Over the garden fence: How to keep the garden healthy when we’re not getting rain

Wow, have we been dry in Centre County. Our new lawn is turning brown, and we have been watering the flower beds, trees and shrubs planted last year to make sure they survive. Although our wells are deep, 480 feet, the yield in Gallons per Minute (GPM) is only three gallons at the most so we cannot do a lot the heavy irrigation. Welcome to shaly soils. Also, you must watch the recharge rate for the well so as not to run it dry.

But have hope, as it never fails that whenever I write an article on irrigation or watering the garden it will begin rain. Let’s hope that it happens this time around. Rain is indeed free, and it would be great if we could schedule it so the garden and lawns received an inch to an inch and half of water per week. It normally doesn’t work that way and at some point, during the summer, like now, the garden is going to need to be irrigated. It is awful early to really be cranking up the irrigation.

There are two ways that one can irrigate the garden. One is overhead irrigation and the other is drip irrigation. When we lived in Park Forest, we were on the State College water system which meant that when we watered our gardens, we were also being charged for sewage processing even though our water was not going into the sewage system. This means that it is a good idea to be as efficient as possible in watering the garden.

Overhead irrigation can be accomplished using a wide variety of irrigation sprinklers. They come in all shapes and sizes, just go to any of the box stores or search online. The important thing is to put a container/can out in the wetting pattern to measure when you have applied an inch of water or if you are watering three times a week then 1/3 of an inch for each application. Otherwise, you will not know how much water you are putting on the garden and may be wasting water or not putting enough on.

I like to water my garden in the early morning before it gets too hot. This way you will not lose as much water to evaporation, and it will give the plants a chance to dry off. It is not a good idea to water at night because the plants will go into the night with wet foliage, which can encourage the development of diseases. Irrigation systems can be placed on timers, which is handy once you figure how long it takes to apply an inch of water to the garden.

Drip irrigation is a method of applying small amounts of water, often daily, to the plant’s root zone. I am not referring to soaker hose technology, which is made from recycled tires and from which the water oozes out of the many pores in the hose. I am referring to drip tube or tape, in which openings are spaced usually for the home garden at 12 inches apart and the water literally drips out. The advantages to using drip irrigation is that drip irrigation may require less than half of the water needed for overhead sprinkler irrigation, saving you dollars. Also, high levels of water management are achieved because plants can be supplied with precise amounts of water and no applications are made between the rows or other non-productive areas. A big positive benefit is that diseases may be lessened because foliage remains dry. Also, activities such as planting, pruning and harvesting can continue in the garden while you water. You can also use fertigation or the introduction of soluble fertilizers efficiently to the roots through the drip irrigation system using a simple hozon siphon mixer. For your lawns you are going to be using overhead sprinkler irrigation.

There are drip irrigation kits that can be purchased. If you search online you will find several different kits that can be enlarged by purchasing additional fittings and tape/tube. One additional thought on soaker hoses is that they can be used more readily in flower beds. We are using one now on a strip of grass near a wall that dries out.

Remember, water is a precious commodity that we and our gardens need for survival, so use it wisely and thank Mother Nature when we have a gentle soaking rain.

Bill Lamont is a professor emeritus in the department of plant science at Penn State and can be reached by e-mail: wlamont@psu.edu.