Flow you use. How is it different from a hose-end sprayer?
I once visited a local farm. The area where the farmer had his garden was not huge. Most of the property was being grazed by sheep or cattle. The farmer used a watering technique which he called flood irrigation. What he does is to put the hose in the area that he wants to water and turns the water on. I didn't ask him how long he leaves the water running; but, it is enough that his garden gets standing water on it. Like it has been flooded. Then he turns the water off. We live in a very dry area of Washington. I'm not sure if it would be possible to overwater. The native soil is not the best quality. Gardeners have to amend their garden beds. I garden at the community garden and have two beds. I call them tabletop beds. They will dry out faster than in ground or raised bed gardens built on the ground. With my beds, the air circulates above and below the beds. I water three days a week.
This year has come with great challenges with my gardens 😢 these tips are new to me and i cant wait to try them. Luke i have to ask why are my peppers so tiny this year. I can fit 5 in my hand at one time 😢
I have to water differently with my clay and when i can get outside. Not everyone has the ability, physically or due to schedule, to get outside early in the am. I buried poked coke cans last year and that helped. Didn't do it this year.
It doesnt rain here in the desert. I deep water most everything every 2 days but strawberries get watered daily. I water in the mornings and sometimes at night for some crops. Its 118° past few days!
When using a soaker hose do you put it directly on the root base or close to it? I have my hose right next to the root base . And is that a good position? I was wondering is that a good idea in preventing mold and fungus?
I take juice bottles and bury them most of the way in between the plants after poking some holes in the bottoms and sides. I then can fill up the bottles with water to get the water down deep without waste or watering weeds.
I plan to Put an RV in line water filter on the hose for my city water. I read about the contaminants and am concerned about microbiological health of the soil and damage from chlorine, etc.
Ty! I had carrots poking out the soil so I pulled one bunch and they were really fat on top and then skinny and ugly on the bottom. Lol. Maybe I need more deep waterings. Should carrots go till the fall even if the top portion is coming out the soil?
GOOD INFO LUKE. QUESTION: Do you water with chlorinated water? I am truly thinking unless you are making microbial amendments it's really not an issue like some say it is.
I recently saw some tools that you place into the ground and it waters down deep. Do you have any thoughts on those? They were like $8 for a single thing. I have thought about making something similar because I think that price was ridiculous.
This season, I put 30 extra seed potatoes I had into a 20 gallon recycling bin. Since there are so many plants competing for water, should I be watering everyday? I find that during hot and sunny periods, if I don't water once every 6 hours, the leaves get very soft and the stalks fall over. With enough water, they stay firm and leathery.
We are putting in rain barrels but we don't know how to get the water to the raised beds. I thought of drip irrigation but I wonder if you have other ideas. I live just North of Seattle in Canada so we have very much the same weather as Seattle.
I have been so careful how I water my tomato plants; drip irrigation, trim off lower leaves, etc. Yet my neighbor, who does none of that, has far healthier looking plants than I do with 4x the tomatoes. Am I just trying too hard?
“It’ll usually rain by the 2 week mark anyway” (paraphrased) Me: lives somewhere that it hasn’t rained in over a month 😔 I feel like I have to water every other day because everything looks so dry
@@lesliealvarez2967 the end of a watering wand or watering can has a diffuser (head with holes). DRAM is a brand of professional grade one. Virtually all greenhouses would use a dram.
Spot watering, I didn't know it had a name, I wondered why my tomato beds had ZERO weeds this year! And such healthy tomato plants! Thanks Luke. You taught me everything I know about single stem and staking method!
I spot water like you did with your tomatoes, but I use 2 litter plastic bottles with little pin holes. Sort of like a pop up drip irogation system. The water goes very deep. I dont have the back or patients to slowly hand water. They aren't pretty but they're a life saver!
Not a techniques but a tip: check the temperature of the water before spraying the plants by letting the hose drain for a bit. My hose sits outside on the sun all day, with the nozzle on, and that water that stays in the hose can get extremely hot. I have killed seedlings like that.
Another tip is: look at plants foliage. In most, it’s shaped to direct rain water away from the trunk. That is the area were the “air roots” are mostly located. So, i always concentrate most of the watering away from the trunk of the plant. And if the plant was transplanted, its even more important to water away from the trunk to promote the roots speading out.
We fertigate our raised bed garden (118 sf) with our duck pond that gravity feeds the garden. I created it out of a 300 gallon polyurethane watering trough and it's about 10 feet above the garden on a hillside.
I love it! I run irrigation on my garden and I water every 4 days for an hour. It waters deep and has plenty of time to dry out. Automated, regular and constant watering has been the most beneficial practice I have adapted.
@@dustyflats3832 IF youre not mulching yet, start ASAP, it is the other biggest gain I have made in my garden
I always allow the boiling hot water to flow out of the hose before I actually begin to water. I let it flow into a barrel and buckets. If I need to bath the dogs i add a little cool water and i have warm water for them. Or i leave it sit to cool down and in a few days it has cooled and use my watering cans and dunk them into the barrel. I'm not on water rations, but why waste it.
I do the same thing. Another method I found that works is to aim the hose into the air so the droplets cool off by the time they reach the ground. The one drawback is that a lot of plants shouldn't be watered from above.
I do the same .. .love using it to bath my toy poodles. They dry off so fast in the heat lol
I thought I was the only one who did this, I’m glad to see that others do this too! My watering hose bakes in the sun all day, and when I go to water my plants in the late afternoon/early evening, the water that first comes out of the hose is boiling hot. I let that really hot water drain through before watering, until I feel cool water coming out of the hose. It works great.
I concentrate the hot water from the hose onto a weed I really really hate.....but it never kills it 😢
Like Ghost-dz4fl says, I like the 2 liter bottles buried beside plant. They fill fast and empty slow. Saves a heap of time. Thanks for posting Luke.
We did a drip system this year and it has made gardening so much easier. We also laid down a grass barrier and tanbark between beds and it is so nice. No more pulling weeds (except a couple sprouts here and there). My plants are so happy.
I absolutely love my soaker hoses for days like this. Nice slow soaking through the mulch.
I use 5 gallon buckets full of holes for deep watering. I have a natural stream running alongside my raised garden beds so I use another bucket to dip water and dump water into about 6 1/2-buried buckets. Saves time too.
Thanks for teaching us about the Rhizosphere. Great lesson. That must be why mulching is so important, it helps protect that zone from being baked to death.
Great info
I live in northern Mi. and my well water is quite alkaline(8-9ph). I have 3 - 55 gallon water barrels that I fill with the hose. I then correct the Ph with Ph down to the specific needs of my plants. Most plants get neutral (6ph) but I mix one barrel to 4.5 - 5.5ph for potatoes, strawberries, blueberries and other acid loving plants. The water straight out of the hose is usually too cold, So, I mix my water in the morning and water several hours later in the evening. Having the right ph really helps your plants grow big.
Hello from Wales, UK, where we are having so much, too much rain and no more sun!
Thank you for going into detail about the water temperature affecting the roots. I live in the same zone as you & I water after the sun sets for deep watering. Early morning if the crop needs a bit more. I have found that watering during high heat, you lose through evaporation. Also, if you water the leaves when the sun is hot, you can burn the leaves (depending upon the plant, I guess)
Thanks Luke, I never considered the heat transfer going into the soil when watering on hot days.
Luckily most of my beds are drip watered in the summer so never had a big issue, but it's always good to know these things. 👍
In the drought, I have only used a watering can. Spot watering only at the base of the plants. I use my fingers and dig down to see where the water is actually needed. Thanks to mulching my water consumption has been under that of my neighbors with smaller gardens than mine. I also soak the dirt if I know there's going to be rain to avoid the water running straight off.
this is the way
@@kevinhunter8585 this is the way
Thanks Luke! We use drip irrigation- we can water whenever it’s convenient for us 😊
I learned something new! Question- You spoke about the harmful nature of municipal water for beneficial soil organisms in a previous video, so would it be helpful to install a garden hose filter to remove chlorine, etc? Thanks!
Great info. What I dont do enough of is planning and anticipating the weather. So I often put the sprinkler on as everything is dry, and actually waste a lot of water this way, and dont necessarily take care of plant needs properly. That being said, our biggest problem at the moment is rain. Hasnt let off since January, with a lot of waste of heat loving plants which just rotted, such as tomatoes, cucumbers etc. I mulched some capsicums in containers with plastic (which I dont usually like doing), and they did well as I watered them as needed. Next summer coming will possibly be dry again, so you tips will keep me on track hopefully.
I've mulched pretty heavily this year and put in soaker hoses. If my faucet didn't leak so bad I'd add a timer so I could water in the morning, but I have to work with what I've got. We're in triple digits this week so I've been keeping a close eye on everything, but so far so good!
First off I really love your videos. They are so informative and helpful. As far as watering while I was watching this video it hit me that I could use a battery operated pump to pump dissolve fertilizer from a 5 gallon bucket into my garden. I was ordering one of these battery-operated pumps to take gas out of my 5-gallon cans cuz I can't lift them, and then I thought boy this would be a great way and easier way to fertilize the garden cuz it takes me so long and I spot water. Hope this idea help somebody
Kind of a sub category, but putting down seed free straw will also help avoid soil splash, keep the soil cooler, and cut down on a lot (not all) weeds. :)
Yes. The other day the soil temp w no straw covering was 146F. The spots w straw under the mulch was anywhere from 78F to 90F. Thats a huge diff.
Thank you. I do both deep watering and spot.
Luke! Your falling behind Prigioni. Pretty much neck to neck. So much rain here in Eastern Canada, just unbelievable, but I love it!
Falling behind? There’s never been a competition.
In the high desert we have the best results growing in pits or swales, so we just flood them! We haul our water so it makes it easier in that way also :)
I'm using large watering troughs for raised beds with 1-2 drain holes about 4-6" below the soil line. Allows for plenty of depth for water retention so watering (typically) doesn't have to be frequent even with long hot & dry stretches, and roots have a lot of room to spread out. Last year's basil plants had roots 2-3' long and thrived.
I have also been experimenting with the Olla watering method in my containers. Because we've had so much rain, it has been hard to tell how well they worked.
I haven't had to water my garden too often because we've had so much rain. When I do water, I use a combination of spot and deep watering. I water my containers more often. My question for both is, how do you know when the product you are using has been used up? I use a watering can to fertilize because I am afraid of under-treating the garden with a hose-end sprayer. I like the Easy Flow you use. How is it different from a hose-end sprayer?
I use a soaker hose for my tomato rows. I started planting onions between my tomatoes so this allows me to water both but not waste water.
So educational! Thank you! I appreciated your videos
I once visited a local farm. The area where the farmer had his garden was not huge. Most of the property was being grazed by sheep or cattle. The farmer used a watering technique which he called flood irrigation. What he does is to put the hose in the area that he wants to water and turns the water on. I didn't ask him how long he leaves the water running; but, it is enough that his garden gets standing water on it. Like it has been flooded. Then he turns the water off.
We live in a very dry area of Washington. I'm not sure if it would be possible to overwater. The native soil is not the best quality. Gardeners have to amend their garden beds. I garden at the community garden and have two beds. I call them tabletop beds. They will dry out faster than in ground or raised bed gardens built on the ground. With my beds, the air circulates above and below the beds. I water three days a week.
Great video, thank you! I learnt a lot from this!
Thanks, Luke! Have any tips on using aquarium water for fertigating?
This year has come with great challenges with my gardens 😢 these tips are new to me and i cant wait to try them. Luke i have to ask why are my peppers so tiny this year. I can fit 5 in my hand at one time 😢
Thank you for the ideas.
Great video Luke.
I have to water differently with my clay and when i can get outside. Not everyone has the ability, physically or due to schedule, to get outside early in the am. I buried poked coke cans last year and that helped. Didn't do it this year.
I’ve watered mid day through out the summer, in CA we don’t get ran often in the summer
Great information. Love the bloopers at the end. Thats my unknowledgable boyfriend watering while I'm out of town, lol!
It doesnt rain here in the desert. I deep water most everything every 2 days but strawberries get watered daily. I water in the mornings and sometimes at night for some crops. Its 118° past few days!
When using a soaker hose do you put it directly on the root base or close to it? I have my hose right next to the root base . And is that a good position? I was wondering is that a good idea in preventing mold and fungus?
I take juice bottles and bury them most of the way in between the plants after poking some holes in the bottoms and sides. I then can fill up the bottles with water to get the water down deep without waste or watering weeds.
I plan to Put an RV in line water filter on the hose for my city water. I read about the contaminants and am concerned about microbiological health of the soil and damage from chlorine, etc.
Ty! I had carrots poking out the soil so I pulled one bunch and they were really fat on top and then skinny and ugly on the bottom. Lol. Maybe I need more deep waterings. Should carrots go till the fall even if the top portion is coming out the soil?
GOOD INFO LUKE. QUESTION: Do you water with chlorinated water? I am truly thinking unless you are making microbial amendments it's really not an issue like some say it is.
For your fertigation system which fertilizers do you recommend?
I love the bloopers let’s grooooow!!
I recently saw some tools that you place into the ground and it waters down deep. Do you have any thoughts on those? They were like $8 for a single thing. I have thought about making something similar because I think that price was ridiculous.
This season, I put 30 extra seed potatoes I had into a 20 gallon recycling bin. Since there are so many plants competing for water, should I be watering everyday? I find that during hot and sunny periods, if I don't water once every 6 hours, the leaves get very soft and the stalks fall over. With enough water, they stay firm and leathery.
We are putting in rain barrels but we don't know how to get the water to the raised beds. I thought of drip irrigation but I wonder if you have other ideas.
I live just North of Seattle in Canada so we have very much the same weather as Seattle.
Still love my soaker hoses.
Good video.
What do you do about leaf miners? They are attacking my citrus prevalently this year! Help
It has been so dry here. Getting very little rain. May rain tonight.
@Host
I'm actually curious on whether or not using 'iced water' or very refrigerated water would help with the pests and even with hot soil??
I use a pool, it's makes paw paws sprout with a 100% rate imo
Foliar feeding doesn’t work for all nutrients. Some, calcium for example, can’t travel from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
I have been so careful how I water my tomato plants; drip irrigation, trim off lower leaves, etc.
Yet my neighbor, who does none of that, has far healthier looking plants than I do with 4x the tomatoes.
Am I just trying too hard?
My poor garden is PARCHED right now lol. End of July usually means end of the garden for me because of the heat
My kale is in GreenStalks. If I blast aphids off they will move to another plant.
I was missing something like ollas.
“It’ll usually rain by the 2 week mark anyway” (paraphrased)
Me: lives somewhere that it hasn’t rained in over a month 😔
I feel like I have to water every other day because everything looks so dry
I'm suprised you didnt show ollas irrigation
What about when it rains during the day and then she sun comes out?
You should invest in a hose sprayer or watering wand 😂
No dram diffuser? My wife would beat me if I ran a hose onto the soil directly.
well.... Long story. I had one but SOMEONE (me) hit the hose with the lawnmower only hours prior.
@@MIgardener that makes more sense! I was going to go back and see if you had used one in previous videos.
What is a dram diffuser? Google doesn't recognize.
@@lesliealvarez2967 the end of a watering wand or watering can has a diffuser (head with holes). DRAM is a brand of professional grade one. Virtually all greenhouses would use a dram.
hey guys mulch ur garden bed and you can disregard 90% of this video
So...after blasting the aphid bodies away from their mouth parts, still stuck in the plant's leaf tissue, we eat those leaves? Yuck.