Looking for something else?
Take a look at your garden. You can see that it isn't doing as
well as you'd hoped. The lower leaves on your flowers are
turning yellow and falling off and you're losing flowers. The
plants actually look droopy and wilted, even though you've been
watering them faithfully. Well the truth is, you may be
watering your garden too much.
Overwatering your flowers and plants can be just as damaging
to them as underwatering. More plants die from being over
watered than not being watered enough. If you notice the
symptoms mentioned above in your outside garden or in your
houseplants, you need to pay attention to how much you are
watering. One simple way to see if you are overwatering is to
check the roots of your plant. Rotting roots are a certain
indication of overwatering.
Inside your home your houseplants are affected by rapid changes
in room temperature. Heat is drying, but air conditioning dries
out a plant, too. Inside your plants may suffer from not
receiving enough light. Are you regularly fertilizing your
plants? If you are, are you following closely the manufacturer's
suggested amount of fertilizer?
As a general rule, your outside garden should receive one inch
of water each week. Remember that this is a general rule and
you will have to observe your garden. The amount of watering
you need to do will have to be increased or decreased based on
the time of year and climate. Even as we transition from a hot
and dry summer where the sun scorched your garden daily to
pleasantly cool sunny autumn days, your garden still needs
water. Check the soil in your garden before you water. Is it
dry and crumbly, or is it muddy? Think how much rain you have
received the week before. If there has been a half inch of rain
already this week you don't want to overwater.
A helpful tool
to prevent overwatering is a rain gauge. When you water your
outside garden, water it slowly so that the water will not run
off. Watering slowly also helps the water to seep deeper into
the roots. Water your outside garden only in the morning.
Watering during the heat of day just wastes water due to
evaporation. Watering at night can cause fungal growth.
©2005 Mark Freeman. All rights reserved.
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