Rain at last

It seemed like the warm dry weather was going to go on for ever. The weather is finally turned to intermittent rain and that is good for the plants in the gardens and we have rain at last.

Plants in the ground need about 1 inch of rain each week or be supplemented with additional water. The trick is to get the water where it is needed with out wasting the excess.

How often have we seen a lawn sprinkler set up in the garden, broadcasting the water over the entire surface. Chances are a good deal of that water will not get to the plant roots being lost to evaporation. This is in part to geotropism which is the action where the roots of a plant want to grow toward the center of the earth as opposed to negative geotropism where the plant above the ground wants to grow away from the earth.

The point is the roots grow down so water on the ground between the plants may never reach the roots. A better way is to use a soaker hose along the plant rows so that the water is concentrated where it can filter down to the roots before it evaporates.

Another method is to pipe water directly to each plant and insure that every bit of water gets where it is needed. A side benefit to this method is that only the plants get the water and the weeds that might grow between may not get so much.

Of coarse with a rain fall of more than an inch of rain the whole area will be wetted evenly and everything grows including the weeds. And the up side to this is a wet garden is easy to weed. The unwanted plants will pull much easier than if the roots are dry. Its a muddy job but some one has to do it !

By the looks of things we are through with the main storm and today will be scattered t storms and it should be more pleasant to work in the gardens and yard now that the temperature and humidity are lower than in the past week. Not that warm weather isn’t welcome.