Thanks so much for your help, I think its the soil condition, I started out
with rock hard soil that had never been mulched, I tried adding grass
clippings and some left over potting soil to just the little areas I was
going to plant in but I'll bet I need more mulch in a wider area than the
foot and a half I am planting in. Those poor roots must be in a ball down
there cause they surely couldn't go any further in that hard soil. I never
really gave this much thought till you all mentioned it. I will do some
serious mulching before I plant again and surely over the winter my mulching
will pay off for next years garden. Thanks you all, I needed the advise.

Kathy


"Brian" wrote in message
...
How much are you watering at a time ? It is better to give a deep
watering once a week, then 3 shallow ones. The deep watering causes the
roots to go deeper thereby avoiding drought.
A simple rule of thumb is 1-2 inches of water per week. If you do it
slow so it soaks in and doesn't run off you should be able to do it once
a week.
Unless my math is off, a gallon of water is 231 cubic inches. So a
gallon would give an inch of water over an area 10 inches by 23 inches,
or 15 inches by 15 inches.
PS don't forget the whole root zone needs the 1-2 inches

Larry Blanchard wrote:

In article , fakedaddress@organic-
earth.com says...


You are having to water too often. In good soil, with a decent mulch,
weekly
or perhaps twice weekly watering should be more than enough. There is no
soil that adding compost to will not improve except one that already has
enough (rare).




I'm gardening in raised beds. They were filled with "flower mix" from a
local soil dealer, which is supposed to retain water well. If the
temperatures stay in the 70s and 80s with sunny days, I can water every
third day. If it gets into the 90s I have to water every other day.

So once or twice a week isn't enough in all conditions, although it does
appear it would be in the conditions that Kathy describes.