Re:

"A few of the plants will just randomly wilt for no reason (but not all) and as soon as the get water they are ok... (snip) This garden gets watered about every other day for about 1 hour."

How is it watered? (Sprinkler, drip, soaker hoses?) To put it another way, how much water does it get in that hour? It sounds like it may simply be underwatered. If you poke a finger in the soil immediately before the next watering, how deep do you have to go to reach moist soil?

The 6-inch-deep bed, in particular, may be behaving like a small container - I don't know if soil moisture can wick through weed fabric easily, so it may effectively be impossible to water more than six inches deep. I would recommend against using weed fabric under your ten inch deep beds next year - ten inches is still very shallow. As the year gets cooler, or if the plants in that bed fail, you might want to plant some shallow-rooted plants such as lettuce in that bed.

Were your yellow/dying cukes direct-seeded or planted as transplants? I have both in my garden, and the transplantes are yellow and dying, while the direct-seeded cucumbers are charging ahead, healthy and green. You might want to direct-seed a few cucumbers; if the yellow ones die, you have the new ones, and if the yellow ones recover you can pull out the new ones.

In 90-100 degree days, you may have to water the containers more often than every two days, no matter how thoroughly you water when you do water them.

ChickenFreak

I water by overhead sprinkler. I know it's not the best way, but I haven't been able to afford the drip hose system yet for the size gardens I have. The next day when I check the soils the soil is always nice and wet. But does dry out quickly throughout the day after I check it. All of the cukes were direct seeded (burpless and straight 8's). I am not planning to put weed block under them next year so the roots can continue down if they wish. Yesterday all my cukes and cantaloupes wilted in the middle of the day and the soil was plenty wet.... at least on top, but they recovered nicely once the shade was on them. Thank you for your help so far!!

So my raised beds and containers looked dead today. Absolutely wilted... even the watermelons, which never wilt! I was thinking it couldn't be a water issue because I just watered 2 days ago throughly and it's only been in the mid-80's the past two days. Well guess what... my beds were completely dry as in no moist soil for the entire 6 inches! I could not believe it and this was the first time that has ever happened. So I watered it tonight for 2 hours to ensure good watering, which I think I may have actually overwatered but it was nice and soaked the whole way down, so I'll see if my plants wilt again tomorrow. I also gave all of my containers a nice watering... about 1-2 gallons of water a piece, which wet down at least 6-8 inches. So hopefully this can help something.

Does anyone know about tomato leaves curling up?? The plant was healthy when I bought it (It was Beefsteak from Walmart and had the biodegradable pot, which I removed while trying not to damage the roots and thought I did a pretty good job. Personally, I don't like those pots because it seems like the roots can't grow through them well.) Anyway, it has doubled in size but the leaves are are curling up. There were several that were yellow with what appeared to be brown spots throughout the leave/stem/outer edge of leaf. I removed all the sick looking leaves and let the rest alone. There are even two flower buds beginnign to form. So I'm unsure if it's a disease or just plain stress. Any help will be great!!

Also, what causes a sugar baby watermelon to stop growing at the size of a baseball?? Possibly just lack of root space? At least, that's what I'm thinking for now.

Thank you in advance for any help I can get!!

> So my raised beds and containers looked dead today. Absolutely
> wilted... even the watermelons, which never wilt! I was thinking
> it couldn't be a water issue because I just watered 2 days ago
> throughly and it's only been in the mid-80's the past two days.
> Well guess what... my beds were completely dry as in no moist
> soil for the entire 6 inches!

Yep - it sounds like your beds are essentially acting like containers; I'm guessing that moisture doesn't easily penetrate _up_ through that weed fabric, so you effectively have a six-inch-deep container, which is a very small container and prone to drying out very rapidly.

Does the water easily penetrate _down_ through the weed fabric? If it does, so that too much water won't puddle up and make your beds a swamp, then I'd suggest watering very thoroughly, ensuring that all six inches is good and wet, every single time that you water.

But to allow you to water less frequently, I'd add a couple of inches, or maybe three or four, of mulch - I usually use purchased compost - to retain moisture. Plants prefer a fairly even level of moisture over time, rather than a frequent bounce from sopping to dry, so thick layer of mulch that retains moisture could make your plants a lot happier.

That way you water, the excess water drains through, and the remaining water stays in the soil longer instead of evaporating off the top. Then you keep checking the soil to make sure that it's not dry under the mulch. When it does start to get dry, water so that it's moist all the way down again.

As for the containers, I pretty much always water containers until water starts to flow through the drainage holes at the bottom. (Well, I wouldn't do that for a cactus, say, and I'd give a rosemary some time between waterings, but for vegetables? Deep watering.)

I've grown bush sugar baby melons for years. Most of the time they don't get very large at all, and when I grow them in a container they often get to just the size of a baseball. Yummy little things!!

Thanks for the advice so far everyone!! I think I have decided that my beds need watering more frequently because they are drying out quicker than I had originally thought. I don't know if my plants are wilting today yet or not as I am not home yet, but I will let everyone know a little later! I don't plan on using weed fabric next year, may use either nothing or newspaper to help keep weeds out. Any other suggestions for that? I am going to try to ensure a more deep watering each time by checking the soil once I finish watering.
I'm glad to hear the watermelons are still good even at that small size! I was beginning to get worried as they aren't growing but I will keep an eye on them. these are still the biggest ones I've had so far.
Once again, thanks for all of the help!!

You asked for suggestions about how to keep the weeds out instead of weed fabric:

mulch with dried grass clippings (free of weed & feed products just dry on a large tarp & stir through them with your hand or a plastic rake every few hours)

make sure you don't touch the stems

start with a 1/2" layer, moisten, & build up to about 2" or so (mulch thickness is depending on when your soil warms in spring... I have slow to warm cool wet soils in spring, so can't mulch much right away if at all. I wait until the tulips are falling to mulch.)

Ok, so my cucumbers still looked dead today... completely wilted by noon as were the cantaloupes. The cantaloupes weren't wilted as bad as yesterday, but still they were wilted. I am 100% sure those beds were wet, no doubt as I watered them last night and the dirt was nice and dark (it turns light when dry because it's very sandy). However, they seem to perk up nicely once the shade is on them, thus only wilting when in the sun. This is frustrating me beyond belief. I didn't water my large garden for the past 2-3 days and I see the effects and will water it throughouly this afternoon. Should I water it until there is one inch of water present, which I can figure out a way to measure an inch somehow, or should I water it longer??
The grass clippings sound like a great idea, unfortunetly not practical this year. We are in one of the worst droughts we've had in a while and we've only had to mow our grass one time in almost 3 months. The only place grass is growing is where water runoff from watering the gardens is getting to the grass. However, I'll keep that in mind for next year, for when we mow our grass. Does this help keep the soil cooler too in the summer?? I have more problems keeping the moist and cool than warming it.
What else can I do at this point to keep my plants from wilting? I don't want to lose them as they are producing nicely. Thank You so much!!!

Well, I am happy to say I had a small success today. I harvested my first, ripe, very sweet sugar baby watermelon. Granted, it was only about the size of a tennis ball, but extremely good nonetheless!!! That really made my day.
But now my tomato plant is baffling me, some leaves are curling up, others done, and others not at all?!? Still don't know what this is or how to fix it.... or the wilting plants in the sun.
Thanks!!

> Ok, so my cucumbers still looked dead today... completely wilted
> by noon as were the cantaloupes. The cantaloupes weren't wilted
> as bad as yesterday, but still they were wilted.

> I am 100% sure
> those beds were wet, no doubt as I watered them last night and
> the dirt was nice and dark (it turns light when dry because it's
> very sandy).

The only way to be 100% sure is to actually poke a finger in the soil, or dig into it, to be sure that it's watered down deep, not just on the surface. I realize that if you're going out in the morning dressed all nice for work, this is not an appealing habit, but it is the only way to be sure.

BTW, sandy soil drains very quickly, and therefore needs more frequent watering, than other soil types.

> Should I water it until there is one
> inch of water present, which I can figure out a way to measure an
> inch somehow, or should I water it longer??

Water it until you can tell, by poking the soil or digging a hole, that it is watered to the bottom of your six-inch depth if these are the six-inch beds, and deeper if they're not. What you're looking for is moisture all the way down, basically to the center of the earth :), with no dry layer, but there's obviously a limit to how deep you can check.

I'd recommend that at least a couple of times, you poke/dig into the soil, water some, poke/dig again in a new spot to see if there's a dry layer, water some more, and keep it up unti you can't find a dry layer. You may find that watering thoroughly takes a lot more water than you thought. Over time, you'll learn what it takes to keep your soil at the right moisture level, but while you're learning, you'll have to keep checking.

The issue is _probably_ water, because that's what I believe until you tell me that you actualy dug into the soil and looked. :) But once you're positive that the soil is staying reasonably moist - it doesn't have to stay sopping wet, in fact sopping wet is bad - then I should tell you that sometimes in very high heat, a plant will wilt no matter how much water is available to it. The roots and stems just can't pull up as much water as the leaves are losing to the sun and heat, and it wilts. And with only six inches of sandy soil, this is likely to be even more of a problem - the roots are going to be pretty hot. (Mulch!)

> Does this help keep the soil cooler too in the
> summer?? I have more problems keeping the moist and cool than
> warming it.
>
> What else can I do at this point to keep my plants from wilting?
> I don't want to lose them as they are producing nicely. Thank You
> so much!!!

Mulch. Mulchmulchmulch. Fine-grained mulch that can later be dug in as a soil amendment, preferably compost, preferably organic. (_Don't_ use bark chunks or other chunky mulch in a vegetable garden! And have a look at the package to try to be reasonably confident that it's not dyed, or municipal mulch that might have herbicides... I try to find certified organic.)

Mulch keeps the soil cool and moist. If you get a look at the price of purchased compost and groan at what it would cost to thoroughly mulch everything, buy some anyway and thoroughly mulch one small area (preferably an entire bed) to give yourself some experience with what mulch will do for you.

ChickenFreak

Thank you so much ChickenFreak! You have been wonderful so far. Thanks to everyone else who has offered suggestions too :). I see where you said don't use bark chunks as mulch but how about fresh sawdust type stuff (I don't really know how to explain it lol.) I have someone in my house who does woodworking and has a lot of extra sawdust, but it's not like super fine sawdust... it's more like thin ribbons of wood. Best way I know how to describe it would be have you ever scraped a piece of wood with a knife and seen the small pieces come off? If so, the pieces I have are like half that size and probably thinner mixed in with some sawdust. This stuff is completely organic (I guess you could say that) as he cuts down the trees and uses the wood, none of it is commercial in any way. The only thing I have heard about sawdust is an association between fresh sawdust and it leeching nitrogen from the soil. But if this could work for me let me know because I could have an endless, free supply of it :). Also, if this is good to use, let me know if there is any sawdust from a particular type of tree I should avoid as he uses all kinds of wood. I will definietly go out and check my soil moisture in the big garden in the morning, first thing. I watered it for 2 hours today so we'll see how it did (This is the non-bed garden). I will also check the other beds in the morning and let you know if they were still wet too. However, I think I need to water my containers more because the soil was only slightly damp as in soil barely stuck to my finger when I stuck my entire index finger down in it. So I think 2 waterings a day may be in order. Hmmm, this is all so confusing lol, but I'm getting there! Once again thanks for everything!

Ok, So I harvested 2 more watermelons today. One sugar baby and one congo watermelon. They were only a little bigger than a tennis ball but they were amazingly good. :) Funny thing is the congo watermelon appeared light yellow on the inside instead of pink/red. But it was extremely sweet, so I still enjoyed it.
I have watered my containers twice today. My beds were completely dry today (go figure... I will get it figured out!!). So I watered them until they were wet to the bottom and I also watered my large garden for another hour and 30 minutes to add additional water. We really need a good soaking rain here but just can't seem to get it. Otherwise, everything is doing ok, got some new watermelons coming as are some cucumbers. My tomato plants are flowering and you can see tiny tomatoes once the flowers fall off, but they are not growing... *sigh* maybe they will once it cools off.
Also, my corn has stopped producing pollen even though they are still producing new silks. What causes that??
Please let me know about the wood chips/sawdust from my last post as if it is ok to use I would like to get it down asap to help my soil cool off a little. Thank You So much!!

I'm pretty sure that fresh sawdust or small wood chips is not a good mulch - I seem to remember that fresh ground wood steals nitrogen as it decays? And I'm not sure how if it would make too much of a moisture barrier as it mats down. Others will know better, but I wouldn't recommend it.