Water might be the most overlooked factor in garden success. As temperatures soar and rainfall becomes scarce across the UK and Ireland, understanding proper watering techniques has never been more crucial for garden survival.
This episode tackles the surprisingly complex art of effective watering. While not the most glamorous gardening topic, it addresses the root cause of numerous garden problems listeners have been experiencing recently. From struggling roses to disease-prone hedges and undersized fruits, water stress weakens plants' natural defenses and opens the door to numerous secondary issues.
We dive into optimal watering timing (early morning wins, midday loses), proper techniques (target the root zone, not the foliage), and essential strategies for container plants (regular, consistent moisture prevents compost from drying out and shrinking). Discover why grouping containers creates beneficial microclimates and how mulching dramatically improves moisture retention during drought conditions.
The episode also explores how this year's abundant fruit set is being compromised by insufficient ground moisture, particularly for apples which require significant water to size properly. Learn why Portuguese laurel hedges are increasingly susceptible to fungal issues during drought stress, and why liquid seaweed extract is your secret weapon for rejuvenating stressed plants.
Whether you're facing hosepipe bans or simply want to maximize water efficiency, these practical watering insights will help your garden thrive through challenging conditions. Apply these techniques to keep your plants vigorous and resistant to pests and diseases through the remainder of summer and into autumn.
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Master My Garden Courses:
https://mastermygarden.com/courses/
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
Email: info@mastermygarden.com
Master My Garden Courses:
https://mastermygarden.com/courses/
Check out Master My Garden on the following channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mastermygarden/
Instagram @Mastermygarden https://www.instagram.com/mastermygarden/
Until next week
Happy gardening
John
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
How's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 289 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now, this week's episode, I canpretty much guarantee you
before we start it's not goingto be the most popular episode.
In fact, it's slightly boring,and the reason I know this is
because I've sort of covered itbefore.
It's the topic of watering inthe garden, but the reason I'm
(00:31):
covering it is that in the lastweek, I've got at least 10
messages from people just inrelation to having plants that
are struggling for variousreasons, and I'll get into that
in a minute.
It's not all to do withwatering, however.
Watering, or the lack of water,is potentially the root cause
(00:52):
of a lot of it and, as I said,this episode, or this episode
type, tends not to be overlypopular and, to be fair, is on
the boring side.
Having said that, it's hugelyimportant in terms of, you know,
in terms of keeping the gardenlooking good, keeping your
plants, your vegetables, yourfruits, your flowers all looking
(01:14):
good and reaching their maximumpotential over the, you know,
the latter half of August andinto September and October, and
I suppose you know the evidenceis there at the minute what
we've had is fantastic weather,you know, from the point of view
of getting outside, it's beenwarm, quite, you know, the last
(01:37):
week, particularly very, veryhumid blasts of sunshine and not
that much rain.
Where I am we've had, you know,a little blast of rain today,
but it really has been a heavyshower for like three or four
minutes, but nothing that'sgoing to water the ground.
With the temperatures being sowarm, it's literally evaporating
(02:00):
, you know, as it, as it lands,essentially there is quite heavy
night dews as well.
So there is, you know, there'sthat little bit of moisture, but
generally speaking things arevery, very dry.
And if you look across the ukfor a lot of the listeners over
there, you'll know that you havebeen in hosepipe bands for a
good number of weeks and months,depending on the area that
(02:23):
you're in.
And here in Ireland we now have,I think it's six or eight
counties or regions withincounties that have water
conservation bans, as they callthem here, as opposed to
hosepipe bans, but essentiallyit's the same thing.
That means you're not allowedto use the water for leisure
purposes, for washing your car,for watering your garden, for
(02:44):
filling, you know, swimmingpools at the back of your house,
and so on and so on.
It has to be purely for thepurpose of a functioning
household, essentially.
You know, sports pitches arenot allowed, that are on the
mains water system, are notallowed to irrigate and various
things like that and the youknow when you see that happening
(03:04):
it means we've had a very, verydry spell or a long period of
dry weather, and you know, I'mnot exactly sure of rainfall
levels, but they certainly havebeen low.
When the rain falls it's fallenvery, very heavy for short
periods of time but it'sdisappearing really, really
quickly and you're getting this,this runoff, but then in
general the ground is dry, likeif you look at any of your local
(03:26):
rivers and streams, you willfind that they're quite low.
Now I know there is certainareas that have got substantial
falls of rain over the last kindof week or two, but as a
general thing, across Irelandand the UK particularly, we are
seeing really really longperiods of dry weather and I
(03:48):
suppose that's what has sort ofled to these questions over the
last week.
They're none of themspecifically relate to watering
per se, but they're differentquestions or different pictures
that people are sending me, andthey're all of various plants
struggling, things like hedging,picking up diseases.
(04:10):
There was a picture of a lovelystandard rose which somebody
had, you know, purchased andplanted in the springtime, and
now it's just, it's reallyreally struggling and not
specifically related to, youknow, struggling with disease
basically, but it's off the backof being under stress and a
huge amount of plants, includingmore mature plants, are under
(04:34):
stress because of the lack ofmoisture that has generally been
in the ground for a long timenow, and I'm sure when this
episode goes out a week laterwe'll be talking about having
too much ram.
But as it stands today, this isthe, this is the cause of so
many people's issues.
I'm getting a lot of ofmessages around tomatoes,
(04:56):
particularly so bursting, and,you know, disease issues and
things like that.
So they're all somewhat relatedto watering, to the lack of
water, to inconsistent watering,to not correct watering and,
generally speaking, when itcomes to watering, people just
really and truly don't know whenthey should water, they don't
(05:19):
know how much to water, and youknow there's all those, there's
all those things.
How much do you give a plant,how much do you need to put in a
hanging basket and so on?
And the answer to that is isdifficult, and I suppose if
you're, if you're, gardening fora long time you won't use any.
(05:40):
You know set sort of formally.
You're not going to say I'mgoing to use x amount of liters
of water on a plant.
You, generally speaking, willknow by a look or by a glance
that a plant is under pressureor is starting to come under
stress.
Now I don't mean, you see it,when it's gone crispy and it's
(06:00):
completely burnt, that's way toolate.
But when you get, you know,sort of used to this, you will
notice when a plant is goingfrom the point of being very,
very comfortable to slightlycoming under stress and at that
point you'll know to water.
And you'll know to water quitewell.
But I suppose, as best I can,all I'm going to do is sort of
(06:24):
give you the, the general pointsand tips.
Um, huge temperatures ingreenhouses, and that's a big
factor as well in terms of whatwe're seeing in diseases.
There's a good bit of diseasein certain things like tomatoes.
At the moment.
We're seeing temperatures kindof 35 degrees in greenhouses
(06:50):
consistently over the last fewweeks, and that's you know, it's
generally something that we'renot overly used to.
Nighttime temperatures areremaining quite high then as
well, so the plants areconstantly in that warmth.
And then couple that with,maybe, a lack of ventilation in
the greenhouse and then you'regetting this.
You're getting these fungaldiseases building up.
(07:10):
So you know you can.
It's understandable, but thestress on the plant originally
is is the cause of a lot of it.
So we'll go through, as I say,potentially the most boring
podcast episode that I'vecovered, but I think, one that
might be useful for people justthe same and we'll look at how
to water and you know when youshould water as best as possible
(07:33):
.
Now there is the, you know theobvious one, and I see loads of
people online at the momentsaying that you should water at
night time and early morning,and that's obviously to avoid
scorch.
So if you spray your plantswith with water, you get water
splashes on the leaves, and youdo that during intense sunshine.
(07:53):
That intense sun sort of actsas if you know when it hits the,
the water on the, on the leaf,it acts like a magnifying glass
and it causes leaf scorch, andthat's the reason, one of the
reasons why you don't do it infull sun in the middle of the
day.
The other, the other mainreason, is that you're getting a
lot of evaporation at that timeof the day.
(08:14):
So if you water, a bigpercentage of that won't get
into the plant.
It'll be evaporated up and theplant will get little to no
benefit on it at that stage.
So I would say the best time inmy opinion for for watering is
early morning, and especiallywhen we're talking about things
(08:36):
like tomatoes or like flowers oranything like that, because
when you do that then thetemperatures rise, the sunshine
comes out and it dries off thoseleaves very, very quickly.
If you do that same thing atnight time, while it's warm and
we're getting some bit of abreeze, but at night time if you
(08:56):
water, you can get leaves thatare sitting damp for 12 hours
overnight until they burn offthe next morning and that can
cause sort of fungal diseases or, I suppose, create conditions
that helps fungal diseases getestablished.
So morning time for me is thebest time, evening time is the
(09:19):
second best, and stay away frommidday sun when possible.
Don't water the leaves at all.
You know whether we're talkingabout a hanging basket or a pot
or a container at the door, orwhether you're talking about a
hedge or a tomato plant in yourtunnel, or flowers or perennials
or whatever it is, roses,anything like that the best
thing to do is to water theground, to water the root zone,
(09:43):
as opposed to watering theleaves.
You don't want to water theleaves, hardly at all.
So the idea there is that it'sgoing to.
You're keeping the leaves dry,it's going to get into the area
where it's required.
It's hopefully going to soak inand get into the plant really
really quickly that way.
So root, root or groundwatering is what you're looking
(10:06):
to do.
Same in a hanging basket it canbe quite difficult, you know,
to do that.
So you'd see a lot of people.
They'll just spray the hangingbasket.
A lot of that is going to runoff.
It's going to just the canopyof leaves and flowers is just
going to turn the water away andyou'll get very, very little
into that root, you know, intothat root zone of a hanging
basket or a planter.
Looking to do is, even if youhave to move a couple of plants
(10:28):
out of the way, just get yourhose, your watering can or
whatever it is, whatever methodit is that you're using the
water and make sure you'regetting it in onto that root
zone.
Particularly on things that aregrown in containers, you're
better off to water regularly.
So, even small and often, andthat means that the the compost
or growing media that you'reusing, never dries out, because
(10:49):
if it dries out it shrinks andthen when you go to water the
next time as many of you willhave seen it'll just run
straight through the planter,straight through the hanging
basket, and it's very, verydifficult.
At that stage the compost isalmost impossible to actually
wet back up again and all you'llend up doing then is pouring
water.
It'll run through, the plantwill get a little drink out of
(11:11):
it, but not a lot, andeventually you'll see that the
plants are just under stress allthe time and the flower or
whatever, will diminish very,very, very quickly.
So when you're in containers,it's little and often as much as
possible if you can group yourpots together, because they will
shade one, shade one another,number one, so you'll get less
(11:32):
heat on the side of you know,coming through the sides of the
pots.
And when they're groupedtogether they're much, much
easier and much more efficientto water as well, because if
you're trying to water them onehere, one there they're going to
be getting full sun the wholeway around.
The pots themselves are goingto heat up a little bit more and
they're going to transpire agood bit more.
So by grouping them togetherthey'll keep one other slightly
(11:55):
colder.
They'll be a little bit moreshady there, and then you water
into the pots as best you can.
Obviously, if you're incontainers pots particularly
again or troughs or window boxes, as much as possible try and
use a tray so that the waterthat is going in is not just
flowing away on the ground.
You're actually holding itthere and over time then it'll
(12:16):
go back up, it'll wick upthrough the compost or, if the
roots are established enough,the roots will be able to drink
from the bottom of the pot andsoak that water back up.
The idea is to keep as muchpossible water in those as
possible, but enough.
Then if you, as I say, allow itdry out, then it'll be very,
very difficult to water again.
So that's the you know thosecouple of things.
(12:39):
And mulching as well, mulchingin general.
We've said this before.
Obviously you know time of theyear.
The best time of the year to doyour mulching is the winter
time, but at the moment, if you,if you're looking to keep beds
looking vibrant and you'reneeding to water, especially
newly planted stuff, then bywatering and mulching the ground
(13:01):
and mulching the ground can bewith anything, anything that
covers down that you know thatroot zone is going to be good.
So whether that's bark mulch,whether that's good quality
quality compost you knowmushroom compost, even fresh
grass clippings in a small layeron top of the ground, they will
keep the ground slightly cooler, they will reduce the amount of
(13:23):
evaporation that you'll getaround the plant.
So after you water, cover himwith a little layer of mulch and
that will help with that, withthe retention of the water there
, and that's that's hugelybeneficial.
It's been most beneficial to doit in the winter time, but at
the moment, even if you'rewatering and you're needing to
water, then that's going to bemassively important.
(13:44):
I've seen reports of quite a lotof more mature and established
trees and shrubs that arestarting to struggle and some
are even dying in the ground,and you know that's because of
in certain areas there hasn'tbeen rain in a really, really
long time.
As I say here, we've had littlebits of spells of rain here and
(14:04):
there and that's probablymeaning that you know there's
enough moisture in the ground.
It's certainly struggling, butI know in certain areas talking
to people down in parts ofWaterford recently and they
haven't seen any meaningful rainin two to three months and
obviously couple that with hightemperatures, with that really
warm week in July we have thesesort of last kind of week or two
(14:27):
where it's been really warm anddry and the wind and you can
imagine how dry the ground isand that that's meaning that you
know, even established shrubsand and trees are struggling.
Another thing that has come inquite a bit recently is have
like it has been a fantasticyear, or it is a fantastic year
to date, for fruit, and a hugeamount of fruit trees around the
(14:51):
country are teeming,particularly with apples and
plums and so on, and ones thathave got the chance to mature
are doing really good.
But say, for example, if youhave an apple tree and it's a
slightly later harvesting oneyou might have like, for example
, I have an apple tree at themoment, a small apple tree.
It's only planted three yearsnow.
(15:12):
There's a lot of fruit on itbut because the ground is so dry
they really are struggling tobulk out, because fruit trees
they need a lot of water in theground to actually fill out
those fruits over the nextcouple of months, over the next
couple of months.
So I think I'm going to have to.
There's some of them not ready,but if it stays, continues to
(15:33):
be dry, I'm going to have totake off some of that fruit to
allow the ones that are leftthere to fully mature, because
the moisture is just not goingto be there to fill them all out
.
And you're seeing that a lot.
You're seeing a lot of redapples on trees but a lot of
small ones.
Plumsums, you know, luckilyenough, mostly they'll mature
(15:55):
earlier and they require, youknow there's a lot of monos.
They require a little bit lesswater to fill out the individual
fruits.
So you know you get away withthem a little bit more.
But apples particularly, you'reseeing a lot of small apples at
the moment that are just notfilling out, and that's.
You know that's a consequenceof there not being enough
moisture in the ground.
New plantings of hedges aredefinitely going to be
(16:18):
struggling for water.
They ideally you've mentionedit before you need to keep water
on them the whole time.
So you're better off to have anautomatic or a porous pipe or
something like that that allowsthat moisture to continue to be
given to the plants.
Um, fungal disease I mentionedearlier on, there seems to be a
lot of fungal disease build upat the moment, particularly on
(16:42):
roses, on hedges, portugueselaurel, and that's something
we'll need to come back to.
You know we start talking abouthedging again in the autumn
time.
I've mentioned before, hedgescome and go, different periods
of time and different fashions,and Portuguese laurel is one
that was vastly popular, washugely popular over the last
(17:04):
eight to 10 years, and rightlyso.
In terms of its look, it's abeautiful hedge and you know,
for those first few times, firstfew years, almost no disease
issues.
But certainly over the last 18to 24 months we're seeing a huge
amount of mildew issues, hugeamount of shot hole issues on
Portuguese laurel and they'recoming to the fore now,
(17:28):
especially on hedges that arestruggling a little bit with,
you know, with the lack of waterthat has been there.
So you know, we've said beforenumerous times, a healthy plant,
a vigorous plant, a strongplant, is able to withstand all
of these, you know, fungaldiseases and attacks from pests
and so on, and that's generallyspeaking the case, pests and so
(17:49):
on, and that's generallyspeaking the case.
You know, the stronger the base, the less opportunity there is
for anything to cause problems.
However, with this long periodof dry time, we're finding that
a lot of these plants are understress generally, and then these
stresses are allowing thefungal infections and so on to
catch hold, catch hold.
And again just recently I'veheard of a couple of, you know,
(18:13):
fairly substantial growers ofhedging and their decision now
is to not grow portuguese laurelanymore.
So, interestingly enough,interestingly enough, I have one
.
It is struggling with a littlebit of mildew on it.
I used some microbes on itearly in the year and it did a
(18:34):
fantastic job For two or threemonths.
It looked absolutelyspectacular.
It is reverting a little bitnow and there is a little bit of
mildew on it again.
So it's something that I'mgoing to have to keep on top of.
And you know, that's the thingwith hedges you don't really
want to be doing anything withthem.
You have to cut them once ayear.
(18:54):
Typically speaking.
You don't want to be doing awhole lot else other than that
with them.
So yeah, portuguese laurelthere is just starting to cause
a few issues.
The other thing to watch out forin terms of watering if you
have any plant that for anyreason gets stressed but for
lack of water, whether that's,you know, hanging baskets, roses
(19:17):
, vegetables, whatever it is.
If they've got a little bit dryand they are slightly stressed
off the back of that, probablythe best thing to bring them
back and to bring back a littlebit of vigor to them is seaweed,
and I've spoke about it beforeon the podcast.
It really is fantastic.
So if you can get a liquidseaweed and give that a feed two
or three times a week withliquid seaweed, give it two or
(19:39):
three weeks and you will seehuge improvements in that plant,
whatever it is so really does.
When, when a plant has beenunder stress, seaweed is really
brilliant to bring them back,you know, to bring them back
into vigour again.
So if you have anything thathas struggled, that's what you
need to reach for.
On top of that, then you needto keep mulching, as I said,
(20:04):
group pots together where youget the opportunity, so that
you're not wasting the water asmuch as possible.
Water the base, mulch down ontop of that then so that you're
not getting the evaporation andreally, really that's about it.
You know, there's, there's, um,there's not much else you can do
where, generally speaking, hereit's.
It's the weather has been dry,but there is enough moisture in
(20:28):
the ground.
Very few flowers are struggling, a little bit of veg, all right
, and maybe the apples.
As I said, they might prefer alittle bit more moisture and but
generally speaking, it has beena really, really brilliant year
for flower, for for veg andthings like that, in this area
particularly.
But I do know that, as I say,certain areas they've had
(20:50):
probably a drive for a really,really long time now and they're
struggling.
And I know in know that, as Isay, certain areas they've had
probably a drive for a reallyreally long time now and they're
struggling.
And I know in the uk, as I say,you're talking about hose pipe
bans ongoing now for up to threemonths in some places.
So you know it definitely is achallenge of a different nature
and you know, listening back, ifyou listen back to last year,
we were talking about wet, we'retalking about lack of sun and
(21:12):
you know, here we are 12 monthslater and it's it's a different
thing.
So there's always, always achallenge and, as I said, this
is definitely going to be one ofthe most boring episodes that
that we're likely to to have onthe podcast.
But at least at least 10 peoplegot in touch this week with
various problems and I would saythe majority of them are
stemming from, you know, a waterstress issue originally.
(21:37):
So whether that was you knowthe person that sent me the the
pictures of the standard rowsunder pressure to the fruit
trees, they're all stemming fromthe fact that plants are
generally under pressure at themoment and because they're under
pressure again, as we, a strongbase, can withstand all these
things, but when they're understress they're a lot more open
(21:57):
and susceptible to any of thesethings.
So hopefully those tips willhelp people as best you can,
stay on top of your watering.
Mulch down, make it as easy foryourself as possible, get to
know when something looks likeit needs a drop of water.
You know.
Mulch down, make it as easy foryourself as possible.
Get to know when somethinglooks like it needs a drop of
water.
(22:17):
You know.
Obviously pots are going toneed it all the time, maybe
twice a day even in some cases.
But in the open ground, if yousee something that you think is
looking a little bit tired, thenit likely isn't in need of a
little bit of water.
So where you can, obviouslywith horse pipe bands, but where
you can get your water and getout and get watering and
anything that has got a littlebit of stress.
Then just boost it up with abit of seaweed liquid seaweed as
(22:40):
well.
Last week's episode it wasrecorded a good while ago, but
really super episode with JoshTickell.
Those documentaries for anyonethat hasn't watched them are
fantastic and really worthchecking out.
Last week's episode I reallyenjoyed it myself just even
listening to it.
(23:00):
There's so much in it, thedocumentaries, I love them
anyway.
So to have Josh on was reallygood.
Some really good guestinterviews coming up over the
next couple of weeks as well.
But for this week's episodethat's it.
The slightly boring topic ofwatering, but hopefully some of
you have got something out ofthis and you know it helps your
(23:21):
plants to look good for the nextcouple of months, to bring your
veg and your fruit to reach itsmax potential.
And you know, as I I say, aboring topic but a quite
important one at the same time.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
thank you.
How's it going, everybody, and welcome to
episode 289 of Master my Gardenpodcast.
Now, this week's episode, I canpretty much guarantee you
before we start it's not goingto be the most popular episode.
In fact, it's slightly boring,and the reason I know this is
because I've sort of covered itbefore.
It's the topic of watering inthe garden, but the reason I'm
(00:31):
covering it is that in the lastweek, I've got at least 10
messages from people just inrelation to having plants that
are struggling for variousreasons, and I'll get into that
in a minute.
It's not all to do withwatering, however.
Watering, or the lack of water,is potentially the root cause
(00:52):
of a lot of it and, as I said,this episode, or this episode
type, tends not to be overlypopular and, to be fair, is on
the boring side.
Having said that, it's hugelyimportant in terms of, you know,
in terms of keeping the gardenlooking good, keeping your
plants, your vegetables, yourfruits, your flowers all looking
(01:14):
good and reaching their maximumpotential over the, you know,
the latter half of August andinto September and October, and
I suppose you know the evidenceis there at the minute what
we've had is fantastic weather,you know, from the point of view
of getting outside, it's beenwarm, quite, you know, the last
(01:37):
week, particularly very, veryhumid blasts of sunshine and not
that much rain.
Where I am we've had, you know,a little blast of rain today,
but it really has been a heavyshower for like three or four
minutes, but nothing that'sgoing to water the ground.
With the temperatures being sowarm, it's literally evaporating
(02:00):
, you know, as it, as it lands,essentially there is quite heavy
night dews as well.
So there is, you know, there'sthat little bit of moisture, but
generally speaking things arevery, very dry.
And if you look across the ukfor a lot of the listeners over
there, you'll know that you havebeen in hosepipe bands for a
good number of weeks and months,depending on the area that
(02:23):
you're in.
And here in Ireland we now have,I think it's six or eight
counties or regions withincounties that have water
conservation bans, as they callthem here, as opposed to
hosepipe bans, but essentiallyit's the same thing.
That means you're not allowedto use the water for leisure
purposes, for washing your car,for watering your garden, for
(02:44):
filling, you know, swimmingpools at the back of your house,
and so on and so on.
It has to be purely for thepurpose of a functioning
household, essentially.
You know, sports pitches arenot allowed, that are on the
mains water system, are notallowed to irrigate and various
things like that and the youknow when you see that happening
(03:04):
it means we've had a very, verydry spell or a long period of
dry weather, and you know, I'mnot exactly sure of rainfall
levels, but they certainly havebeen low.
When the rain falls it's fallenvery, very heavy for short
periods of time but it'sdisappearing really, really
quickly and you're getting this,this runoff, but then in
general the ground is dry, likeif you look at any of your local
(03:26):
rivers and streams, you willfind that they're quite low.
Now I know there is certainareas that have got substantial
falls of rain over the last kindof week or two, but as a
general thing, across Irelandand the UK particularly, we are
seeing really really longperiods of dry weather and I
(03:48):
suppose that's what has sort ofled to these questions over the
last week.
They're none of themspecifically relate to watering
per se, but they're differentquestions or different pictures
that people are sending me, andthey're all of various plants
struggling, things like hedging,picking up diseases.
(04:10):
There was a picture of a lovelystandard rose which somebody
had, you know, purchased andplanted in the springtime, and
now it's just, it's reallyreally struggling and not
specifically related to, youknow, struggling with disease
basically, but it's off the backof being under stress and a
huge amount of plants, includingmore mature plants, are under
(04:34):
stress because of the lack ofmoisture that has generally been
in the ground for a long timenow, and I'm sure when this
episode goes out a week laterwe'll be talking about having
too much ram.
But as it stands today, this isthe, this is the cause of so
many people's issues.
I'm getting a lot of ofmessages around tomatoes,
(04:56):
particularly so bursting, and,you know, disease issues and
things like that.
So they're all somewhat relatedto watering, to the lack of
water, to inconsistent watering,to not correct watering and,
generally speaking, when itcomes to watering, people just
really and truly don't know whenthey should water, they don't
(05:19):
know how much to water, and youknow there's all those, there's
all those things.
How much do you give a plant,how much do you need to put in a
hanging basket and so on?
And the answer to that is isdifficult, and I suppose if
you're, if you're, gardening fora long time you won't use any.
(05:40):
You know set sort of formally.
You're not going to say I'mgoing to use x amount of liters
of water on a plant.
You, generally speaking, willknow by a look or by a glance
that a plant is under pressureor is starting to come under
stress.
Now I don't mean, you see it,when it's gone crispy and it's
(06:00):
completely burnt, that's way toolate.
But when you get, you know,sort of used to this, you will
notice when a plant is goingfrom the point of being very,
very comfortable to slightlycoming under stress and at that
point you'll know to water.
And you'll know to water quitewell.
But I suppose, as best I can,all I'm going to do is sort of
(06:24):
give you the, the general pointsand tips.
Um, huge temperatures ingreenhouses, and that's a big
factor as well in terms of whatwe're seeing in diseases.
There's a good bit of diseasein certain things like tomatoes.
At the moment.
We're seeing temperatures kindof 35 degrees in greenhouses
(06:50):
consistently over the last fewweeks, and that's you know, it's
generally something that we'renot overly used to.
Nighttime temperatures areremaining quite high then as
well, so the plants areconstantly in that warmth.
And then couple that with,maybe, a lack of ventilation in
the greenhouse and then you'regetting this.
You're getting these fungaldiseases building up.
(07:10):
So you know you can.
It's understandable, but thestress on the plant originally
is is the cause of a lot of it.
So we'll go through, as I say,potentially the most boring
podcast episode that I'vecovered, but I think, one that
might be useful for people justthe same and we'll look at how
to water and you know when youshould water as best as possible
(07:33):
.
Now there is the, you know theobvious one, and I see loads of
people online at the momentsaying that you should water at
night time and early morning,and that's obviously to avoid
scorch.
So if you spray your plantswith with water, you get water
splashes on the leaves, and youdo that during intense sunshine.
(07:53):
That intense sun sort of actsas if you know when it hits the,
the water on the, on the leaf,it acts like a magnifying glass
and it causes leaf scorch, andthat's the reason, one of the
reasons why you don't do it infull sun in the middle of the
day.
The other, the other mainreason, is that you're getting a
lot of evaporation at that timeof the day.
(08:14):
So if you water, a bigpercentage of that won't get
into the plant.
It'll be evaporated up and theplant will get little to no
benefit on it at that stage.
So I would say the best time inmy opinion for for watering is
early morning, and especiallywhen we're talking about things
(08:36):
like tomatoes or like flowers oranything like that, because
when you do that then thetemperatures rise, the sunshine
comes out and it dries off thoseleaves very, very quickly.
If you do that same thing atnight time, while it's warm and
we're getting some bit of abreeze, but at night time if you
(08:56):
water, you can get leaves thatare sitting damp for 12 hours
overnight until they burn offthe next morning and that can
cause sort of fungal diseases or, I suppose, create conditions
that helps fungal diseases getestablished.
So morning time for me is thebest time, evening time is the
(09:19):
second best, and stay away frommidday sun when possible.
Don't water the leaves at all.
You know whether we're talkingabout a hanging basket or a pot
or a container at the door, orwhether you're talking about a
hedge or a tomato plant in yourtunnel, or flowers or perennials
or whatever it is, roses,anything like that the best
thing to do is to water theground, to water the root zone,
(09:43):
as opposed to watering theleaves.
You don't want to water theleaves, hardly at all.
So the idea there is that it'sgoing to.
You're keeping the leaves dry,it's going to get into the area
where it's required.
It's hopefully going to soak inand get into the plant really
really quickly that way.
So root, root or groundwatering is what you're looking
(10:06):
to do.
Same in a hanging basket it canbe quite difficult, you know,
to do that.
So you'd see a lot of people.
They'll just spray the hangingbasket.
A lot of that is going to runoff.
It's going to just the canopyof leaves and flowers is just
going to turn the water away andyou'll get very, very little
into that root, you know, intothat root zone of a hanging
basket or a planter.
Looking to do is, even if youhave to move a couple of plants
(10:28):
out of the way, just get yourhose, your watering can or
whatever it is, whatever methodit is that you're using the
water and make sure you'regetting it in onto that root
zone.
Particularly on things that aregrown in containers, you're
better off to water regularly.
So, even small and often, andthat means that the the compost
or growing media that you'reusing, never dries out, because
(10:49):
if it dries out it shrinks andthen when you go to water the
next time as many of you willhave seen it'll just run
straight through the planter,straight through the hanging
basket, and it's very, verydifficult.
At that stage the compost isalmost impossible to actually
wet back up again and all you'llend up doing then is pouring
water.
It'll run through, the plantwill get a little drink out of
(11:11):
it, but not a lot, andeventually you'll see that the
plants are just under stress allthe time and the flower or
whatever, will diminish very,very, very quickly.
So when you're in containers,it's little and often as much as
possible if you can group yourpots together, because they will
shade one, shade one another,number one, so you'll get less
(11:32):
heat on the side of you know,coming through the sides of the
pots.
And when they're groupedtogether they're much, much
easier and much more efficientto water as well, because if
you're trying to water them onehere, one there they're going to
be getting full sun the wholeway around.
The pots themselves are goingto heat up a little bit more and
they're going to transpire agood bit more.
So by grouping them togetherthey'll keep one other slightly
(11:55):
colder.
They'll be a little bit moreshady there, and then you water
into the pots as best you can.
Obviously, if you're incontainers pots particularly
again or troughs or window boxes, as much as possible try and
use a tray so that the waterthat is going in is not just
flowing away on the ground.
You're actually holding itthere and over time then it'll
(12:16):
go back up, it'll wick upthrough the compost or, if the
roots are established enough,the roots will be able to drink
from the bottom of the pot andsoak that water back up.
The idea is to keep as muchpossible water in those as
possible, but enough.
Then if you, as I say, allow itdry out, then it'll be very,
very difficult to water again.
So that's the you know thosecouple of things.
(12:39):
And mulching as well, mulchingin general.
We've said this before.
Obviously you know time of theyear.
The best time of the year to doyour mulching is the winter
time, but at the moment, if you,if you're looking to keep beds
looking vibrant and you'reneeding to water, especially
newly planted stuff, then bywatering and mulching the ground
(13:01):
and mulching the ground can bewith anything, anything that
covers down that you know thatroot zone is going to be good.
So whether that's bark mulch,whether that's good quality
quality compost you knowmushroom compost, even fresh
grass clippings in a small layeron top of the ground, they will
keep the ground slightly cooler, they will reduce the amount of
(13:23):
evaporation that you'll getaround the plant.
So after you water, cover himwith a little layer of mulch and
that will help with that, withthe retention of the water there
, and that's that's hugelybeneficial.
It's been most beneficial to doit in the winter time, but at
the moment, even if you'rewatering and you're needing to
water, then that's going to bemassively important.
(13:44):
I've seen reports of quite a lotof more mature and established
trees and shrubs that arestarting to struggle and some
are even dying in the ground,and you know that's because of
in certain areas there hasn'tbeen rain in a really, really
long time.
As I say here, we've had littlebits of spells of rain here and
(14:04):
there and that's probablymeaning that you know there's
enough moisture in the ground.
It's certainly struggling, butI know in certain areas talking
to people down in parts ofWaterford recently and they
haven't seen any meaningful rainin two to three months and
obviously couple that with hightemperatures, with that really
warm week in July we have thesesort of last kind of week or two
(14:27):
where it's been really warm anddry and the wind and you can
imagine how dry the ground isand that that's meaning that you
know, even established shrubsand and trees are struggling.
Another thing that has come inquite a bit recently is have
like it has been a fantasticyear, or it is a fantastic year
to date, for fruit, and a hugeamount of fruit trees around the
(14:51):
country are teeming,particularly with apples and
plums and so on, and ones thathave got the chance to mature
are doing really good.
But say, for example, if youhave an apple tree and it's a
slightly later harvesting oneyou might have like, for example
, I have an apple tree at themoment, a small apple tree.
It's only planted three yearsnow.
(15:12):
There's a lot of fruit on itbut because the ground is so dry
they really are struggling tobulk out, because fruit trees
they need a lot of water in theground to actually fill out
those fruits over the nextcouple of months, over the next
couple of months.
So I think I'm going to have to.
There's some of them not ready,but if it stays, continues to
(15:33):
be dry, I'm going to have totake off some of that fruit to
allow the ones that are leftthere to fully mature, because
the moisture is just not goingto be there to fill them all out
.
And you're seeing that a lot.
You're seeing a lot of redapples on trees but a lot of
small ones.
Plumsums, you know, luckilyenough, mostly they'll mature
(15:55):
earlier and they require, youknow there's a lot of monos.
They require a little bit lesswater to fill out the individual
fruits.
So you know you get away withthem a little bit more.
But apples particularly, you'reseeing a lot of small apples at
the moment that are just notfilling out, and that's.
You know that's a consequenceof there not being enough
moisture in the ground.
New plantings of hedges aredefinitely going to be
(16:18):
struggling for water.
They ideally you've mentionedit before you need to keep water
on them the whole time.
So you're better off to have anautomatic or a porous pipe or
something like that that allowsthat moisture to continue to be
given to the plants.
Um, fungal disease I mentionedearlier on, there seems to be a
lot of fungal disease build upat the moment, particularly on
(16:42):
roses, on hedges, portugueselaurel, and that's something
we'll need to come back to.
You know we start talking abouthedging again in the autumn
time.
I've mentioned before, hedgescome and go, different periods
of time and different fashions,and Portuguese laurel is one
that was vastly popular, washugely popular over the last
(17:04):
eight to 10 years, and rightlyso.
In terms of its look, it's abeautiful hedge and you know,
for those first few times, firstfew years, almost no disease
issues.
But certainly over the last 18to 24 months we're seeing a huge
amount of mildew issues, hugeamount of shot hole issues on
Portuguese laurel and they'recoming to the fore now,
(17:28):
especially on hedges that arestruggling a little bit with,
you know, with the lack of waterthat has been there.
So you know, we've said beforenumerous times, a healthy plant,
a vigorous plant, a strongplant, is able to withstand all
of these, you know, fungaldiseases and attacks from pests
and so on, and that's generallyspeaking the case, pests and so
(17:49):
on, and that's generallyspeaking the case.
You know, the stronger the base, the less opportunity there is
for anything to cause problems.
However, with this long periodof dry time, we're finding that
a lot of these plants are understress generally, and then these
stresses are allowing thefungal infections and so on to
catch hold, catch hold.
And again just recently I'veheard of a couple of, you know,
(18:13):
fairly substantial growers ofhedging and their decision now
is to not grow portuguese laurelanymore.
So, interestingly enough,interestingly enough, I have one
.
It is struggling with a littlebit of mildew on it.
I used some microbes on itearly in the year and it did a
(18:34):
fantastic job For two or threemonths.
It looked absolutelyspectacular.
It is reverting a little bitnow and there is a little bit of
mildew on it again.
So it's something that I'mgoing to have to keep on top of.
And you know, that's the thingwith hedges you don't really
want to be doing anything withthem.
You have to cut them once ayear.
(18:54):
Typically speaking.
You don't want to be doing awhole lot else other than that
with them.
So yeah, portuguese laurelthere is just starting to cause
a few issues.
The other thing to watch out forin terms of watering if you
have any plant that for anyreason gets stressed but for
lack of water, whether that's,you know, hanging baskets, roses
(19:17):
, vegetables, whatever it is.
If they've got a little bit dryand they are slightly stressed
off the back of that, probablythe best thing to bring them
back and to bring back a littlebit of vigor to them is seaweed,
and I've spoke about it beforeon the podcast.
It really is fantastic.
So if you can get a liquidseaweed and give that a feed two
or three times a week withliquid seaweed, give it two or
(19:39):
three weeks and you will seehuge improvements in that plant,
whatever it is so really does.
When, when a plant has beenunder stress, seaweed is really
brilliant to bring them back,you know, to bring them back
into vigour again.
So if you have anything thathas struggled, that's what you
need to reach for.
On top of that, then you needto keep mulching, as I said,
(20:04):
group pots together where youget the opportunity, so that
you're not wasting the water asmuch as possible.
Water the base, mulch down ontop of that then so that you're
not getting the evaporation andreally, really that's about it.
You know, there's, there's, um,there's not much else you can do
where, generally speaking, hereit's.
It's the weather has been dry,but there is enough moisture in
(20:28):
the ground.
Very few flowers are struggling, a little bit of veg, all right
, and maybe the apples.
As I said, they might prefer alittle bit more moisture and but
generally speaking, it has beena really, really brilliant year
for flower, for for veg andthings like that, in this area
particularly.
But I do know that, as I say,certain areas they've had
(20:50):
probably a drive for a really,really long time now and they're
struggling.
And I know in know that, as Isay, certain areas they've had
probably a drive for a reallyreally long time now and they're
struggling.
And I know in the uk, as I say,you're talking about hose pipe
bans ongoing now for up to threemonths in some places.
So you know it definitely is achallenge of a different nature
and you know, listening back, ifyou listen back to last year,
we were talking about wet, we'retalking about lack of sun and
(21:12):
you know, here we are 12 monthslater and it's it's a different
thing.
So there's always, always achallenge and, as I said, this
is definitely going to be one ofthe most boring episodes that
that we're likely to to have onthe podcast.
But at least at least 10 peoplegot in touch this week with
various problems and I would saythe majority of them are
stemming from, you know, a waterstress issue originally.
(21:37):
So whether that was you knowthe person that sent me the the
pictures of the standard rowsunder pressure to the fruit
trees, they're all stemming fromthe fact that plants are
generally under pressure at themoment and because they're under
pressure again, as we, a strongbase, can withstand all these
things, but when they're understress they're a lot more open
(21:57):
and susceptible to any of thesethings.
So hopefully those tips willhelp people as best you can,
stay on top of your watering.
Mulch down, make it as easy foryourself as possible, get to
know when something looks likeit needs a drop of water.
You know.
Mulch down, make it as easy foryourself as possible.
Get to know when somethinglooks like it needs a drop of
water.
(22:17):
You know.
Obviously pots are going toneed it all the time, maybe
twice a day even in some cases.
But in the open ground, if yousee something that you think is
looking a little bit tired, thenit likely isn't in need of a
little bit of water.
So where you can, obviouslywith horse pipe bands, but where
you can get your water and getout and get watering and
anything that has got a littlebit of stress.
Then just boost it up with abit of seaweed liquid seaweed as
(22:40):
well.
Last week's episode it wasrecorded a good while ago, but
really super episode with JoshTickell.
Those documentaries for anyonethat hasn't watched them are
fantastic and really worthchecking out.
Last week's episode I reallyenjoyed it myself just even
listening to it.
(23:00):
There's so much in it, thedocumentaries, I love them
anyway.
So to have Josh on was reallygood.
Some really good guestinterviews coming up over the
next couple of weeks as well.
But for this week's episodethat's it.
The slightly boring topic ofwatering, but hopefully some of
you have got something out ofthis and you know it helps your
(23:21):
plants to look good for the nextcouple of months, to bring your
veg and your fruit to reach itsmax potential.
And you know, as I I say, aboring topic but a quite
important one at the same time.
So that's been this week'sepisode.
Thanks for listening and untilthe next time, happy gardening,
thank you.
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