On 10/12/2008 3:13 PM, JayDee wrote:
So it seems that some plants like to get completely dry, then flooded
and not watered again until dry - but is there an easy way to
determine which will work best for a particular plant or family? I've
been doing the dry/drench on my ficus benjamina and it has been
thriving! Sometimes I go 10 days before adding a drop of water.
However I tried the same with my bougainvillea and it wasn't so happy.
Creeping fig and grape vines also seem happiest with being damp all
the time...

Other than that, I'm adding a little bit of organic fish and seaweed
fertilizer to every other watering or so.

Another curiousity - I spray the leaves every morning on all the
plants - does that actually help them, or just make them look shiny?

Thanks!

- jaydee

I have an automatic sprinkler system on a clock. It waters my garden
every third day, early in the morning before sunrise. The timing varies
by season. My intent is to keep the soil moist where roots are growing
but allow the top inch or two to get quite dry. For shallow-rooted
plants that need constant moisture, I mulch with leaves and with the
output of my office shredder(*).

In the hottest part of summer (temperatures over 95F), the system also
waters the garden daily for 2 minutes at about 1:00pm. This really adds
very little moisture to the soil but cools the soil and plants.

On my hill in back, all plants are relatively deep rooted. I water
thoroughly once every two weeks. This discourages most weed seeds from
sprouting since the top 4-6 inches of soil is generally bone dry. This
also makes pulling any weeds difficult except during the first 3-4 days
after watering.

(* Yes, shredded paper will deplete nutrients from the soil while
decomposing. However, I use it only around plants that prefer a lean
soil (e.g., camellias).)

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening pages at http://www.rossde.com/garden/