Watering in hot weather

patpari

how many times i need to water in this hot weather. i tend to water first thing in the morning and have average garden with lots of shrubs and roses. how long do i need to water to ensure that they are watered properly. Also if morning watering is missed what time is best to water in evening so slugs do not cause havoc in night.

thank you for all your help in advance

steephill

I only regularly water stuff in pots, the veg patch and the greenhouse. Established shrubs and roses will be fine with a good soak once a week during hot spells otherwise they get left alone.

Topbird

In the summer I water in the evening at about 6.30pm because

a) I am not an early riser and 

b) It gets so hot and dry here in the morning (we get quite a lot of pm shade from trees) that I think a lot of morning watering would just evaporate before the plants could really take advantage.

Watering early evening means less risk of evaporation and the plants get full benefit. I suppose it could increase problems with slugs - but that's life.

I only have a few pots - watered when they need it. I water new plantings deeply about every 4-7 days when it's hot like this (every 7 - 10 days if it's cooler).

Established shrubs and perennials are only watered if they are obviously distressed. I never water the lawn.

I occasionally use a sprinkler (for an hour) if a lot of perennials in one particular bed are flagging but try not to because it's an inefficient method of watering. Causes bloom damage and encourages fungal problems and slugs / snails. 

Chosen method is hosepipe with a good quality watering lance so all the water can be directed at the base of the plant away from foliage - slow count to 20 or 30 for each plant depending on size and type. A lance also allows longer reach into borders without standing on plants!

Fire

I water in the evening for similar reasons. I do a slug hunt once it's dark.

BobTheGardener

Same as all above. 

Dovefromabove

Ditto 

Chris-P-Bacon

If I have to I'll use a soaker hose on a timer during the night.

Hostafan1

I was out watering the terrace at 5am

Lyn

No shortage of rain down here, according to our forecast it’s going to rain every day next week.
I never water plants in the garden and baskets and tubs only at night.  Only ever use water from butts, got them everywhere. 

GravelEater

The evenings work best for me.  When the sun is off of the plants, it's still nice enough to go out and walk about.
I have watered some pots in the morning, but try to avoid putting water on the leaves as they could scorch in the sun when it comes up.

As the weather has been particularly dry and hot recently, I've had to put some pots into a larger pot and water/soak them.  So, I'd pour some water onto the plant roots, see a tiny bit start to run out of the bottom into the larger pot and then fill the larger pot up to above where the crockery is in the pot.  Sort of reverse pressure to keep water coming out of the plant pot.
This I've had to do in the morning, and leave all day.  I found a spot that would be shady all day for this kind of process.

Mostly watering is reserved for plants in containers.  Once per week or so, I'll water the stuff in the ground.  Maybe a little more frequently the stuff that was planted earlier this year.

I am not an experienced gardener.  Just taking advice from family/friends, applying  sensible logic and working by what is convenient.

Lena_vs_Deer

Chris-P-Bacon said:

If I have to I'll use a soaker hose on a timer during the night.

They are so good! Love them too.

We water starting 5-6 in the evening, but only if soil is dry to the touch inch deep . I have my evening walk around poking finger here and there rather than a slug hunt haha. More often I just water few spots that seem to need water instead of watering everywhere. Mainly it’s just new plants, old ones tend to not need additional water . 

I feel like on practice if your plants look like they need water then just water them at any time, as long as you don’t do it from the top on leaves