Last summer, we used drippers at one foot or eighteen inch spacings, for an hour or so, twice a week, on un-mulched soil growing things like tomatoes, corn, beans, and strawberries, in a summer of temperatures varying from around 70F to around 100F. All that detail, of course, tells you little without knowing _what size drippers_. I don't remember; we just put down drippers, watered, checked the soil, and reduced the watering time until it seemed like we were watering "enough." Then we got the water bills, and this year we will be working out a way to make a smaller amount of water "enough". :) I'd like to water twice as long and one quarter as often; we'll see if that works out. But maybe it will give you a vague order of magnitude answer. My main concern with your post is that you say that you're watering "lightly". It's best to water as deeply as you can, and as infrequently as you can. I'm wondering if perhaps your watering was always shallow, so that your soil has never been adequately watered. I would suggest that you get a soaker hose, wind it over an area of ground, and start soaking. Come back after an hour, dig a small hole with a trowel, and see how deeply the ground is wet. Then after a second hour. Then after a third hour. And so on. Learn roughly how many hours it takes to soak the soil several inches deep. If you're in summer and haven't been watering much, I wouldn't be surprised if it takes eight hours or more to do an initial "make up" watering Of course, "several" inches is still a vague guideline. My perception is that it should be possible to water to a depth where the wetness from watering meets the wetness from retained moisture in the soil, so that there is no dry layer, but I don't know if I'm right about that.

Somewhere above there was a mention of bean transplants and while it is possible to carefully do that it doesn't really work well... rhizobia aren't usually in the potting media and adding too much N to the biosphere will prevent them from colonizing and nodulating the roots. You will get foliage but no flower or fruit with all that excess N. The do sell soil innoculant, which i recommend adding to any new bed if you haven't got a compost bin to add your own microbes. It's not just the nutrients you need to worry about, it's the microbiome. Soil bacteria break down sulfur to lower the ph and allow micronutrients to be absorbed by root hairs. Others break down phosphorus and make it soluble for plants. Some fix N. Some just secrete enzymes that degrade oomycete pathogens like phytopthera. Some produce plant growth regulators and help with root hair growth and stomatal conductance. Others prime plant immune systems so they are able to defend themselves rapidly when pathogens attack.

Oh yes, it is red clay. Rock hard, concrete-like red clay to be exact. When I first started the garden 3 years ago, I tilled down about 12 inches into the clay (took several days)and added some pine bark fines (soil conditioner) and a lot of compost to try and fluff up the soil some. But when you consider in planting deep, there was only a couple of inches of "soft soil" under the plants. Believe me when I way it sounds easier than it was. But it was worth it. Now the worms have taken over and helped to aerate the soil and it is not too bad now. One good thing about clay though is that it holds water and nutrients very well. You have to keep a good layer of mulch to keep the top layer from crusting though. On the reverse, compaction can be a big problem, which is why my planting beds are mounded so that I don't walk in them. Maybe one year I can talk the wife into letting me make some good raised beds. jj

If it truly was the "best damned worm composting place" we would not be unpaid slaves working to fill somebody else's pockets with traffic for ad money. But other than that I agree. There is a tribe somewhere where when the men come back from hunting they do not walk into camp noisy and triumphantly. They sit around the outside of the camp a bit away for a day or so observing. Then when they are back in the rhythm of the camp and know they would not be disturbing it they quietly return. Possibly it is enthusiasm that stops this procedure of looking around for a couple of minutes before bursting with excitement for the topic. I'd say growing into the name is still a work in progress. "1/2 pound and would require around 4 oz of food, but they didn't say how often" is a play on "worms eat their weight in food a day". But with a bit of tempering because that figure is under optimal conditions. It also fails to mention or consider bedding which is of equal or really more importance. Does the 4 oz include bedding which the worms also eat? Please ask the source of that information for me because I have always been confused. With out knowing anything about your bin or even seeing it I can categorically say add half the amount of food you are presently and tripple the bedding. Time is your friend. The worms will work for you, (as we do for this site), just sit back and let the multiply and in time collect your easily gained vermicastings or worm babies. *horrified face at worm babies. Worms just happen to be where we ply our trade. We could do this with dust bunnies. This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Mon, Apr 14, 14 at 23:52