I'm unsure how much I need to water my garden. As a kid my mom told me to water her flower beds for 30 minutes, hah. But for teeny baby sprouting things I'm afraid of smashing them with too much, and also scared of letting them dry out. Anyone have rules of thumb?
Watering is definitely somewhat intuitive and it takes some practice to develop! Water escapes the dirt by either (a) evaporation or (b) plants absorbing it. Evaporation rates change daily based on temperature and hours of sunlight, and plant absorption rate change based on their size, how closely planted they are, and the type of soil - etc etc. So, the best thing to do is learn how to gauge how damp or dry the soil is, and watch closely for signs of lack of water. For example, you might need to water every morning and evening in August on a 95 degree day, but only every 5 days in March on cloudy days.
In general, you want soil to be damp most of the time - but not wet. I try to water "deeply," meaning to get all the soil wet several inches deep - and then I make sure it's shifting from wet to damp within a half day. Plants will develop issues if they are in standing water or really wet dirt for days at a time. When you're watering, stick your finger in the dirt to see how deep it's actually going. It can be kind of shocking to learn how much water the dirt can actually hold and absorb, and how much it takes to get several inches deep!
One thing that REALLY helps is to mulch heavily (2" deep) and you can also get irrigation hoses that will slow drip for an hour a day. This helps minimize your water needed, because it's dripping directly into the dirt and not landing on the plants or evaporating in mid air in the heat! If you are finding that your raised beds or in-ground beds are drying out really fast, you likely do not have enough organic matter in your dirt and you can add high quality compost. Compost/organic matter holds water much better than poor soil.
For seedlings, I totally get trying to not wash them away! For seedlings in my outdoor beds, I use the Shower mode on my hose, and keep my distance so that the water is falling lightly on them - or I use a watering can and water around the base without hitting the seedling itself. For indoor seedlings in trays, I am a big fan of bottom watering. This is where you set the trays/pots in standing water and let it absorb up through the dirt. You can just put an inch of water in a big rubbermaid container and set the trays in to water, or you can buy plastic trays that don't have holes in them, like this: https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/containers-trays/trays-flats/1020-trays-extra-heavy-duty
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I'm unsure how much I need to water my garden. As a kid my mom told me to water her flower beds for 30 minutes, hah. But for teeny baby sprouting things I'm afraid of smashing them with too much, and also scared of letting them dry out. Anyone have rules of thumb?
Watering is definitely somewhat intuitive and it takes some practice to develop! Water escapes the dirt by either (a) evaporation or (b) plants absorbing it. Evaporation rates change daily based on temperature and hours of sunlight, and plant absorption rate change based on their size, how closely planted they are, and the type of soil - etc etc. So, the best thing to do is learn how to gauge how damp or dry the soil is, and watch closely for signs of lack of water. For example, you might need to water every morning and evening in August on a 95 degree day, but only every 5 days in March on cloudy days.
In general, you want soil to be damp most of the time - but not wet. I try to water "deeply," meaning to get all the soil wet several inches deep - and then I make sure it's shifting from wet to damp within a half day. Plants will develop issues if they are in standing water or really wet dirt for days at a time. When you're watering, stick your finger in the dirt to see how deep it's actually going. It can be kind of shocking to learn how much water the dirt can actually hold and absorb, and how much it takes to get several inches deep!
One thing that REALLY helps is to mulch heavily (2" deep) and you can also get irrigation hoses that will slow drip for an hour a day. This helps minimize your water needed, because it's dripping directly into the dirt and not landing on the plants or evaporating in mid air in the heat! If you are finding that your raised beds or in-ground beds are drying out really fast, you likely do not have enough organic matter in your dirt and you can add high quality compost. Compost/organic matter holds water much better than poor soil.
For seedlings, I totally get trying to not wash them away! For seedlings in my outdoor beds, I use the Shower mode on my hose, and keep my distance so that the water is falling lightly on them - or I use a watering can and water around the base without hitting the seedling itself. For indoor seedlings in trays, I am a big fan of bottom watering. This is where you set the trays/pots in standing water and let it absorb up through the dirt. You can just put an inch of water in a big rubbermaid container and set the trays in to water, or you can buy plastic trays that don't have holes in them, like this: https://www.greenhousemegastore.com/containers-trays/trays-flats/1020-trays-extra-heavy-duty
I hope this helps!