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Post by Gianna on Jul 15, 2019 17:14:46 GMT -5
I'm just on my way out the door to do some watering, much by hand. It's going to be warm for here, mid 80's or so, and things will need some of that refreshing liquid.
For the most part, if it's in the ground, I'll water using soaker hoses. If it's in a container, it's hand watered. But the shift is on - because of destructive critters - I'm growing more and more in containers which need constant attention.
Do you do much hand watering?
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Post by pepperhead212 on Jul 15, 2019 17:37:04 GMT -5
I do very little hand watering. It takes me time to set up all that irrigation, and timers, but it saves me a lot of time in the long run! Just have to watch it closely, and I learned, early on, the cheap emitters clog!
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Post by daylilydude on Jul 15, 2019 17:53:03 GMT -5
I hand water... because i'm to cheap to buy the irrigation supplies... LOL! We have had rain here the last couple of days and more coming... thank you Hurricane Barry...
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 15, 2019 18:45:50 GMT -5
We don't water much, but it's done by hand with an old plastic folgers coffee can. We watered like that when we had a big garden. My water hose didn't reach, so we took our plastic wheel cart filled it up and dipped up water with can then walked to each plant. We did that for years. Usually we only watered once a week, so it wasn't as hard as it sounds. I never believed in babying plants, so we just watered when absolutely needed.
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Post by paquebot on Jul 15, 2019 19:32:51 GMT -5
ALL hand watering and ALL from watering cans. Have not used city water for over 30 years. Two rain barrels are first supply. Next is goldfish pond which gets its water from an old well with a sump pump. No chlorine or other chemicals in that water.
Most watering is only for the containers or recent transplants. For everything else, I tell them that there is water available down below and to go looking for it. And when you know what a plant's root system looks like, you understand the wisdom in that.
Martin
The truth is more important than the facts.
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Post by hairymooseknuckles on Jul 15, 2019 19:51:56 GMT -5
ALL hand watering and ALL from watering cans. Have not used city water for over 30 years. Two rain barrels are first supply. Next is goldfish pond which gets its water from an old well with a sump pump. No chlorine or other chemicals in that water. Most watering is only for the containers or recent transplants. For everything else, I tell them that there is water available down below and to go looking for it. And when you know what a plant's root system looks like, you understand the wisdom in that. Martin The truth is more important than the facts. True Words my friend! Everyone needs to read and take notice. paquebot, says it so much better than I.
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Post by ahntjudy on Jul 15, 2019 20:40:07 GMT -5
Only if it's really necessary... The veggie garden and the rest of the plants, shrubs and trees are all well mulched and are on their own out there with Mother Nature... I have soaker hoses snaked through the veggie garden if needed in times of great drought, but frankly, I would and usually water all the veggie plants by hand if they really need it... I know then that the water is going where it really needs to be... But when there's no time for all that, the soaker hoses come in handily... I have several big flower pots going as focal points in the back yard that I keep watered but all the rest of the flower pots that now just sit there, are all full of blooming volunteers of all kinds of colorful stuff...If it rains for them, that's what they get, and they seem to all pretty much do just fine... This season, so far, we've had enough rain that practically no watering has been needed for anything, which is a good thing... And when I do water, I use the two big galvanized metal watering cans that belonged to my Uncle John who was my Godfather and my gardening mentor... My watering cans make me happy...What can I say...
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Post by brownrexx on Jul 15, 2019 21:06:05 GMT -5
I have a 330 gallon rain barrel and I exclusively use that for watering. There is a hose that runs downhill to the garden and the water flows by gravity, there is no pump so I stand and water my plants with a slow flow of water or I use a 2 bucket system and while one bucket fills, I dump the other one on a few plants. I like doing it this way so that I can see how much water they are each getting.
Tonight I did an extensive watering for the first time this season and I used the bucket method. I watered all of my tomatoes and peppers as well as the squash and eggplants. Each tomato and pepper plant got 1/2 a bucket of water which would be about a gallon each. Beans, corn and potatoes rarely get watered by me. They wait for rain.
Previously I just held the hose and watered the squash and EP.
It sounds kind of primitive watering this way but I like being in the garden so I don't mind spending the time there and I really like using rain water instead of our well water.
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Post by farmerjack41 on Jul 15, 2019 21:15:08 GMT -5
Only hand watering would be for an unusual dry spot, except when I first plant carrots. The lawn and garden are watered daily, either underground or above ground sprinklers or drip line.
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Post by september on Jul 15, 2019 21:34:51 GMT -5
Only hand watering with a hose, we have a private well and our water is very hard. Irrigation lines would be wonderful, but very expensive to run them as far away from the house as they'd need to go, and far too many beds to line with emitters. My hard water would clog them up with minerals in no time and I'd constantly be unclogging or replacing them. Even though it takes me a lot of time, I enjoy watering by hand, that way I get a full inspection of each bed and can catch any problems I see.
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Post by coppice on Jul 16, 2019 8:14:05 GMT -5
I have one patch of tomato brhind eldest' house that is on its own. The potted trees near her kitchen on a timer. They get irrigated daily. And another small patch of tomato up at senior bunker, I hand water those when it does not rain (meaning this year not much).
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Jul 16, 2019 12:10:17 GMT -5
I do very little hand watering. It takes me time to set up all that irrigation, and timers, but it saves me a lot of time in the long run! Just have to watch it closely, and I learned, early on, the cheap emitters clog! What he said^. The time I spent to set up the system has been repaid many times over. Not to mention that if I didn't have the irrigation set up, most of the times I would need to water would be when it's miserably hot outside. Plus the Earthboxes yield more since they never run dry. Also, bearing in mind that for me gardening is a hobby - not a livelihood - I enjoy my garden a lot more not worrying about things drying out in the heat, It also allows me to skip going out in the garden on those days when I busy with other things, tired, sick, or just not in the mood, and not worry about losing plants. It's also nice to be able to take a trip without having to get someone to come water my garden.
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Post by spacecase0 on Jul 17, 2019 0:10:47 GMT -5
in the summer I pretty much live inside a food dehydrator I hand water my garden using a hose from a well, about 200 gallons a day this time of year.
I would like to set up irrigation at some point, but I can do a better job by hand.
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