Do you really only water your veggies once every three weeks with
the soaker hose? I read your last column on gardening during a
drought, and am trying to conserve water, but I'm not very sure how
much my plants need or how much they are getting. I have veggies in
raised beds and they seem to be doing well, but I am currently
watering most days. Can I cut back? I'd appreciate any advice.
In My Garden Blog
Southern California Coastal & Inland Valleys
June 4, 2009
By
Yvonne Savio,
Pasadena, CA
Save some lettuce seed while replanting the rest of the bed with cucumbers, squash, peppers, and more heat-tolerant lettuce.
Spring Into Summer?
Everything in my garden is growing grandly, with daytime and evening temperatures comfortable for people as well as plants. Beets are deliciously sweet. Tomatoes are full of blossoms and expanding fruits. Reseeded lettuce plants are providing salads along side plants eaten from all winter and spring that are now maturing their seed heads. Pepper plants are still tiny but set with flowers. Cucumbers and yellow crookneck squash, which I seeded when I pulled out the bolting lettuce, are several inches high. I'll plant another batch of cukes, squash, and beets in another 3 weeks, when I pull the last of the sweet peas and cabbage. And, another batch another month after that -- for continuous harvests through fall.
Part of the magic is due to our still-continuing mild spring weather. With daytime temperatures in the low 80s, and evenings in the low 60s, plants are developing at a steady pace.
What keeps plants happy is the dual benefit of soaker hoses under 4 inches of composted horse-stable bedding. The once-every-three-weeks, hour-long seeping of water into the soil and organic matter makes sure the roots a foot down are moist. The mulch keeps evaporation and weed germination to a minimum, while maximizing microorganism activity to break down the bedding into nutrition for the soil and plant roots. And, during more dramatic temperature swings, it moderates soil temperature so the roots can thrive.
New to my garden this year is edamame (soybeans). About half of the seeds are up a week after planting in the bed that had had the broccoli and spinach all winter long. After pulling, I'd incorporated a bag of manure into the 10' x6' space and relaid the soaker hose so the strands were one foot apart. After seeding, I watered the seeds in, covered the bed with 2 inches of compost, and watered that in. This is my reseeding and replanting process between each crop throughout the garden.
Growing in containers, awaiting planting in another month for late-summer harvest, are tomatoes I started from seed in late February -- Big Beef, Black Brandywine, Black Krim, Cherokee Purple, Crimson Carmelo, Green Zebra, Marvel Stripe, Pomodoro Cuor di Bue (a friend brought me seeds from Italy), and Sugar Sweetie.
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Comments on Spring Into Summer?
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We welcome your questions and comments about this column. If you have gardening questions unrelated to the column, please ask them on our message boards.
Beginning gardener from East LA
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Yvonne Savio
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Hi, Beginning Gardener from East LA--
Yes, in this weather, once every 3 weeks works. Your watering so
frequently keeps the roots in that top inch or two of soil, since
they don't have to grow any deeper to follow the water as gravity
pulls it down. Early in the spring, you have to "teach" the roots
that they have to "chase" the water downward by watering deeply but
infrequently. For seedlings, this means twice a week only for the
first week until they get "connected" with the soil. Then, water
once a week for 2 weeks. Then, once evry three weeks. This is more
easily accomplished when 2 inches of mulch is placed on top of the
soil when the seedlings are first transplanted, since it holds the
water in place, lessens evaporation, and moderates soil temperature.
Since we're still benefiting from the low-70s daytime temperatures,
you can help your plants transition now by watering 2 times a week
for 3 weeks, then once a week for 3 weeks; and make sure to add that
mulch! By then, our "real" summer heat may have started, but your
plants will have developed deeper roots so they'll be able to
withstand the heat.
Since you're in East LA, you may want to visit me at our University
of California Cooperative Extension Common Ground Garden Program
office at 4800 E. Cesar E. Chavez Avenue, LA 90022. See our website
for lots of gardening info --
http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/Common_Ground_Garden_Program. On
our homepage is the invitation to join either or both of my elists
-- one on Community Gardening and Food Security, and the other on
School Gardening. We offer seasonal basic gardening classes, and I
email the announcement flyers to those elists.
Beginning gardener from East LA
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Wow - thanks for the quick response! I'm a first time gardener and
that was my first ever post. :)
I appreciate the advice and will definitely try to teach my plants
to go deep. Does this go for tomatoes as well? I've heard that
they are less tolerant of any dryness. Thanks again.
Yvonne Savio
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Hi, Beginner--
Yes, even more important for tomatoes, whose roots can go down 3
feet!
Dave from HB
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OOPS.
Your advice on watering is right on. I learned from a retired
farm manager who always told me I was watering far too much. Just
seeing dry ground on top is not a sign of dry soil. You have to dig
down at least the depth of one trowel.
I have added a yard of compost to my backyard garden every spring
and fall for the last 45 years. I am now completely organic and
enjoy fruits and veggies with REAL flavor.
I also make my own compost and raise red worms to feed my garden.
Yvonne Savio
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Hi, Dave --
Congratulations on 45 years of deliciousness! Happy plants make
happy eating and admiring! There's nothing so satisfying as saying,
"I'm going into the garden to pick dinner"!
Nancy - Inland Empire
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My husband is doing the gardening this year since I am recovering
from several falls. Most of the things we have planted are doing
pretty much as you have said. However our Zucchini squash plants
are now getting their big upper leaves chewed up by almost half.The
smaller squash plants coming up in the same hill are not effected.
Hasn't spotted any varmits near or on them. We have done zuchini
for many years but never saw this happen. Last year we had a racoon
and a number of possums trapped by the vector control because of
them eating up our squash plants, along with Okra and other things.
They had been displaced by the building going on west and south of
us by the 210 freeway. Do you think some others may be back?
However they didn't eat the leaves before just the squash
themselves.
HELP ! Thanks and I love your column.
Yvonne Savio
Hi, Nancy --
Maybe take a couple of pictures and chewed leaves to your local
nursery where one of the Certified Nursery Professionals can make an
educated guess. Also, go to the University of California Integrated
Pest Management website -- www.ipm.ucdavis.edu -- and check under
"squash" for the possible varmints! One trick that deters cats is
to poke chopsticks (or something similar) into the soil every couple
of inches around the plants -- the cats can't fit in between and
don't seem to want to push them down. Draping netting on top also
deters them cuz they don't want to get their paws/claws caught in
it.