What to water ?

[andy_j]

We're heading for a fairly warm and dry spell darn sarf and things look to be getting pretty dry in the ground.

So what crops need water and what tolerates dry ?

from what I've gathered, I water my beans, courgettes, parsnips and any young seedlings daily.

I've never watered sweetcorn, onions, mangetout, leeks

I occasionally water beetroot, lettuce.

water is at a premium on our allotment so I was wondering how much dry conditions can affect certain crops...especially root crops such as parsnips, leeks and beetroot.

Any suggestions ?

[Alison]

Are your crops in open ground or in pots? My ones in the ground only ever get watered when they're first planted out (puddled in then) and after that they fend for themselves. That said, they do get watered I suppose when I apply liquid feed (comfrey / nettle tea usually) but that's it and that's normally done into upturned water bottles which direct the feed down to the roots.

Even when the ground looks very dry its often quite moist a couple of inches down. If you're really concerned then check below the surface and you'll probably be surprised. If you do find you're very dry then it's worth adding a mulch to prevent evaporation and reduce the future requirement.

[Martin H]

I water the runner beans. I've got bottomless fizzy drink bottles (2L) buried upside down in the middle of the wigwams so I fill that up several times a week.

I'm keeping celery and celeriac watered as well.

I'm also putting bucketfuls in the trenches between the new potatoes once a week if we haven't had any decent rain. The last couple of weeks before harvest makes a big difference to the size of the potato crop, apparently.

I will water the sweet corn at some point, it seems to appreciate it.

Everything else planted in the ground is on its own unless we get a severe drought. They can go down as deep as they like to find water, that's fine with me.

[WPG]

The only thing I water are my courgettes, I give them a good soaking about once a week. Other than those I don't water anything in the ground. Lack of watering doesn't seem to affect my leeks or parsnips at all Andy ( I don't grow beetroot so not sure about them)

I do try to keep the beds mulched with chopped comfrey leaves, so I guess that reduces evaporation. Also, we've got clay soil, so that probably helps too.