Effective watering is one of the most important gardening skills for a gardener to master. The gardener must understand the variables that will affect the amount of water a garden needs as well as get a hands on feel for how your garden soil holds water. As an introduction to watering, take a look at this video from Gateway Greening to see how to effectively water your garden.
Watering Calendar: In the school setting, it often requires a team of dedicated teachers and staff to share the responsibility of watering the Learning Garden. Gardens may need daily watering especially under the hottest times of the year. Use our Watering Calendar to coordinate with your Garden Team in the early spring before the garden is planted to figure out a watering schedule that will cater to everyone’s schedule and keep your garden healthy. Meet again before school is out to coordinate for the summer months as well.
Watering Calendar (Word Document)
2014 Watering Calendar (PDF Version)
Example Watering Calendar
Watering Your Learning Garden Throughout the Growing Season
Watering Seeds and Seedlings in Your Garden
Conserve Water in your Learning Garden: Conserving water in your Learning Garden is important in any climate and region. Take a look at the following document to see how you can reduce the water needs of your garden, water less often, and have a more successful garden overall.
Water Conservation in your Learning Garden
Variables that affect water needs: Throughout the growing season, a gardens’ water needs will change significantly and a gardener needs to pay close attention to their watering schedule and how the plants respond to that schedule. Below are various elements that will affect how to water the Learning Garden. Use the Watering Calendar to make notes of changes that have affected watering. This will help document the changes you see in the garden and inform everyone on the team of what has been more or less successful for the current garden.
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Soil type in your Garden – Different soils will retain different amounts of water. Clay holds water very well, whereas sand does not. A loamy soil full of organic matter is ideal. Adding organic matter via compost will improve the soil structure and balance the water retention capacity of our soil.
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Air Temperature – Heat will promote evaporation directly from the soil and from the leaves of your plants prompting them to ‘drink’ more water from the soil.
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Sunlight – The more sun your plants have, the more water they will require. Your garden will use less water on a cloudy day than a sunny day.
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Number and Maturity of Plants – As plants grow, so do their roots. When your garden is full of mature plants it will need a longer, deeper watering than when you have all young plants. More densely planted areas of the garden will shade the soil and reduce evaporation, while areas of the soil that are exposed to direct sunlight will lose water at a faster rate.
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Type of Plants – Some plants in your garden are very efficient with water and some need a lot to survive. For example, tomatoes are well known for drinking a lot of water but sage is a perennial that needs much less water to thrive.
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Rainfall – When your garden has recently received rain, you will not need to give it as much water. Purchase a Rain Gauge to help you determine how much water your garden needs after it has rained.
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Wind – Wind can pull water out of your garden from the soil and the plants.
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Surface the Garden is on – The amount of heat absorbed or reflected by the surface your bed is placed on will affect the rate of evaporation.
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Mulch – Adding a thick layer of mulch to the garden will help to moderate the moisture level and temperature of the soil and reduce evaporation from the soil. A “living mulch” which is grouping plants close together or planting of a cover crop under widely spaced plants will also do a good job of protecting the soil.
