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Original poster

How often are you all watering in this weather?

67 replies

WellTidy · 02/07/2018 10:17

We are in the south east, and I'm finding that everything is suffering in the heat. I have always watered the containers daily, but done the beds twice a week. I've been watering pretty much every evening (8pm ish) since it became hot, and everything is still drooping and wilting and looking pretty sad. It takes me about 45 minutes to water the whole garden and I don't think I am doing enough!

OP posts:
sparklepops123 · 02/07/2018 17:01

Oh yamadori, that must be fun!

yamadori · 03/07/2018 14:25

Nope!

SleightOfMind · 03/07/2018 20:27

Yamadori Sad
Although, in my first house, I had a tiny concreted postage stamp at the back which was transformed by plants in pots.

Those summer nights hefting watering cans from bath to garden we’re actually quite zen.

I’m soaking pots thoroughly every other day. Same with a couple of fruit trees that are new in this yr.

Trying to leave everything else as long as possible so they send their roots nice and deep. I’m on clay so I know there’s wet down there Wink

SleightOfMind · 03/07/2018 20:27

were

GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat · 03/07/2018 22:56

@yamadori how far away is your kitchen tap?

Could you try one of these:
Wilko

I've just bought a 30m coiled hose from Robert Dyas to go with my 15m hose. Not really watering much but like you my pots need it Smile

GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat · 03/07/2018 22:57

Just seen it's out of stock online. Maybe still around in stores or there are alternatives online.

Albertschair · 04/07/2018 09:33

Hanging basket gets 2 litres once a day. Flower bed gets once or twice a week. But new this year. New plants get daily watering. If I do water the flower bed i try to soak it thoroughly. Again clay so water is there, they just need to seek it. I water in evening around 7 pm. Not great for fungus but better water soaking through rather than sitting on top and evaporating.

Pots in front get once or twice a week. In back every day or every other day

ErrolTheDragon · 04/07/2018 10:43

I'm giving parts of the beds a good soak when the plants such as phlox start start to wilt.
Maybe twice a week. Pots mostly the same but the ones at the front get jugfuls daily (hose doesn't reach easily and lugging watering can round is a PITA)

I'm in the Northwest, temperatures have moderated a bit but still no rain in sight and there's desiccating wind.

Not sure what to do about my big back border which, in order to cope with normal conditions (wet clay) has a lot of moisture-loving plants. I'd no idea astilbe could go crispy... I think I should probably cut out the stuff which looks like it may not make it so that there's no5 so much competition for what water there is. Along similar lines, I'm wondering if I should prune back my rhododendrons, one in particular is looking very sick. I'm reluctant to because regrowth isn't fast but maybe better in the long run - does anyone have any idea if that makes sense?

yamadori · 04/07/2018 14:51

Thanks Gareth but we once tried one and it fouled the household piping up with bubbles. Our water pressure is low here in the summer (thanks to a gigantic tree nursery in a nearby village) so we think that's to blame.

GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat · 04/07/2018 15:49

Oh no, that's no good then!

SarfE4sticated · 06/07/2018 22:39

If you water at night, do the slugs/snails come out to dine?

We have a fox trying to burrow under our deck, and he dug up my beautiful Wisley thyme! I move it and dumped a heavy window box on the area. I have a feeling he will outwit me in the end. Any foolproof ways to deter London foxes?

GardenGeek · 07/07/2018 04:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ReadingRiot · 07/07/2018 05:15

I'm only doing pots every other day. This year I've used a mix of garden soil and homemade compost (to economise and because I had a surplus of both) and it's been a revelation.

Beds I'm only watering anything new. Everything else seems to cope.

deplorabelle · 07/07/2018 20:54

I've got the washing up bowl permanently under the kitchen tap and a bucket under the utility room tap. Whenever they are full I go and find something that looks thirsty to tip it on - mostly newly planted or moved plants.

Sweet peas in a pot in full sun get one or two soaks a day. The garden is quite well shaded so the lawn isn't completely brown but the flip side of the shade is water competition from the big trees so I can't completely leave the plants to fend for themselves

Pepper123123 · 07/07/2018 21:02

I had to fully submerge my potted plants in a bucket of water for a few hours yesterday.
I can't believe how quickly the soil dried out completely.

Learnt my lesson though, I water them first thing in the morning and in the evening now.

dudsville · 07/07/2018 21:05

We've been watering daily for a few weeks now. Lawn only gets a water about every 5 days. It's struggling but everything else is fine.

sparklepops123 · 07/07/2018 21:06

I didn't water anything this am thinkin last night soaking would be good enough,all drooping by 10 am!

MissMarplesKnitting · 07/07/2018 21:10

Pots/baskets every day, one day they get a pint or two each.

Day two I soak them, and the beds get a good drench too.

I mulched the beds earlier in the year with soil improver from the tip.

So far only the new plants this year started to droop but this method they're fine.

Lawn is brown and crispy but we are on heavy clay and illdoin be moaning it's like the Somme again. It needs ripping up, rotivating with loads of sand in there and re-turfing....one day!

mumsastudent · 07/07/2018 21:12

we have been emptying bath?shower water (leaving plug in) plants don't seem to mind shower gel or shampoo, its quite a lot of water so we can do it in the evening or morning - dh tops it up with a short water from main tap to top up. but grass is still dry

rslsys · 07/07/2018 21:31

5 water butts now empty. Still got 2000 litres in 2 x IBC containers behind the garage.

Pots once a day. Been watering newly established border daily until a week ago. Veg in raised beds every other day. Mowed the lawns once in the last 3 weeks.

Submersible pump in disused swimming pool may be needed some time in the next couple of weeks if no rain is forthcoming.

We're used to dry in Norfolk!

SarfE4sticated · 07/07/2018 23:19

I've just given up on the dustbowl-that-is-my-'lawn' and am only watering the actual plants with bath/shower water in the watering can. Only problem is that I just don't seem to be able to stop buying new plants. I wonder if I can sneak a late night hosing soon. Not technically banned in London so far, but I haven't used the hose since the ban in other areas. It just takes so long carting buckets around! Maybe one good soak would help not due to rain until 26th apparently!

NotAnEMERGENCY · 16/07/2018 10:29

Do I need to bother watering bulbs (in containers) that are dormant in summer?

I normally just leave them to it.

Ta1kinpeace · 16/07/2018 14:24

Lawn - not
Shrubs - only if they start to look sad
Pots - daily
Veg garden - daily

My water bill is going to be sky high but I love my veg garden.

Ta1kinpeace · 16/07/2018 14:26

rslsys
I've used up my 750 gallons of rainwater store that is used for the carnivorous and subtropicals. They are having to cope with tap now.

Fairyhill · 17/07/2018 01:35

I m leaving the grass to fend for its self - I m not mowing it ..
veggie -( raised beds ) daily - late evening -
But if anything still poking weak in the morning I m giving them a top up.
Potatoes and veggies in the ground / trying for every 2 days - but my garden gets sun from morning to night - it’s cracking the mud up badly in places.
Pots were twice daily - but I ve moved them all to more shaded area.

Can someone do a rain dance please !!!!