GYO Wants Your Advice on.... Using Water in the Garden

[Shortie]

Hi Grapes

GYO are looking for your top tips and techniques of water saving/using in the garden. Anything from best tips on saving/collecting water, to how best to water your plants wanted please. As always, the top 5 tips will appear in the May issue of GYO

Thanks
Shortie

[Seahorse]

This is something that I benefitted from purely by chance, after being gifted lots of shallow trays by kind neighbour but I can't recommend 'bottom watering' highly enough. For me at least, there was a marked difference between the success of plants that were alowed to absorb water from the base of their containers and those that were watered from above. The bottom watered plants were not only larger and healthier but also had next to no soggy/mould type problems on their stems or lowest leaves and there was no risk of scorching through inadvertant splashing of fruits or foliage.

[Two_Sheds]

On the Allotment, you should fit guttering to your shed, greenhouse and anything else possible. Feed the downpipe into a butt or four, and link them together with hosepipe. When you empty one, it will automatically be topped up by the others.
NB:they all need to be the same height, so put the butts up on bricks or sink in a hole as required.

[Hans Mum]

obviously as many water containers as you can lay your hands on and they dont have to be expensive water butts, we've used old dustbins and the council donated some old wheely bins to the site which have been useful, also if you put them in diffferent spots around your plot its saves carrying it to water your crops

[lainey lou]

But do remember to cover your containers folks to prevent accidents with Children and wildlife.

[moggssue]

And don't forget the old trick of cutting the bottom off an empty plastic water or pop bottle and putting it upside down next to the roots, filled with water of course, to allow the water to get directly to where its most needed. This also helps if you're away from home for a day or two and can't get to plants to water them.

[Flummery]

Many plants like a moist root run so it's a help to have good absorbent material at the roots. The obvious candidate is the runner bean. A bean trench will help the water to stay at the roots instead of running away into the soil. You can put your own compost - fully or partly rotted, shredded paper, just about anything that will make a 'sponge' but not grow and compete with your crop. I find this helpful with courgettes too. Then when you do give the base a soak, you know there's a big reservoir underneath.

[lainey lou]

and don't forget to mulch, mulch, mulch to reduce the need for watering!

[Flummery]

Another use for water of course, is the wildlife pond. You need to ensure that anything falling in can get out again - a shallow side or a stick or log poking out will do the trick. Once you have the local frogs, newts etc munching up your slugs you are on a winner. You can put some lovely marginal plants in too, and bring a bit of extra colour and more insects in.

[HeyWayne]

Make sure you water yourself too, especially during the summer months. Dehydration can be nasty business.

[Cutecumber]

If you are choosing containers for use during the summer, remember that terracotta is porous and in hot conditions can lose more moisture than plastic. Lining terracotta pots with some plastic (which can't be seen) is an option.

Pick larger, deeper pots over small shallow ones and group them together to reduce the surface area of the pots exposed to the sun.

Mulching the top of pots after giving them a good soak can help conserve moisture in dry conditions.

If it's hot, stand pots in a saucer during, and for a few hours, after watering. Any excess water remaining can be tipped off and used on another pot or on the grass.

[Madasafish]

Always water in the evening when soil is cool: gives roots a chance to absorb water and prevents instant evaporation from hot surfaces.

A cheap mulch is shredded paper mixed with grass cuttings. The grass prevenst it blwoing away and helps it rot down...

[kernowyon]

instead of using expensive water retaining granules (the type that swell up when wet) buy a pack of cheap shop brand disposable nappies, rip them apart into a bucket and add water, the resulting gel when mixed with compost is just as good at retaining water, i use it in a windowbox and in large pots in the greenhouse, result = less watering.

[Two_Sheds]

As people are always hogging the standpipe during dry spells, I keep four watering cans dotted around the plot, filled up. I always refill them before I go home too - its so annoying when you need to water new plants in and a person has a hosepipe on permanent attachment to the tap. (I don't use butt water on seedlings in case of fungal infections etc)

Most plants need less water than you might think. This is a good little guide to how much and how often: http://www.which.co.uk/files/applica...-445-90877.PDF

[Shortie]

This is something that I benefitted from purely by chance, after being gifted lots of shallow trays by kind neighbour but I can't recommend 'bottom watering' highly enough. For me at least, there was a marked difference between the success of plants that were alowed to absorb water from the base of their containers and those that were watered from above. The bottom watered plants were not only larger and healthier but also had next to no soggy/mould type problems on their stems or lowest leaves and there was no risk of scorching through inadvertant splashing of fruits or foliage.

Hiya

I guess this is because the seedlings need to set good roots to reach down for the water? Thus setting them up well for when being planted on?