Soil Moisture levels can be deceiving by just looking at the surface. .7 of an inch an hour for 3 hours every 2 days is an EXCESSIVE ammount of water, even if your soil were pure sand. overwatering will keep the roots of the plant close and in tight, What is ideal is for the plant to "suffer" just slightly and set deeper roots to gain a more steady supply of moisture, it's the natural evolution of the plant. For example, last year we planted corn and we had a wet, wet spring. The corn's roots just hadn't developed like we had hoped, and if we got a dry spell, we knew we'd be in trouble. Lo and behold, we had steady rains up until the middle of july, and then the spigot shut off entirely. we had a month in august where there wasn't a drop from the sky. There was one timely rain at the end of august that saved our season, and it was because of the wet spring that we got in trouble. The rule of thumb is to water 1 inch of rain per week. If you have sandy loam that is more on the sandy side, water 3/4 of an inch twice a week. First thing you need to do is take your spade and take a cut of soil 4 inches deep, and look at your soil moisture levels. check the soil moisture at 2 days after watering, and then 4 days after, and check to see how much water your soil is retaining or losing. Up here, we have some creek bottoms that are nasty in spots, nothing but fine blow sand, irrigated, and they can't PUT enough water on the corn in june and july. an inch a week for loams and 3/4 x2 per week for sandy should be perfect for your garden.

Hey! I would say after the first two weeks of babying your new babies, you should only water once a week, IF it doesn't rain. Also, find out if the particular plants you have are drought-tolerant or water-loving... If they are drought-tolerant, you can get away with watering them once every two weeks IF it doesn't rain. If they are water-loving plants, there is little chance that you could over-water, but if your plants like dry conditions, they could get very sick (fungus, bugs) if you over-water... I have drought-loving prairie plants planted right next to swamp milkweed (which is water-loving, as you can tell by the name), and the milkweed gets watered once a week in drought conditions while the plants a foot or two away are completetly ignored... In other words, every plant has a different watering schedule and different water tolerance, and you just have to figure out when they get thirsty. Good luck! Jenny

Lol - don't second guess the dowel thing. ;o) If the stick is wet - so is the soil and you needn't water. Here's the deal - soils FEEL dry to you when they still have about 40-45% moisture content, but plants can extract moisture from soils down to about 30% moisture content - some less, and I wouldn't be surprised if carica was one of the plants better suited to extracting moisture from drier soils. That aside, there is a built in cush of 10-15%, where your tree can still get moisture after the soil FEELS dry. I often suggest that a grower intentionally keeps track of how long his/her plants can go between waterings. Water well, then wait until the first sign of wilt (watch the newest leaves). If you can go 5 days, and you're watering every 3 days - you're over-watering. This is an occasional test, not a regular thing. Plants don't drink drops of water. They absorb it a molecule at a time from colloidal surfaces, and in vapor form. Think 'barely damp', not 'wet' for the best growth and vitality. Roots are the heart of the plant. If you concentrate on keeping the roots happy - I bet you'll be happy, too. ;o) Al

In that case I would say your weather is pretty comparable to mine in SE Wisconsin. I sowed lettuce seed on March 15th along with Kolrabi and Kale and carrots. Nothing germinated by April 15th (the normal start date for cool season stuff here). I resowed on April 15th and everything came up well and some of the earlier planting also came up, but not much. At this point kolrabi has 2-3 sets of leaves and no bulb yet, lettuce ranges from super tiny to a couple inches tall for a few plants, carrots are just itty bitty things and I am debating whether or not to set tomato transplants out this weekend, but won't dare try pepper or eggplant until June 1st. In other words I think your cool season stuff is on course and the warm season stuff was put out too early. If you don't get a hard frost it will survive, but it will look bad and not do much until it warms for good. Hang in there, good gardening weather is right around the corner.