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Florida Gardening

how much should I be watering

13 years ago

I have an raised vegetable garden which is on the west side of house, it contains tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers spinach. I just wondered how much should I be watering> I also have a corn field that is in sandy soil, how often should I be watering this? This is my first garden, I planted it March 14th.

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Comments (8)

tinael01
13 years ago
I guess it depends on your soil and how much sun you are getting. When a garden is young it needs daily watering. If you have sandy soil you almost need to keep watering daily, but if you've amended really well you can go 2 or 3 days without worrying. In my case my soil is still pretty sandy even with the amendments and I am still watering daily.
Minderella
Original Author
13 years ago
Thank you Tinae101, the garden area gets sun from about 10am till about 8pm, I just havent seen any vegetables growing. I planted on March 9th, when will I start seeing something other than foliage?
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The soil I have is sand. Where I have been able to get almost enough organic matter into the soil it retains moisture better then the places that do not have sufficient levels of OM. However I water once, or less, per week long enough to saturate the soil down 4 to 6 inches or about 1 inch of water from the sprinklers, and with my pump that often is 3 to 4 hours in any one place depending on which sprinkler I use and whether wife is also doing laundry. No one can give you a definitive answer to your question unless they have exactly the same soil and water delivery system that you have. Start by setting out straight sided cans and measure how long it takes for you to deliver that 1 inch of water, and then dig into the soil in that area to see how deep the water has penetrated, and after doing this several times you may have a good idea what you need to do. While I know that a green lawn surrounding your house can reduce the summer temperatures around that same house by anbout 10 degrees I do not fixate on having a dark green lawn that looks like a carpet. While I know a nice neat and green lawn sets off the flower beds really nicely, I do not fixate on having a lush green carpet around the flower beds. The lush green lawns often held up as examples of what you should have are a marketing tool of the companies that are selling the poisons that are killing the planet we live on.
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Daisy, I am a bit south of you I think and I too brought my plants out about 3 weeks ago. As I do not have a greenhouse, they were all in the garage and a bit shriveled. I soaked them good several times before they plumped back up. As long as your nights stay above 50 (who knows this time of year), I would say you are safe soaking them. They need a good drink to get going for the season. I also add SuperThrive to those first waterings and even a dilute 20-20-20 fert. to help them along. Hope this helps. Karen
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How often to water is too variable by climate, soil/soiless mix type, whether mulch is used etc. to really answer. It is absolutely not necessary to keep all the soil moist. You say after a day of sun and wind only the top inch is dry? That's fine. Try stopping the sprinklers for awhile and figure out how many days it takes for the soil to dry to 2 inches. For established plants (any plant that has been in the bed for more than 2 weeks after transplant or 1 month or less from seed sprouting if direct sowed) I would advise allowing 2 inches of a light mix to dry before thinking about watering. If you notice any plants starting to droop a bit you can increase the frequency, but generally allowing the top couple inches to dry does plants good as they go deeper in the soil for moisture and this not only saves you water, but it makes for more adaptable plants to when the real heat comes on in a couple months. It reduces weeds a bit and is less comfortable for slugs, snails, earwigs and other moisture loving garden pests.
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How long are you planning on keeping these roses in containers? Will you ever be able to plant them in the ground? If you plan on leaving them in pots for years, I would not use 20 gallon black plastic pots - you could cook them in full sun in a hot climate. Since you just got these roses, and just planted them in 4 gallon containers, I would leave them alone (with lots of water as everyone says) for at least 6 months. They need to recuperate from being transplanted, and need to be left in peace to grow some roots. If they were mine, I would leave them alone for 6 months, or until I saw roots growing out of the bottom of the containers. If I then wanted to transplant them again into a bigger container where they would have to stay for years, I would get a non-glazed normal clay colored CLAY container, and it would be way bigger than 20 gallons - maybe 40 or 50. If, on the other hand, you will be able to plant the roses in the ground, a 20 gallon plastic pot would probably be OK for another year or so until you can put them in the ground, but not black. Drainage - I do not put any of the pots my potted roses are in directly on the ground, cement, etc. There are many things you can buy to put under the pots (from cheap to expensive) to help them drain. I try to keep my pots up on these sort of things at least 1 1/2 inches above whatever surface they are on. Glad your roses perked up when you gave them more water. That is how we all learn about roses on here - asking for advice, and then seeing what works! Good luck, and keep us advised about how you do with these roses. Jackie
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Minderella
Original Author
13 years ago
Why wont someone tell me information? I am asking for a reason, to get info. All I am seeing is foliage.
loufloralcityz9
13 years ago
Minderella,

Carrots & spinach are usually planted as a fall or winter crop in Fl.
They don't do well in the Florida heat & humidity of summer.

The variety of tomatoes you planted can have a wide difference as to when blossoms appear on the plant.
I have tomatoes that are now turning red, yet on another variety they haven't even blossomed yet.
When were they started (in cups or direct seeded).
Did you buy flats or start your own in Jan.

Cucumbers are usually a difficult crop to grow in Fl.
Again when were they started, or did you buy flats?

Your input to us is extremely limited to demand an answer.

Corn is a heavy feeder and requires side dressings of fertilizer along with copious amounts of water.
The depth of your amended soil is very important with corn.
Corn usually takes at least 65-70 days if not way more depending the variety.

One month of growth time is not sufficient to make any crops as yet, check your seed packets and note the days to maturity listed. I think you'll find it's like 65 days or more under ideal conditions for most crops(which rarely happens here in Florida)

As far as watering, if the leaves are not droopy, the water amount is sufficient.
The watering amount is extremely variable due to what your soil mix is and over all conditions (depth of soil, full sun or partial shade, PH, exposure to wind, etc. etc.) make it hard for us to guess.

We are like the blind men trying to describe your elephant,
Lou
Minderella
Original Author
13 years ago
everything was started from seeds in the jiffy pot greenhouse early march, and planted in ground on March 19th. I bought seeds that said that I could plant till end of march. Thanks for you input.
loufloralcityz9
13 years ago
I think starting your tomato seeds in March is late, most of us in zone 9 start our tomato seeds inside around the end of Jan, beginning of Feb to get a head start seeing we have such a short growing season before the heat & humidity hits, not to mention all the bugs.
However the beginning of March was a good time to start the cucumbers as they will stunt if left in the cups too long.

The seed packets are labeled for the median USA growing area, we are too far south, therefore our season starts earlier.

The best thing you can do is get a notebook and record your planting dates & results, then you can modify your planting times for the next year as you fine tune your planting dates for each vegetable. If you keep records you will become a very good gardener in a very short time. It's all about experience (what, when, & how)

A good reference book to buy is "GUIDE to FLORIDA FRUIT & VEGETABLE GARDENING" by Robert Bowden

Lou
mrs_tlc
13 years ago
Hi Minderella. This is a link to the UF site that gives a ton of info on when to plant; how to plant; what varieties do best here, etc. Someone shared this with me when I first came to this forum and it has been a very valuable source of info for me.
mrs_tlc
13 years ago
Forgot to post the Link..... sorry ..... here it is.

Here is a link that might be useful: UF Extension Link

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