I can't believe it's almost the end of August and I haven't posted since mid spring.
Blame it on summer! Summer, that demanding season that started out (here, anyway) feeling more like early spring with hints of winter.
Now, finally, we have real sun (mostly) and dry, warm days and our Permaculture members are spending more time holding onto the end of a hose.
Many gardeners think that watering is easy. You can choose to put water on your garden in a number of different ways, using all sorts of watering devices. Choosing the best way for your soil and lifestyle and knowing when you've watered "enough" is the tricky part. I've seen many gardeners water with a trigger nozzle on the end of the hose, set to a hard-spray setting, knocking their plants sideways with what the plants would consider a gale-force hurricane and wonder why the plants always look a bit beaten up. Usually this forceful method does not lay down enough water to get the job done and often damages the plants.
How much water is enough? Well, it depends. No, I don't put out measuring cups or use water meters. I do what most people surprisingly don't do: I bend down and dig into the soil and feel with my fingers feeling how much moisture is in the ground around the plants. If I detect dryness, I go down to see how far down that dryness goes. Only then do I start watering. After I water, I check the places that were really dry again.
Hand watering does take considerable time and for many people it's very relaxing, especially if you spend most of your day indoors. The attention to each bed allows the watchful gardener to notice ripe fruit and vegetables, pest problems, how well plants are growing, nutritional deficiencies, birds, pollinators, pet damage, natural random splendors and experience a time to just "be".
Our soil is sandy and anything in addition to plain old sand is put there by us. The only sand that's sandier is on the nearby beaches. Sand is very difficult to keep hydrated and if it is allowed to completely dry out it develops a personality disorder known as "hydrophobia". In other words, it chemically repels water molecules. Re-hydrating dry, dusty sand is a discouraging and difficult business. If large droplets of water hit the sand they will roll right off and find a more welcoming location. Sprinklers with mist settings work well to lay down tiny amounts of water over a period of time. Be patient. It can take days of intermittent soft watering to fix this problem. Once the soil rehydrates, use a layer of mulch and regular watering to keep it moist.
We strive to keep our sandy gardening soil evenly hydrated by watering frequently. We do all our watering with a 50' hose and a watering wand, set for "shower", snaking it down the aisles between raised beds. It's kept on the path by strategically placed neck-down-in-the-ground buried wine bottles which are slick and keep the hose off of the planting beds.
The first solution to sandy, fast-draining soil, is the addition of practically anything comprised of organic matter: manure, compost, leaves, coffee grounds and husks, straw, garden debris, composted wood products and fresh-water rinsed seaweed, to name a few. The second part of the solution is watering frequently enough that the soil never reaches the hydrophobic stage.
It would seem sensible to use soaker hoses (made of nubbly-black recycled tires), and next year we may do that in parts of the garden. Because we are visited by the public, we try not to have hoses across the pathways. Soaker hoses which weep water though tiny pores, sometimes do not water enough square footage in sand as the water tends to run straight down instead of fanning out sideways. Small sprinklers may work better until the sand has accumulated enough organic humus over the years to be able to absorb and hold more moisture.
Here in the Alder Creek Permaculture Garden, we lay down water exactly where it is needed, especially on the beds that have just been seeded during this warmer weather. We water in the morning if we can and put the nozzle down under the leaves near the soil so that standing water droplets will not burn the leaves if it's a hot day.
Seed beds usually need water twice a day to keep the seeds and seedlings viable. Fall plantings are completely at the mercy of the gardener. Vigilant gardeners in these here "sandy parts", who put in their watering dues now will reap the most bountiful Fall harvests. Come late September, we can all sit back and watch the clouds take over our watering chores.
