Water is the most important part of a Garden in the Desert.  If you plants aren’t getting enough water, they will not produce very well and might even die.  Whether you have an automatic watering system or just use the garden hose you need to make sure you are giving your plants the right amount of water.

In your garden you may have a vegetable and herb garden. Then some flowers borders along the drive way.  Some bushes along the side of your house. A large Ash tree in the front yard, a little patch of grass and a few citrus trees in the back.  Each of these plants have a totally different water need.  So what do you do when you only have one watering system.  When I installed my watering system in my house in Chandler, Arizona, I had two control boxes and a separate system for everything in my yard.  It was a beautiful watering system.

Then I met my wonderful husband and I moved to his home and I have a watering system that was for watering the grass that I have converted into a drip system. Hardly my dream watering system.  But it works most of the time during the year except in the hottest part of summer, because to water the vegetable garden in the 100 deg. weather, I need to water daily just to keep the veggies alive till fall.  However, this is too much water for the citrus trees and our bougainvilleas.  So we turn off the drip lines when it hits 90 deg.  that run to the citrus and bougs and water them deep once a week with the garden hose.

In the winter I water once every 4 days for about 10 minutes using a laser cut drip line that I get from sprinkler world.  We bought special heads from Lowes that converted our sprinkler heads that were for water grass that we no longer have into a drip system for our raised bed vegetable garden and 5 citrus trees in our back yard.  Our front yard is all cactus so it doesn’t require any additional water.

As the temperature warms up to 80 deg. days, I change the interval to every 3 days. For 90 deg. days, I water every other day and when it gets to 100 deg, I water every day for 10 minutes. We have raised beds and they dry out quicker.  If you were planting straight into the ground you may not need to water everyday, but you have to look at your plants.  If they seem to be limp, and the plant is not looking good increase the intervals.  Also water in the early morning or in the late evenings to keep the water from evaporating.

When you first plant seeds, you will need to water everyday and maybe twice a day to keep the top moist so the little sprouts can break through the soil.  Our soil has a lot of clay to it and the watering can create a hard crust that is hard for the little seedling to get through.  Just keep the top soil moist, until they break ground.

One of my favorite little pamphlets is “Water by the Numbers” distributed by the extension office.  You can get it at most nurseries or a digital copy here.  It can really help you understand your plants water needs.

Also feel free to send me an email if you have any questions.  I would love to help.

Happy Gardening.

Talk to you soon.

Nancy