Gerdening novice....how often do I need to water bedding plants (petunias, etc)...??

[dairymoo]

I've just planted a load today in a sunny spot but noticed that the soil is quite dry in places - prob due to the lack of rain laterly. How often do I need to water them so as not to kill the lot and how luch water? Very novice, you see.....

Oh and I meant gArdening, sorry!!

I water mine every day - except the days it rains of course . If you can, it's best to do late in the day so the water doesn't evaporate in the sun and gets a chance to soak into the soil.

Great, I can manage that. Thanks

I'd add that you're aiming to water the soil not the leaves, and that at this stage you're better off giving them too much water than too little - you want the plants to develop a good deep root system so they're less susceptible to draught. The roots will grow where the water is, so you need to put enough water on the soil that it will penetrate down below the current root system.

Ultimately, keep as good an eye on them as you can and if they start to wilt during the day you may want to give them a drink to perk them up - just try to keep the water off the leaves as much as possible to prevent them getting scorched. If there's a very sunny, windy day forcast you might want to get out and water them early in the morning (before the sun's hot enough to scorch) as well as in the evening - that's probably overkill, though

That's really helpful, thanks.