All the prior reccomendations are good ones, and finger testing is
defiantely a good way to go. Your test should determine that the soil is
semi-moist, meaning not soaked but too wet for the soil to be considered
"workable", approximately 6 inches down into the soil. It's rather late in
the season, but long deep waterings that soak well down in the soil, and
then allow the top 2 or 3 inches to dry somewhat are best for plants such as
peppers and tomatoes. This encourages them to root deeply, allowing them to
obtain better concentrations of soil minerals, and helping them deal better
with very hot dry weather, as well as offering good support for the tall
plants.

An option used by some who for whatever reason cannot use the drip method is
to take 2 liter soda bottles, cut off the bottoms, and bury them in the
ground part ways near each plant. Then you simply fill the bottles every so
often and allow the water to leech down into the soil. If you have very
sandy/loamy soil the water may drain out very fast however, and it may
require several fillings per sitting to achieve good seepage. There are
commerical plugs sold by a few dealers that can be screwed on the bottom of
the bottles. This helps to control the rate of seepage into the soil. Keep
in mind when using this method that full grown tomato plants can require as
much (or more) as 10 pints of water per day...

"Fred" wrote in message
om...
I have a small (5'x6') backyard garden in Washington DC. Mostly I
have tomatoes and peppers planted. The garden receives a good bit of
sun and has mulch at the base of the plants. Assuming no rain for a
week, how often should I water my garden and for how long? I'm using
a typical yard sprinkler which swivels from side to side but is set to
only pass over the garden area.

What is the best way to water this type of garden? Maybe next year,
I'll set up a better system but I'm stuck with what I have for now.

Thanks!
Fred