Tri gardeners,

I am taking care of a friend's yard for three weeks, much of which is
happening during a heat wave.

So I'm still trying to guage how much to water. Her mostly shady garden
has a lot of specimen trees and shrubs in it...various Japanese maples,
weeping redbud, 3 types of Hemlocks, a toddler-aged redwood, a weeping
birch, and a recently planted spruce.

This garden usually gets watered every other day by automated drip
irrigation. But in this heat I've been making sure to water every day by
hose and wondering if I should add even a second daily watering. Some
trees (especially the newly planted birch and spruce) are not doing that
well, and I can't tell if they need more water or less. Other trees
planted a year or two ago (such as the Japanese Maples) have turned leaf
color since I started the extra watering, and I cannot tell if this is in
protest. I think possibly it is.

I would appreciate any advice you have about how much you are watering on
days when the temp rises to 97 degrees and the sunlight is glaring.

thanks,
Melissa

wrote:

This garden usually gets watered every other day by automated drip
irrigation. But in this heat I've been making sure to water every day by
hose and wondering if I should add even a second daily watering. Some

I am NO expert on this (nor on anything, when you get right
down to it), but my own belief would be that if the owner set
up a drip system, that's probably all it really needs. Especially
if that yard got the same kind of soaking mine did last night. :-)

I've watered a few (but not all!) of my vegetables in the garden,
a few days when it's been terribly hot and we haven't had much
rain, but most of them have been doing OK without water. I don't
water the trees or grass at all, and they all seem fine with just
the free water from the sky. FWIW. YMMV. :-)


_______________________________________________
Ken Kuzenski AC4RD kuzen001 at acpub .duke .edu
_______________________________________________
All disclaimers apply, see? www.duke.edu/~kuzen001

In article uke.edu, wrote:

Tri gardeners,

I am taking care of a friend's yard for three weeks, much of which is
happening during a heat wave.

So I'm still trying to guage how much to water. Her mostly shady garden
has a lot of specimen trees and shrubs in it...various Japanese maples,
weeping redbud, 3 types of Hemlocks, a toddler-aged redwood, a weeping
birch, and a recently planted spruce.

This garden usually gets watered every other day by automated drip
irrigation. But in this heat I've been making sure to water every day by
hose and wondering if I should add even a second daily watering. Some
trees (especially the newly planted birch and spruce) are not doing that
well, and I can't tell if they need more water or less. Other trees
planted a year or two ago (such as the Japanese Maples) have turned leaf
color since I started the extra watering, and I cannot tell if this is in
protest. I think possibly it is.

I would appreciate any advice you have about how much you are watering on
days when the temp rises to 97 degrees and the sunlight is glaring.

thanks,
Melissa

Did your friend leave any instructions?

Are the plants showing any sign of distress. I should say were they
showing any. They may be showing the same signs now from over watering.
Is the ground around the plants wet, dig a few small holes with a spade
how deep is the wetness. It the ground is not dry then I suggest
letting the drip watering be all you use.

Too much water can be worse than not enough.

--
Wes Dukes (wdukes.pobox@com) Swap the . and the @ to email me please.

spam@www.spam.com is a garbage address.