Here in Wisconsin we have had an extremely wet spring, flooding
everywhere. Now it's beginning to dry up. Parts of my garden were so
wet that a shovel full yielded dripping muck. My early peas, though I
got half a crop off of them, didn't put roots down below an inch. I
have been cultivating regularly and the top 4 or 5 inches is getting
quite dry, though if you go down any deeper the soil is still quite
wet. The veggies are starting to look dry, peas are very slowly
filling out, even radishes going slow. I also have tomatos, corn,
pepper, onions, beans, various hill plants, all growing slow, they
look like they need watering.

My question is, am I better off not watering and hopefully forcing
these plants to sink deeper roots, (clay soil, amended with sand and
compost)? Is it better to bite the bullet on fast growth right now in
favor of root delvelopment? Or should I water even though, as I said,
there is plenty of moisture 6 to 8 inches down? How best to recover
from the deluge we were subjected to for 6 weeks? Thanks for any
advice!

"Jay" wrote in message
m...

How best to recover
from the deluge we were subjected to for 6 weeks?

This mean your plant are receiving little sun in these period.

When plant grow under little sun, they will grow tall and their leaf
will grow big inorder to get more sun. Plant part above ground will
evaporate water, more surface expose more evaporation.

My early peas, though I
got half a crop off of them, didn't put roots down below an inch.

When water level are high, root will not grow where there is no
oxygen, root will rotten if it already there. Root for taking up
water, less root less water take up.

Now it's beginning to dry up.

Your plant are getting more sun now.

It's OK for a plant under little sun with a lot of above ground grow
but little root. But once it receive more sun, it will become
dehydrate. Some will drop leaf and regrow with smaller size leaf to
reduce the surface expose. Some will shut down the hole on leaf to
reduce evaporation. Some will simply die.

the top 4 or 5 inches is getting
quite dry, though if you go down any deeper the soil is still quite
wet.

My question is, am I better off not watering and hopefully forcing
these plants to sink deeper roots.

You are taking a risk of the plan will be injure or dead before their
root can reach the water that is 6 to 8 inches down. I do doubt they
can grow their root when they are lack of water.

How best to recover
from the deluge we were subjected to for 6 weeks?

From small plant I will suggest put some shading on them. But I don't
think this is practical in this case.

I will suggest you water them, after that put a layer of mulch to keep
the soil cool and reduce evaporation.

Pruning and removing some old leaf(yellowing) will also help to reduce
the evaporation. The main point are keep the above and under ground
grow in propotional with the sun receive.

Sorry for my bad English. I do now I did using some wrong words. I
hope you can understand what I try to express.

HTH,
Wong

--
Latitude: 06.10N Longitude: 102.17E Altitude: 5m


"Jay" wrote in message
m...
Here in Wisconsin we have had an extremely wet spring, flooding
everywhere. Now it's beginning to dry up. Parts of my garden were
so
wet that a shovel full yielded dripping muck. My early peas, though
I
got half a crop off of them, didn't put roots down below an inch. I
have been cultivating regularly and the top 4 or 5 inches is getting
quite dry, though if you go down any deeper the soil is still quite
wet. The veggies are starting to look dry, peas are very slowly
filling out, even radishes going slow. I also have tomatos, corn,
pepper, onions, beans, various hill plants, all growing slow, they
look like they need watering.

My question is, am I better off not watering and hopefully forcing
these plants to sink deeper roots, (clay soil, amended with sand and
compost)? Is it better to bite the bullet on fast growth right now
in
favor of root delvelopment? Or should I water even though, as I
said,
there is plenty of moisture 6 to 8 inches down? How best to recover
from the deluge we were subjected to for 6 weeks? Thanks for any
advice!