Friday, July 14, 2006
One of the few chores
Libba Wolfe
Libba Wolfe's column appears twice monthly in Extra.
Recent columns
Watering the garden: You have to drag the hose around; water can get wasted at the leaky spots. So how does one embrace this job?
A million times I’ve learned the dangers and confusions of working too close to a deadline. Trying to wrap presents late Christmas Eve when all the stores are closed and I’m out of Scotch tape. (One year I used Band-Aids.) Packing for a trip and discovering my only black pants that fit are at the cleaners and it’s closed. Checking details for this column 10 minutes before it’s due and finding my sources are out of town.
I was feeling mighty proud of myself last month when I hit the “send” button for this column five days before deadline. I was headed out of town and crossed it off my list. My yard was bone dry and I had watering chores.
As soon as I left town the rain started and didn’t stop. I called the newspaper from a flooded, jammed intersection in Washington, D.C., and asked to have my column pulled. Who wants to read about water when you’re up to your ankles in mud? No rain, too much rain — water is always an issue.
Besides spreading mulch, watering is my least favorite garden chore. I try to slip into a Zen trance of acceptance, but the mosquitoes keep biting me back to humid reality.
It’s not just the act of watering; it’s the hose dragging, the leaky connections, the search for the nozzle and the sprinkler that put me into a Zen trance of procrastination.
Early this spring I decided to start with the equipment. Those hose-rolling contraptions look interesting, but they take patience and you still have to pull the whole thing around to the back yard. I’m sold on green curly hoses. When I finish watering I just throw them behind the shrubs and they almost disappear. I have one or two for every spigot and leave them connected. I picked up a few double-spigot heads so I can have hoses in all directions.
I’ve always wasted lots of water from the leaky connections between spigot and hose and again where the nozzle screws on. I discovered packages of little rubber O-rings. I put them inside all the trouble spots. I do love a cheap, easy fix. I bought long sprayer wands and a new sprinkler. Having everything connected and in good working order makes it easy to use a few spare minutes to water.
But how much water is enough? All the garden books recommend 1 inch per week. I bought a rain gauge and started checking.
A 2 12-inch gully-washer on baked dry soil doesn’t do a lot of good. Most of it runs off. I measured 1 12 inches after a gentle, steady rain in May. Digging a hole the next day, I was surprised I didn’t have to dig deep to see dry dust. Did I need to water again? What seemed like a no-brainer — “just rained, no need to water” — was getting complicated.
I needed experience and expertise, so I caught up with Virginia Tech’s Holly Scoggins, garden director and associate professor of horticulture, and Stephanie Huckestein, head horticulturist at Hahn Horticulture Garden.
I’ll bet there are thousands of Hokie fans who haven’t realized there is a gorgeous 5 12-acre garden so close to Lane Stadium. It’s open every day from dawn to dusk. The hot afternoon I was there, it was quietly busy with note-taking gardeners, young families and students reading or napping on shady benches. Besides the birds and butterflies, the only other wildlife was a tow-headed, bare-chested, 7-year-old “cham-peen burper.”
Scoggins began our discussion with her garden mantra, “right plant, right place.” There’s no need to torture yourself or your plant with the wrong location. Just because you think a cactus would look great in the only shady, boggy spot in your yard doesn’t mean it will thrive. Pay attention to those little tags and start off on the right foot.
Plants need three things — the nutrition in the soil, water and light. Scoggins surprised me right away with her comments on soil requirements.
She specialized in plant nutrition in the horticulture Ph.D. program at the University of Georgia and knows the details. She says soil is usually quite forgiving. Unless you have big, specific problems, you can buy the biggest, cheapest bag of 10/10/10 fertilizer and have a fling-fest in midspring. Scatter it around trees, shrubs and in ornamental borders. Not too heavy and not when the foliage is wet.
April, right before a rain, is the ideal time, but it’s not too late now. Just don’t wait till late summer or fall. You don’t want to stimulate growth late in the season. Vegetables, container plants and some annuals will need the extra boost of water-soluble fertilizer. Lawns have different requirements and a Virginia Tech department of their own.
Back to watering. I had hoped they would know by ESP all about my soil type and water pressure. Add that to the curly hoses and tell me exactly how many minutes to stand and water. And, of course, they do know all those formulas. But Scoggins and Huckestein don’t believe in making it complicated. Understand what happens when you water and then let experience guide you.
Water is for the roots. Spraying the top of a plant is a waste of good water and good time. Aim for the ground. But you can’t get the maximum benefits of a long soak if you have heavy clay soil. Sticky, solid clay prevents the water from moving to the roots. Soil improvement is the unsexy part of gardening but adding compost or gypsum when you plant helps the water drain.
Remember that roots will grow toward moisture. If you water lightly right around the stem, you’ll be encouraging shallow, tight root growth. Water deeply and widely. Plants with deep, wide roots are healthier and last longer.
You want to simulate rain. No hoses without nozzles or sprayers. Huckestein says when she hand-waters she moves slowly along, giving each section a thorough soaking till there is just a little standing water. By the time she reaches the end of the border that water has been absorbed and she goes back one more time.
If you do it right you’re through for the week. And maybe next week it will rain.
But even with some more rain, we may stay below average for the year and we’ll still be watering. It’s tempting to run out after supper and give the droopy annuals a quick drink. But don’t forget the trees, shrubs and perennials. Especially the ones you’ve put in this year. Their first season in the ground is crucial for root development. A few early morning hours under the sprinkler every week will pay off for years.
Scoggins and Huckestein agree that experience is a great teacher. Know your plants and know your soil. Keep your fingers crossed for rain. If that doesn’t work, put on the bug spray and turn on the hose. Every gardener knows the garden paradox — as soon as you finish a thorough watering, it will rain.
Now I know if I do a column about watering — ahead of deadline, no less — I’m asking for a deluge.
To Do List:
If the weather is nice, spend some time at the Hahn Horticulture Garden on the Virginia Tech campus. You’ll get lots of new ideas.
If it rains, stay inside and back up everything on your computer. Take it from me — it’s gut-wrenching and expensive to lose files, unanswered e-mails and your priceless e-mail address book when your hard drive crashes.
