Watering Your Garden

Whether you live in a drought-prone area or a climate that receives above-average rainfall, you’ll need to provide supplemental irrigation for your garden. It's best to plan your irrigation method at planting time or soon after.

In a small raised bed garden or a container garden, hand-watering with watering cans or a hose may be enough. However, this requires hands-on attentiveness and labor that you may not want to commit to throughout the gardening season. Also, overhead watering compounds fungal diseases that thrive in wet and humid conditions.
Many gardeners opt for irrigation systems such as soaker hoses or drip emitters. With these methods, water goes directly into the soil, so less water is lost to evaporation.
Soaker hoses work great in raised beds because they leach water throughout the length of the hose, saturating the raised bed evenly. They are especially good in beds with closely spaced plants such as carrots, beets, lettuce, greens, and onions.
Drip emitter systems work well in all types of gardens. The drip lines leach water about every 18 inches. They are easy to install, and you can configure and add to your drip system as your garden expands. For containers, lines fitted with isolated “spot” emitters provide one source of water per container.
For either soaker hoses or drip systems, I recommend investing in an inexpensive timer fitted to your water spigot so you can set when and for how long your garden receives water. Because each system leaches water slowly, it’s best to leave it on for a couple of hours per watering. My garden is on a timer to receive water from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. every 3 to 4 days during peak season. My timer has a “rain delay” function that allows me to postpone the scheduled watering if we receive rainfall.
Generally speaking, most vegetables and herbs in an in-ground or raised bed garden thrive with an average of 1 inch of water per week. Investing in a rain gauge will help you track when supplemental irrigation is necessary.
Container plants require more water because of the well-draining requirements of container soil.
Because plants show the same symptoms of droopy, wilting leaves both when overwatered and underwatered, a rain gauge and a moisture meter will help you assess water-related issues during the growing season.

How to Check Your Soil Quality

For in-ground gardens and raised beds where you’re adding compost or topsoil, I recommend testing your soil once per year. If you fill your raised beds or containers with a commercial soil mix (or the soil mix here ), you may still want to check your soil quality from time to time, especially if your plants don’t perform as expected.
A soil test reveals the composition of your soil (sand, silt, clay, or loam), the pH level, and the levels of important nutrients. You can purchase soil-testing kits at your local garden center, or you can send a soil sample to an independent laboratory or to a lab through your local cooperative extension service.
To get an accurately representative soil sample, dig six small holes in your garden area in a zigzag pattern, removing any grass or weeds on top. Take a vertical section from each hole the length of the trowel and place it in a clean plastic bucket. Mix the soil from all six spots and scoop out the amount required for a soil test, usually around 2 cups. For a professional soil test, follow the laboratory’s instructions on bagging and shipping (if necessary).
I’ve found the home soil-testing kits perform decently at providing a general idea of the pH and nutrient levels, but a professional soil test offers more detailed insight. A professional test report also provides recommendations for amending the soil, should it be nutrient deficient or out of pH balance. Beware, though: Some of these recommendations are not organic, so do your research for organic options or specifically request organic options from the lab.
Moisture meters sometimes come with a built-in pH meter. In my experience, these are helpful for giving you a range only, such as if your soil is highly acidic or alkaline. For more specific pH testing, opt for a professional soil test.

References

Bradley, Fern Marshall, Barbara W. Ellis, and Deborah Martin. The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2009.

Bradley, Fern Marshall, Barbara W. Ellis, and Ellen Phillips. Rodale’s Ultimate Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. New York: Rodale, Inc., 2009.

Bradley, Fern Marshall, and Jane Courtier. Vegetable Gardening. White Plains, NY: Toucan Books, 2006.

Cool Springs Press. Gardening Complete. Minneapolis: Cool Springs Press, 2018.

Damrosch, Barbara. The Garden Primer . New York: Workman Publishing, Inc., 2008.

Harrington, J. F. “Soil Temperature Conditions for Vegetable Seed Germination.” University of California at Davis. Accessed October 18, 2019.

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/12281/soiltemps.pdf .

McCrate, Colin, and Brad Halm. High-Yield Vegetable Gardening . North Adams, MA: Storey Publishing, 2015.

Reich, Lee. Weedless Gardening . New York: Workman Publishing Co., Inc., 2001.

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (blog). “The Major Plant Families in a Vegetable Garden.” Accessed October 22, 2019. http://www.southernexposure.com/the-major-plant-families-in-a-vegetable-garden-ezp-190.html .