Watering your garden is a simple but important task.
For a gardener, water can be your limiting factor. It’s critical that you consider access to water when determining where – or where not – to place your growing zone. If water isn’t accessible to the garden’s current location, a rain barrel could be installed on a structure to collect water and store for later use. Rain barrels can be a life saver, and the amount of rain fall that flows off a small roof is quite amazing.
There are some considerations when watering your plants.
Avoid watering in the hottest part of the day. If possible, water in the morning. Irrigation hoses can be placed on a timer to help save you some time.
Avoid wetting the leaves. Fungal and bacterial pathogens require leaf wetness for infection and spread.
Water the correct amount. Applying too little can stunt growth and cause severe wilting. On the other hand, too much can increase the risk of soil-borne pathogens.
If water is used inside a high tunnel, the water source is another consideration to have. Municipal water can have high levels of chloride and other minerals that can accumulate in the soil and have negative impacts on crops. Regular water sampling and EC soil tests can help mitigate these effects.
Jody Carpenter, WVU Extension Agent-- Barbour County