Saving time spent watering (From Darlington and Stockton Times)

Saving time spent watering

10:33am Friday 3rd July 2009

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AS CONTAINER plants begin to flourish and hanging baskets start to look their best, it’s the watering that’s the hassle.

It’s the most time-consuming chore of summer, especially if you have loads of pots.

Many of us use droughttolerant plants such as geraniums, agapanthus, alliums, phormiums, euphorbias, hebes, verbascum and nepeta to ease the burden of watering, and most established shrubs and perennials need less watering because their roots go deep enough to find moisture.

If you don’t want to be limited in the plants you choose, you can install automatic irrigation systems.

Choose a system which has a supply pipe that carries the water around the garden, and micro-tubing that can be fitted with individual nozzles which drip water at an even rate. Starter kits are available for self-assembly, and you can add extra pipes and nozzles later to extend the system.

Connect the system to an outside tap and turn it on and off by hand, or add a timing device to do it automatically.

The busy gardener should focus only on plants that need watering: those in containers and newly-planted specimens in borders, which will need to be kept moist until they are established.

Don’t get the hosepipe out to your borders in full sun on a hot day, as lightly spraying the surface does no good at all, and in any case very few areas of the garden need watering daily.

Some vegetables will also need regular watering as they develop. Peas and beans should be watered frequently when the pods start to swell, while tomatoes and courgettes are also thirsty plants and need plenty of water as the fruit develops.

With tomatoes, don’t go days without watering and then drench them. If you do, the base of the fruit is likely to split or the tomatoes may develop blossom-end rot – a dry, hard brownish coat at the base of the fruit which will ruin them.

Leafy crops such as lettuce are less likely to bolt if they are kept moist, while tubers, such as potatoes, will need water throughout the growing season.

Light watering is not the answer for most plants, as it just wets the surface of the soil – which encourages shallow rooting – and also evaporates more quickly.

In hot weather, water in early morning or evening to reduce evaporation, and try to keep it around the base of the stem.

Aim water at the roots of trees by inserting a section of drainpipe filled with gravel next to the tree, and then pouring water down that – it should go directly where it’s needed.

Make a ridge of soil around shrubs, which will hold the water in place as it soaks in.

For plants in rows or smaller plants, install a seep hose.

Alternatively, sink a plastic flower pot into the ground next to a plant which is likely to need watering and fill it up, which directs the water under the surface to the rooting zone of the plant.

On the patio, you can buy equipment which will save time on watering by hand.

Line porous containers with polythene before planting, but don’t cover the drainage holes. There are also selfwatering containers with a reservoir built into the base and a wick connecting the reservoir to the compost.

Stand summer pots on pot saucers, so at least some of the water which has drained out will remain at the base and hopefully still seep up into the soil.

A few easy changes to your watering habits should mean you can still enjoy your garden without having the hose out all the time.

With Wimbledon fortnight upon us, strawberries and cream are the order of the day. Even beginner gardeners have no excuse not to grow a few strawberry plants, even if they are only in pots or hanging baskets.

Strawberry plants are cheap and can be planted directly into garden soil or raised beds, and will normally last for three or four years before they need replacing.

They like fertile, well-drained soil with plenty of added organic matter, and are better off in a sunny spot. Water well while the plants are establishing, and also in hot, dry weather and when the fruits are swelling.

Once the fruits have formed, avoid watering plants overhead as this can lead to grey mould.

Tuck clean straw under developing fruits to protect them from soil splash. Some people grow strawberries through plastic sheet mulches, which warm the soil and may bring forward cropping. Others use fibre mats which can be put around each plant and protect late fruits in autumn from rain and cold weather.

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