We haven’t had a good soaking for about a week, and looking at the forecast even with a thunder storm or two, we are in Draught Mode. Tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchini are hard at work producing fruit – and there’s no rain to sustain their efforts.
I have a love/hate relationship with our in sprinkler system. These are the lawn and shrub grower’s friend, and a vegetable growers enemy. Vegetables want their roots watered but their leaves, that are often
quickly crowded together, rather large and fragile, dry. Vegetable leaves are susceptible to all sorts of diseases and bugs and when its muggy and you add water to the mix, you are asking for a disappointing crop failure.
quickly crowded together, rather large and fragile, dry. Vegetable leaves are susceptible to all sorts of diseases and bugs and when its muggy and you add water to the mix, you are asking for a disappointing crop failure.
I worry when I go on vacation and have to leave the system on – it’s a crap shoot whether or not I’ll have produce when I return.
There are several soakers on the market that are good for vegetable plants and I found the FLAT Gilmore soaker to be the best one – it’s not the most expensive either! I recently ordered some more on Amazon the other day but I purchased the first one from Home Depot just to test it out and see if it was worth it. There’s one that looks like a typical hose made out of rubber tire material – this doesn’t bend at all – so if you have a 50 foot straight line perhaps that will work for you. I have raised beds and need a soaker that easily bends, and doesn’t stop water due to a kink in the line.
There are drip systems you can set up that are thin tubes you connect like Lego’s from plant to plant, which is great if you have a container garden. This would require hundreds of dollars of parts for my 20 raised bed system – crazy! Plus there’s the raspberry canes and grapes that aren’t in beds. With the soaker hoses I don’t need 20 hoses, I can move the hoses from place to place, I can adjust the amount of time and the amount of
water for their unique needs as well. For instance, tomatoes need a solid soaking and then need to completely dry out for a few days while squash plants like pumpkins need more frequent watering without so much soaking.
water for their unique needs as well. For instance, tomatoes need a solid soaking and then need to completely dry out for a few days while squash plants like pumpkins need more frequent watering without so much soaking.
No comments:
Post a Comment