Allotments 4 All

I have noticed some threads on here asking why their plants are dying or crops not producing like they should. Most of these problems are a lack of water.

Here is my take on the situation, could be right, could be wrong, but it works for me.

Plants will send their roots down looking for water, if you keep watering they have no need to and just spead under the surface, a really hot day and the few drops you have given them drys up and the plant suffers either by drying up or not producing. Look how far a dock goes down, they don't wither in the heat.

I puddle everything in when planting, then depending on the weather just water for the settling in period, I sometimes watch the weather for rain and get out and plant seedlings letting the rain settle them in. They are then left to their own devices and sometimes one or two will need a bit of help but the rest get on doing what a plant does, searches for moisture.

Our local sweet pea champion only ever puddles in, he has no water where he grows, but wins everything in sight.

Free draining soil is lovely to work but you do need to put something into it to act as a sponge but even that needs to be done with the double dig method to get it deep enough so it will not dry out.

Comments please.

The best way to preserve water in the ground, (apart from putting water holding organic stuff into the ground), is to mulch plants.  The mulch prevents evaporation and watering goes further. 

Obviously wetting the mulch does not get water to the plants, but it is easy enough to get through to the plants by watering one spot through the mulch.  Anything but 'sprinkler' type watering.

Makes good use of all the grass cuttings too.   

I agree with Ace I rarely water any plants outdoors as I prepare my ground well before planting.

I suppose you could say I dig my mulch in before planting and this holds the moisture like Galina says.

So i guess my methods are a variation on Aces & Galinas methods.

In fact you have got me thinking I think I will take my camera down to the plots (as I haven't done so this year)  and take a few pictures of the ups and downs,warts and all situation and do a blog on the results of what I can only describe as as a crazy mixed up season.

indeed i agree with you all i only water toms beans and squashes and then i sink a pot into the ground and water direct to the roots everything else sorts itself out we have very sandy soil here on the coast so each winter i put a tonne of well rotted manure on each plot and plot made compost in darleks i have 8 of these and by the end of the season they are full i also have a meter square leaf bin which i fill each autumn all this goes into my bean trenches so winter on my plot really is where all the work is done 

We are quite lucky in the manure stakes!

A local stable fetches three or four loads like this every year and he is very grateful to do so because he finds itn easy spot to tip it, and most of all he does not have to pay the council tipping charges on landfill sites!



The above is two skip loads in one day.

Quote from: Tee Gee on July 15, 2015, 20:44:45
We are quite lucky in the manure stakes!

A local stable fetches three or four loads like this every year and he is very grateful to do so because he finds itn easy spot to tip it, and most of all he does not have to pay the council tipping charges on landfill sites!



The above is two skip loads in one day.

we do get some delivered but it at the other end of the site too far for me to barrow so me and my opposite plot buddy get it twice a year from a farm ourself I've a 3rd of an acre of lawn at home to cut that goes in darleks with plot waste and i get leaves from 2 local schools so a far bit of logistics involved lol

I use raised beds because I can't dig over my heavy clay. The disadvantage of course is that they dry out more quickly, and once the roots hit the clay underneath it's much harder for them to grow downwards. I do water once a week or so only if things look dry, but my plants have suffered with this hot dry weather we've had.

Manure helps, definitely. My new planter beds were filled halfway with strawy horse manure and topped up with cheapo B&Q peat-free compost, and they stay a lot moister than my other beds which had much less manure.

And my straw bales are retaining water quite well too. They were a bit of a faff to prepare initially and required a lot of water to start rotting, but if my squash plants are anything to go by, it was worth it not to have to water now. I only rarely water the bales, except for the two with tomatoes which get watered once a week if it's been dry.

I always have a crafty chuckle at the excuse of heavy clay as a reason for raised beds. My first plot was never used seriously by previous plotters and the ground was 5 or 6 inches of topsoil then under that was something that I can only describe as hoggin, a clay, gravel and stony mix which had never been penetrated with a fork.

After the initial clearing of the grown in weeds etc, the next job was to dig a two foot trench which was then filled three quarters up with farmyard manure. then digging the next trench throwing the soil back over the previous trench and so on right down the bed. A big mission, but now I can dig a good full spit and no problems with the so called heavy clay.

I watch new plotters come in and scrape the weed off, then rotovate the top six inches and plant as quick as they can. They passs me by with remarks like what do I use to get my stuff growing so well. I tell them it is elbow grease, but they think it is a secret fertiliser that I use.

My other plot was a doddle as it had had a proper gardener using it previously. So to get a plot that does not need constant water, you need to start right, all this scratching about the top soil, no dig methods, lazy raised beds and just top dressing might work for a while but you cannot beat proper old fashioned deep digging.

That said I am going to use some raised beds, but only because the ground can get a bit wet in the winter to be able to work, the ground underneath will still be prepared underneath them. I am not just going to plonk them straight down.

I have never been very convinced that if you don't water plants then they will grow lots more roots in search of water.  I'd welcome some proper empirical evidence of this. To my mind, if a plant doesn't have enough water then it doesn't grow effectively - roots and all.  Having grown hydroponically I can say that a plentiful water supply does give rise to a massive root ball.  Even if it were true then the resources (water and nutrients) for the roots to grow must come from somewhere.  If you aren't watering where are these resources coming from = the main body of the plant?  Seems to the detriment of the plant. 

So I water my plants.  I obviously give them a good watering in when they are planted out but I will always go back and give them a good watering later if the season, like this one, is very dry.  I can see a clear difference between those that are out watering and those that have left their plots to dry out.  TBH I follow my farmer buddy down on the plot - he waters quite a lot!  I guess having been a farmer and losing whole fields to drought he thinks a wet soil is better than a dry soil.

I water a fair amount. At the moment I am drenching the plot twice a week with the hose (can't carry cans at the moment). I have a fair amount of pots and tubs, which means I go up every day to check/water those anyway. I do notice the difference between my plot's crops and those of my my non-watering neighbours.

I dug over my broad bean bed recently and the soil (heavy clay) was dust-dry down to a spit depth. That didn't bother the beans, which were autumn sown and had time to get their roots further down, but the new plants going in there won't be in the same situation. I can get enough compost/manure/leaves etc together to add significantly to 2 beds per year and it is making a difference slowly.

I also do chuck literally tons of organic material on to my beds.  I don't do double digging (or bastard digging as it is otherwise known), I am more of a mulching man.  I give the beds a good forking over and then pile muck on top.  The clay seems to just eat it and the soil has gone from being concrete to something resembling a decent growing medium!  When I first started on the plot I literally had to chisel a hole or a line  out and fill it with compost to plant something. 
This year I really went to town with raised beds with all sorts of organic matter - shredded leaves, stable manure, spent hops/grain and loads of small animal waste from the local sanctuary.  It seems to be working out although as mentioned above it has been an odd season - some things have gone mental while other plants seem determined to die.

I had a plot neighbour who prided themselves on their policy of no watering and told me they did not need a water butt.   When it was very dry which happens often here, they had very meagre crops and then kept complaining about it.   

I am pleased for you that your plants can find water.  But for me this policy is a no go. 

I have used a lot of muck there is a constant supply in the next field but it can sometimes be iffy so needs careful monitoring.  No where near beans for example. 

I do a lot of watering and lots of mulching.  If the plants are going to find water, it has to be there to find.   

a non watered carrot  harvested today

I suppose we are a bit lucky down here with the coast only  half a mile away. The dew in the morning that comes off the sea mists must help a lot. No it ain't salty unless there is a bit of a wild sea and the wind is blowing extra strong, plays havock with our vehicles but does not seem to have an adverse effect on the plants.  The really windy times are in the winter with not much growing above ground ayway.

I puddle in as much as I can, and then try only to water until something is established, as all of our water has to be drawn from wells. Add an open and exposed plot where the wind dries everything very fast, and it can be challenging keeping up. Usually I'm OK - this year with the cold start, the long dry period, and a dry winter meaning the wells are low, it's my turn to lose out. Oh well!

I have to confess to being a bit stiff on the organic matter - the soil is so fertile that it doesn't seem to need a lot of extra help.

Adrian

Quote from: johhnyco15 on July 16, 2015, 14:10:36
a non watered carrot  harvested today

Hope you replanted it so it will grow to it's proper size

One of my plots has a drop of about 1.5 metres.  The crops on the top 3/4 need watering the ones on the bottom 1/4 do not need much at all.   

I am experimenting with my potatoes.  The half nearest the butt get watered the other half do not.  The plants one end are more three times the size.  It will be interesting to see the resultant crops.

Quote from: ACE on July 16, 2015, 15:07:46

Quote from: johhnyco15 on July 16, 2015, 14:10:36
a non watered carrot  harvested today

Hope you replanted it so it will grow to it's proper size

lol ace it was just a thinning

Quote from: ACE on July 16, 2015, 08:07:06
I always have a crafty chuckle at the excuse of heavy clay as a reason for raised beds.

I physically cannot dig that clay unless I want to spend the next week (or month, in some cases) in so much pain that I can't get out of bed. It's not an excuse, it's the way things are with my disability. If I had light soil I might be able to dig a little, but my garden's like concrete in the summer and a swamp in the winter.

If it wasn't for raised beds I would be able to grow anything at all except brambles and creeping buttercups.

I'm sorry you find that funny, but we aren't all blessed with the physical ability to dig heavy clay.

Quotelazy raised beds

That's a bit rude and condescending. My beds aren't lazy, they're a necessity. You might want to think about how you respond to methods that are different to your own. You could just explain that you prefer digging yourself rather than ridiculing other people's choices.

I have realised there is the perfect experiment in the next plot.  It is empty and was rotovated.  It is now growing fat hen in profusion.  It would have all germinated together when it rained.

So according to the theory the plants at the top of the plot which have less access to water should be exactly the same size as those at the bottom of the plot for which access to water is about 1/2-1 meter nearer.  Since they will have produced more root and got to the water.

Sorry folks but the bottom fat hen is about waist high whilst the top fat hen is about 9 inches.  They are all beginning to flower,  and the bottom fat hen has many branches while the top fat hen has single stems.   

Quite frankly the difference it stunning.