Fan irrigation head spraying water on shrubs. (Photo by Mark Torregrossa)

Mother Nature doesn’t always do the work for us of keeping our gardens alive. Here are some watering tips I’ve learned over the years.

I’m starting to get enough experience where it should sound like I know what I’m doing. I’ve been gardening since I was 10, so here are 45 years of watering experience.

Stream of water from irrigation tubing aimed right on rootball near trunk of hydrangea. (Photo by Mark Torregrossa)

Our growing season is only a few months here in Michigan. The flowers and vegetables we grow know that it’s a short season, so they are growing as fast as they can. They have one job - to reproduce a seed before they are killed by a freeze.

People get hung up on how much water a plant should get. They try to say an inch of water per week is good. You don’t know that, and it’s really hard to tell if your vegetable garden or planters got an inch of rain. We need to err on the wet side so we get full growth out of our short-lived plants. To balance out maybe wasting some water, we try to get the water exactly where it is needed- on the rootball.

This leads to experience #1: It will be hard to overwater at this time of year. Sure, you could drown out a plant in a pot if the pot doesn’t have drainage holes. Roots submerged in water for a couple of days will kill a plant easier than roots being dry for a few days. With drainage holes in your planters, you could water everyday. If the pots are not in direct sun, you can get away with watering every other day. Each location is different. As soon as you see a touch of wilt, you better hit the pots with water.

Hydrangea with water on the leaves

How much should we water? For hanging baskets and planters on the porch, I like to water just until I see water running out of the drain holes. I’ll go to the next pot, make my round and maybe come back with a quick second shot of water. Some of the soils used by the greenhouses can repel water if they dry out. You getting the soil wet and then hitting it again is a good idea. In the vegetable garden, the soil generally holds water longer than hanging baskets and pots. You may only have to water every two to three days, depending on your type of soil and the temperatures. Dig into the soil two inches to six inches to see if there is any moisture there. If not, get the hose out.

That leads to what I feel is the most important part of watering- put the water where it belongs and nowhere else. Water the rootball of your shrubs, flowers and vegetables. If you want you can give just a few seconds of water on the leaves to cool the plant down and ease heat stress. The watering device is the most crucial element. Don’t use a spray nozzle that spreads the fan of water out into a wide area. Not only are we wasting water then, but we are also watering weed seeds and weed plants. The drier you can keep the soil away from the plants, the less weeding you will have to do. If you feel like your spray nozzle isn’t putting the water at the exact correct place, go get a different spray nozzle. It’s hard to tell what pattern a nozzle will put out. Generally a spray head with a lot of holes close together will give the best watering pattern.

This is 2022 and we aren’t supposed to have to do much physical work. Watering is one place you can really take advantage of that idea. Since the plants don’t move during the season, a watering system is a great idea. You can go to home improvement centers and get into the irrigation isle. There are a lot of set-ups that will make your watering easier and leave more time to sit back and look at the gardens.

Here’s one I set up in front of my house. Now I’m kind of addicted to setting up automated watering everywhere I need it. This want isn’t so much to not do any work, but get the gardens always watered properly. This again comes back to we only have a few months for these plants to grow properly.

Mother Nature’s rain pattern looks sparse over the next few weeks, which is very typical of July in Michigan. You might get a gift of free, great water from Mother Nature some night. You will also have to take the hose in your own hands often.

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement updated 7/1/2022).

© 2022 Advance Local Media LLC. All rights reserved (About Us). The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local.

Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site.