Best Watering Practices for Your Garden

The fable of the tortoise and the hare teaches us that slow and steady wins the race, and that’s the way you need to think about watering your plants, particularly herbs and vegetables. If you have an extensive backyard garden, however, you’ll wear yourself out with a small watering can. Learn about the best watering practices for your garden in this video by P. Allen Smith:

There are a lot of tools you can choose from for watering your veggies and herbs. The most basic tool is the sprinkler, which covers a large area but can be wasteful. A hand attachment used with your garden hose provides more control and allows you to put water exactly where it’s needed.

One of the best watering solutions is a simple soaker hose as it sweats water. You can place it right along the base of your plants, and it will saturate the soil right at the root. This method of deep watering encourages root growth and reduces water loss due to evaporation that occurs close to the surface of the soil.

Another way to reduce water evaporation is by using mulch. Whether it’s straw, compost, newspaper, finely ground hardwood or another material, mulch insulates your soil from the hot rays of the sun that lead to evaporation. It makes sense that if you’re going through the trouble of watering, you want to ensure that it’s not undone by a few hours of sunlight.

Give these basic tips a try, and you’ll have happier plants as well as a lower water bill.