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It's Saturday. Go water your garden (a long story).
My neighbor, who lives on the corner lot, asked me for a tree.
I have been maintaining the city easement in front of her house for about 10 years. I had a whiskey barrel with perennials there, but a some drunk driver smashed it up, so she asked me if I had any plans to replant something there. I had a couple of spare trees, so I planted one there- a lovely little Saucer Magnolia.
Almost every time I plant something for someone other than myself, it dies. Because of inadequate watering.
People SWEAR to water it. Then, when they finally notice the brown leaves falling, they call me and ask what is wrong with the plant I gave them (as if I am responible or gave them a diseased specimen). When I ask them about watering, the SWEAR they are watering it well.
So back to my neighbor in the corner house. She tells me she has been dutifully watering every time I see her, when I know she has NOT. The tree is less than 100' from my front door. I think my dog waters it more than she does.
Bottom line: a 15-30 second sprinkle with the hose does NOTHING. That is not even enough to penetrate the mulch she piled on the root zone. It takes me 20-30 minutes to water this ONE tree. Just to give you some idea.
So.... the weekend is here. Unless you live in an are currently submerged by flood waters, you may need to water. Get out there.
Happy gardening.
Re: It's Saturday. Go water your garden (a long story).
I have a lot of house plants and part of my weekend routine is checking to see if my plants need to be watered. People always comment to me that they can't keep house plants alive and that I must spend so much time fertilizing etc and when I tell them all I do is make sure they are adequately watered but not drenched and get proper sunlight, they are amazed.
It takes so little effort to keep plants healthy (most of the time) - you just have to know what is right.
As for outside, we're actually suffering from the opposite problem now - too much water. I've had several bushes die and when I've pulled out the base, it's just mush from so much rain and the ground is just saturated. I will gladly share some of the rain we've had in my area!!!
Like you, I find it easy to care for my plants... NOW. But I remember the learning process! I remember the "black thumb" days. I was just like all the other people who think a little sprinkle, once a week, is adequate. So many of my purchases died. I had no idea how to water, or how much. Now, I can't repeat it often enough: water, water, and more water; because I want everyone to know how satisfying it is to have a healthy, thriving garden.
And I never fertilize either!
LOL. We haven't watered much of anything this year since we've gotten lots of rain. Our lawn people still tell us to water some more.
I took your advice, and thoroughly drenched everything this morning. I'll freely admit, I forget about watering or do it in a hurry & only leave the sprinkler on a certain area for 10-15 min. My tomatoes are much happier now.
(This is also why I eventually want a xeriscaped front yard - one less thing to worry about for my spacey brain)
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