GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post - Heavy watering cans are inefficient and bad for your back

08-07-2006, 11:48 AM posted to uk.rec.gardening

wrote:
Brian wrote:

The foliage of all plants directs water flow to where it is most needed.

Even if this were true, the total quantity of water which reaches the
place where it is most needed is surely reduced by foliage. So in
dry weather, or when the amount of water available is otherwise
limited, there may still be good reason to deliver water directly to
where it is most needed in the soil, rather than delivering it as
run-off from the foliage.

I don't think we can compare artificial watering, delivering a tiny
quantity, with rain, which can deliver amounts measurable in tons over
a wide area. I suspect that when it rains leaves act not so much to put
the water where it's wanted as to keep it away from where it's not
wanted: to prevent soil erosion by heavy rain in the immediate root
zone. In nature, rain relatively evenly moistens the soil in the
"field" as a whole.

Many or most garden plants aren't growing in the conditions for which
natural selection has suited them, and, of course, most garden forms
aren't the product of natural selection at all. So we have to maintain
the artificial environment, which may sometimes include watering. As a
crude general rule I'm not a fan of watering, but when it's necessary I
do agree it's more economical to water the soil rather than the plant.
But if it hurts your back, just stop doing it, and if need be grow
something else.

--
Mike.