WEEDING AND WATERING

June…June…Hey, what happened to May.  June marks the gateway to summer and that means everything that needs doing in the garden can be done in June.

To keep the garden growing as vigorously as possible, we need to keep it well weeded and well

watered.

Mulching will help keep weeds down and much needed moisture in the soil.  The mulch depth should not exceed about two inches in total.  So if you’re adding mulch to an existing mulch layer, stir up the old mulch and add enough to bring the new depth to two inches.  If you are using a course, chunky bark, the depth can be increased to three or four inches.

Be sure to remove weeds and thoroughly water the soil if necessary before mulching.  Don’t use plastic and synthetic materials around perennials as it keep these from their natural spreading.

Watering the Garden

Sometimes the rain cones exactly when you need it.  Most times growing a productive vegetable or flower garden means adding water.

Certain times are more critical for water than others.  Just after seeds are sown, for instance, you need to keep the soil around them moist.  This promotes quick germination and keeps newly emerged roots from drying out.

Newly transplanted vegetable plants generally have very limited root systems.  They, too, need frequent watering to help them get established.

Once plants are growing well, the next critical time is when they are flowering and producing the fruits, seeds or tubers that we harvest.  Insufficient water when potatoes are setting tubers, tomatoes and peppers are producing fruits, onions are forming bulbs, snap beans are producing pods and sweet corn is being pollinated will mean reduced yields.  Dry weather at other times may simply slow or halt plant growth.

Meeting crops’ needs for water may mean exceeding the rule-of-thumb one-inch water per week, including rain.  The kind of soil you have is a big factor in determining how often you irrigate and how much water you apply.

Plant roots need air as well as water in the soil around them.  When too much rain or a combination of rain and irrigation drives all the oxygen out of clay soils, plant roots begin to die.  If enough roots die the whole plant dies.

Deep watering promotes deep root growth.  Shallow watering results in plant roots remaining near the surface.  There they’re very susceptible to drying out in dry weather.  Trickle irrigation is an effective way of applying limited qualities of water directly into plant root zone.      

Hand watering, either by hose or sprinkler can, is feasible in a very small garden, but many gardeners resort to overhead sprinklers to water their plots.  Overhead watering is less efficient than trickle irrigation, in that it applies water between the rows and loses significant amounts of water to evaporation.  Wetting the foliage can also promote certain plant diseases, so use overhead watering irrigation early in the day.  The sun and summer breezes can then try the foliage quickly.  Watering in the late afternoon or evening can leave foliage wet all night and provide ideal conditions for some plant diseases to get established.

Watering Rule of Thumb - - Water infrequently (weekly) and deeply (one inch of water each time) when necessary.

Watering Containers

Pay close attention to watering container plants.  Because the volume of soil is relatively small, containers can dry out very quickly, especially if they are on a concrete patio in full sunlight.  Daily or twice-daily watering may be necessary.  Apply water until it runs out the drainage holes.

Water clay pots and other porous containers more frequently, since they allow additional evaporation for the sides of the pots.  Small pots also tend to dry out more quickly than larger ones.

The Bottom Line

Watering and weeding can be the difference between failure and success of your garden.  Insufficient water stresses the plant and increases it’s susceptibility to harmful insects and disease. Weeds take nutrients away from beneficial plants.

           

Tom McNutt is a professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. and retired NBC4-TV resident green thumb