Valuable tips for watering your garden plants

Basic rules for watering plants

Very soon, gardeners will complete planting on their plots and move on to the next stage of gardening work - care and watering.

Water makes up most of the mass of plants, therefore watering is a necessary condition for their life, growth and development.

However, both lack of moisture and its excess can be detrimental to plants.

In order for watering to provide optimal conditions for the growth and development of plants, you need to remember some rules.

So, most gardeners do not recommend watering the garden with cold water. Many crops that we grow most often do not tolerate such watering (including: cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash). Plants experience temperature shock, cold water is not absorbed by the root system, while the leaves continue to evaporate previously accumulated moisture. As a result, plants begin to wilt, discard inflorescences, and slow down their growth.

In extreme heat, watering the beds should be done early in the morning or in the evening, when the sun is going down. Daytime watering is fraught with burns that destroy plant cells, which, in turn, leads to a slowdown in its growth and development, since the plant receives part of its nutrition only through the leaves.

Sparse but abundant watering is preferable to regular watering with a small amount of water. In the latter case, only the soil surface will be moistened. The root system will react to the lack of moisture by wilting the leaves, slowing growth, and dropping the ovaries.

It is a mistake to refuse irrigation after the past short-term rain, since the amount of precipitation that has fallen, as a rule, is not enough to saturate the soil with moisture.

The quality of the soil should also be taken into account. Heavy clay soils become saturated with water more slowly and retain moisture longer, so they do not require frequent watering. Loose and sandy soils, on the other hand, can be watered more often, but not as abundantly.

In addition, one should not forget about loosening the soil, which increases its moisture capacity, otherwise, the water will simply drain from the garden bed, without penetrating deep into the soil.

Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to provide plants with regular watering. In this case, you can mulch the soil with mown grass, straw, humus to prevent moisture evaporation and to prevent the soil from drying out.

Features and watering of various crops

The most moisture-loving vegetable crop on our site is cabbage. Early varieties need to be watered after 3-4 days, but at least 1 time per week and abundantly enough, providing soil moisture to a depth of 30 cm. Late varieties of cabbage, having a more powerful root system, can more easily tolerate drying out of the soil. They should be watered abundantly every 10 days.

With insufficient soil moisture, the heads of cabbage will crack, and excess moisture will lead to the death of the root system and the death of the plant.

Frequent watering requires radishes, radishes, lettuce, herbs. Their root system is located in the upper layers of the soil, which dry out quickly enough.

The cucumber also needs frequent watering, especially during flowering and fruit formation, which is 95% water. If you want to grow even, strong cucumbers, do not let the soil dry out.

Tomatoes are said to "love to keep their heads dry and their feet wet." That is, watering should be done only at the root, and with subsequent loosening, so that the water penetrates deep into the soil.Regular and fairly abundant watering is especially important during the period of ovary emergence and fruit ripening. With a lack of moisture, tomatoes will begin to crack.

Root crops such as beets and carrots do not need frequent watering. However, in the case of these crops, the same frequency of watering is important. If this condition is met, the development of the plant will be uniform, the roots will have the correct shape and good taste. In case of drying out of the soil and subsequent abundant watering, the roots will crack and begin to taste bitter.

Some of the most drought tolerant crops in our plots are pumpkin, watermelon and melon. Watering these crops may be sparse, but should be abundant.

Young plantings of fruit trees must be watered throughout the summer every 7-10 days.

Trees that are already fruitful are watered at the beginning of flowering, a couple of weeks after the end, and 2 weeks before harvest. The most moisture-loving are apple, peach, apricot. Less demanding for watering - pear, cherry, plum and sweet cherry.

Watering and checking soil moisture

It is not difficult to determine the need for watering the site; it is enough to dig a little bed with a shovel to the depth of a bayonet.

In case of excess moisture, the soil forms a lump, which does not come off well from the shovel. If the earth sticks a little to the shovel and, at the same time, it is easily compressed by hand into a lump - the moisture content of the soil is moderate. A completely dry bayonet of a shovel will tell you about the drying out of the soil and the need for urgent watering.

Also, the lack of moisture in the soil can be judged by the state of the leaves of plants. So, a white - bluish bloom appears on the leaves of cabbage, and their edges begin to bend. In tomatoes, carrots and cucumbers, the foliage darkens noticeably and begins to cluster. The beet tops turns burgundy purple.

In addition, one should not forget that by the end of the growing season of plants, their moisture consumption is minimal, in this regard, watering is significantly reduced, or even stopped altogether.