First Garden too wet: how quick does your soil dry out?
emmers_m
15 years ago
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wayne_5 zone 6a Central Indiana
15 years agoRelated Discussions
Lesser of two evils... too wet or too dry
Comments (13)The title says it best - both circumstances are bad. So given the "lesser of two evils", to me it has to be too dry. There are so many bad things related to gardening in too wet conditions based on when this occurs: How do you prep? How do you seed? How do you do maintenance? How do you harvest? Everything is a hassle, everything is a mess. Not to mention diseases, rampant weed germination, soil compaction, root rot, rotting root vegetables, poor harvests, poor keeping qualities of produce, etc. A too wet situation has no positives whatsoever that I can see, related to home gardening. Gardening in too dry: I take "too dry" to be different from "drought". If the situation is severe, long term drought than what is the point in even worrying about a garden - it will be toast no matter what you do. The problem is that too dry usually goes hand in hand with too hot - the double whammy that stresses and kills. And pests and diseases can easily damage and kill stress-weakened plants as well. But there are positives such as fewer weeds germinating, root veggies come out clean, plus some veggies thrive in the heat (my peppers LOVE it). Mulching, target watering, and strategic use of removable shade can still get a person a very good harvest under too dry conditions. My question is: When will cisterns come back into wide use? Around here every old house had a cistern in the basement to collect rainwater for household use. None are used anymore, and new houses obviously are not built with them. I collect rainwater in cisterns for gardening use because it is better water for plants than well water, I am not stressing the well supply, and I can use it to get over the dry spell "humps". I have around a 6-8 week supply. If I use up all my rainwater then I consider my situation to be in a drought and all bets are off - I may start using well water or I may just decide to pack it in for the season. Usually I will cut back and just focus on the critical stuff being grown mainly for seed stock. My nightmare is: Having to someday rely on home gardening as a primary food source and having either of these two evils occur. Food for thought, so to speak. Have a good day....See MoreToo Dry or Too Wet??? That is the question
Comments (5)I recently got the newest addition of The World Of Hoyas by Dale Kloppenburgh and in it he mentions that the Philippine Hoya species like to be watered frequently and that they should not be allowed to dry out like many other Hoya species. Having said this it is very important to have a fast draining potting mix to allow air to reach the roots. I grow my Hoya DS-70 in a short 5" clay pot and I water it pretty much every day. My plant does very well with this treatment because the fast draining potting mix and clay pot allow lots of air in the root zone. I have never grown this Hoya in a plastic or glazed pot but I know many others have so hopefully they can help. Are your plants newly potted or have they been together in the pot for some time? If you have recently potted the cuttings together you might need to water less until the roots colonize the potting media a little more. Mike...See MoreReplanting Sans-- dry out first?
Comments (2)The advice that I was given when I repotted was to make sure that the soil was nice and dry to repot them in, and not water it for at least a month. (mine was overwatered is why I repotted) I don't think that you need to actually let the plant itself dry out, just make sure the new soil is nice and dry. Maybe someone else has a different opinion. Good luck....See MoreHard compacted, wet clay soil. How to prepare the soil for sod?
Comments (19)Yes, raised in the middle makes a crown. How much, is your call. You asked about the shape. I like to think of the shape of a lawn as if it were water. A pond in your case. Being fluid really helps with giving the lawn 'flow' and 'presence'. Everybody worries about the shape of a tree or rock, but usually don't give much thought to the shape of the lawn except to cover as much space as possible. Then they cutout flower beds and they end up looking like cutouts. The shape of the lawn is more important than the shape of the flower beds. I hope that helps. I haven't been in downtown Seattle in 5 or 6 years. I used to live within walking distance of the market. I'm sort of an old hermit in the country now. The last time I visited the Calgary area I visited the Drumheller Dinosaur Museum. Awesome!...See Moreemmers_m
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