Everyone knows you need to water your edible garden for it to grow fast and healthy, but do you know the best way to do it without wasting water? There are several ways of doing that without harming your garden, not even a little bit.
Read below some tips for saving water on your edible garden you certainly should follow:
Water Your Garden Right
The first piece of advice is certainly an obligation for you to know. Indeed, the other tips won’t be as helpful if you don’t water your edible garden correctly. Using the right amount of water makes a huge difference.
If it’s not watered enough, your plants are likely to die from drought. But if overwatered, your garden easily drowns and consequently dies because the roots won’t be able to breathe properly.
The recommended watering routine for any garden is once or twice per week, preferably during the night period, when the plants have time enough to absorb water before the sunlight dries it out.
Of course, you also have to consider the type of plants, your area, and the weather when deciding when and how to water your garden, but the above tips work for the most common plants.
Keep The Soil Healthy
After organizing a watering schedule, the next thing to pay attention to is the soil, which needs to be healthy is next in order to keep the edibles growing the best they can. With that in mind, compost and organic matter are the essential elements you should add to make it healthy. The compost in compacted soil helps by increasing and improving the circulation of air, water, and nutrients to the plants.
Testing your soil once every couple of years is also a great move, to keep the soil pH and nutrients at the desired level. Also, don’t forget to avoid chemicals in your plants and edibles at all costs, and if you can, make sure to choose organic fertilizers.
Look After Your Garden
Continuing the previous topic, in order to keep your edible garden healthy, you should also keep attention to weeds and other threats to the vegetables, fruits, or herbs. These types of invasive plants usually create an undesired competition after nutrients, sunlight, water, and space, which can be really detrimental to your garden.
Prevent Evaporation
This topic, besides being a way of saving water, also becomes a protection for your edible garden. As you know, the more the water dries and evaporates, the more will be needed by the garden. In some places during the summer period, you can’t prevent water from evaporating too fast due to the heat. However, there are always a few ways to solve the issue
The most common and efficient way of doing it is mulching. Adding some leaves or compost to the plants can dramatically slow the water evaporation pace. And even though it seems only needed on hot days to prevent the water from drying too fast, mulching is also recommended in other seasons, since it also prevents weeds growth.
Choose The Right Plants and Edibles
Another big piece of advice to be water-wise is to know what to plant in an edible garden. There are some great edibles that could help you save some water. They don't need frequent watering and some of them also survive in shade areas, without sunlight, which is also beneficial.
Plants such as oregano, mint, chives, and thyme are some examples of perennial plants, pretty drought-resistant.
Buy Local Seeds
Some local seeds cultivated to be more drought-resistant are sold by some landscape companies and farmers. These seeds usually live well with low maintenance and are great at adapting themselves to varied areas and landscapes around the garden.
Make Use of Greywater or Recycled Water
And to finish, a really common and efficient way of saving water in your edible garden is reusing the water from your house. Waste water from non-toilet plumbing systems such as sinks, showers, and washing machines can be used for other tasks, like washing your driveway or patio, but mostly irrigating your plants.
There are types of plumbing systems, like laundry-to-landscape, in which the water from your devices can be piped out and propelled directly to your garden. It’s such a simple and popular greywater system, and certainly an efficient water wising move.
Do you need some help with your home’s landscaping and yard care? Contact a local company and request a free quote!
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