This Is the Time of Year When I have to Increase my Garden Water Times

Bob Bauer

August 09, 2017 (Last Updated: March 06, 2023) | Reading Time: 1 minutes

August 09, 2017

This is the time of year when I have to increase my garden water times. I've been leaving the orbital sprinkler on for an hour at a time in each spot but I need to increase it to two hours. August heat causes plants to respire more, and their roots are like straws going down into the soil pulling moisture up. The resivoir of water in the ground from June gets depleted through July and needs replenishing in August. I found extremely dry soil when I pulled up a watermelon vine, and the honeydew mound next to it was parched..

One of my corn patches wilted, so I need to start listening to my plants, and relegating to the back burner the antiquated adages of my skimpy watering techniques. Gardening 101 back in the day was seeing how much you could grow with how little water. Today we feed water to the soil and use the plants to tell us how successful we are..

August 10, 2017

I half strength fish emulsioned my cauliflower transplants today because they could stand up on their own without shade, and go a whole day without water. We've been told to fertilize at transplanting time but I end up watering them so much in the first few days that I feel like I'm diluting the fertilizer. Spring transplants adapt in 2-3 days, fall ones take 4-5 days. The transplants that come out of clay soil hardly wilt at all, but the ones I try to extract from my crumbly compost rich earth really suffer. Friction at the microscopic root hairs is the cause. I also discovered a new batch of squash bugs has emerged..

The juveniles are even more obnocious than the adults, which may be the case in all species. The longer I battle them the less fun I'm having. The aphids on the artichoke are almost all gone but the number of ants guarding them is the same. Aphid guarding might be the cush ant job, and they are reluctant to give it up even when the aphids are gone..

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