Watering Your Vegetable Organic Garden

Ninety-five percent of the structure of the plant is composed of water. Almost all of the processes of the plant involves water, and this is why watering is one of the more important aspects for a productive vegetable organic garden. Together with light and carbon dioxide, water helps accelerate the necessary processes required for the effective care of your plants.

It goes without saying that watering your vegetable organic garden sufficiently is vitally important for producing the great result of refreshing and healthy vegetables for all the family to enjoy. There are basically two ways of adding water to the garden, natural rainfall and manually applied water via various irrigation systems.

Drip Irrigation for Vegetable Garden

vegetable garden irrigationAn irrigation system is a great option to provide the required amount of water in your garden. Setting up a drip system, or low sprinkler system allows you to water just the plant, reducing the amount of weeds that will grow. By using Drip Irrigation to water your vegetables it reduces the amount of water on the foliage which helps reduce the amount of fungal diseases that your plant will get. The natural sources of water, namely precipitation, are often not sufficient for the plants. Most of the time, human intervention is required to ensure that the plants will reach their maximum potential. The frequency of your watering is proportional to the amount of rainfall that the vegetable organic garden receives. To ensure that your vegetable garden gets enough water, it is also a good idea to set up an Automatic Watering System, and you set how long and how often your Vegetables are watered.

Watering Clay Soil

The type of soil also affects the quality of the plant’s water retention capability. The soils made of clay are usually well known for their excellent ability to retain moisture, but sometimes these soils will crust over and water will simply run off, so caution is required. On the other hand sandy soils are poor retainers of water because the soil’s natural structure allows the water to soak through and disappear quickly. In both cases the addition of organic matter such as a composting mix or some organic material is vitally important to improve the soil’s ability to retain water.

Be Mindful of the Weather Conditions

There are also other external factors affecting the nature of watering in your garden. During cold weather, the plants can easily drown in water and wilt. On the other hand, when the hot weather hits, the plants require more water because the days are longer and hotter. The factors of wind and air movement can also remove the water content from the plants. Also, the type of plant can affect it’s capacity to hold water. More mature and larger plants require more water than their younger counterparts.

waterlogged garden clay soilWhen watering the plants, make sure that you don’t water to the point of run off as this can leach the soil of all the vital organic nutrients that you have lovingly applied. Another thing to consider is observing the plants at different times of the day. Usually, plants look more wilted during the heat of the day, but this is natural and won’t usually require excessive watering. The same plants will normally recover in the cool of the evenings. Common sense will tell you if and when the plants need watering, but be careful because organic vegetable plants can also suffer from over watering just as the non-organic plants do.

Often, vegetables picked from well-watered plants last longer than their less watered counterparts. There are various ways to water your plants: by a sprinkler that is manually controlled or an automated system. Often a soaker or drip type system will be the most beneficial watering system as it leaves the plant foliage dry thus decreasing the possibility of disease.  Proper scheduling of the frequency of your water system operations will also ensure that your plants will be consistently watered at different times of day.

It is also recommended that uniform distribution of water be maintained in order to ensure that all the plants in your vegetable organic garden are well-cared for. Despite the need for frequent watering, also bear in mind that there is also a need to conserve water, so only water to the point of what your organic garden needs.