How to Water a Veggie Garden in Summer Heat

Most veggie patches that fall over in summer do not fall over from lack of water, they fall over from the wrong sort of watering, and the two look identical from the kitchen window. Getting this right is mostly about when you do it and how deep it goes.

Water early in the morning

First thing is best. The air is cool, the soil is cool, and the water gets down into the root zone instead of lifting off the surface before the plant has had a go at it. You also give the leaves all day to dry, which matters more than people think.

Deep, and not very often

A light sprinkle every evening trains the roots to sit at the surface where the heat gets them. A proper soak two or three times a week sends them down where the soil stays cool and damp. Aim for somewhere around two and a half to four centimetres in a session, and lean toward the higher end if you are on sand.

Mulch, and plenty of it

A thick layer of organic mulch around the plants holds the moisture in and keeps the soil temperature steady underneath, and it cuts the evaporation right back. Straw and sugar cane both do the job. Keep it back off the stems so you are not sitting wet material against the plant.

Water the roots, not the leaves

Wet foliage in warm weather is how you get powdery mildew and every other fungal problem going. Put the water on the soil at the base of the plant. A hand spray with the nozzle down low, or better still a drip line, keeps the leaves out of it entirely.

Drip irrigation is worth the afternoon it takes to set up

A drip line delivers the water slowly, straight to the soil, with almost nothing lost to evaporation, and it gives the plants the steady moisture that stops fruit splitting. It is not a big job to lay out and it is the single change that makes the biggest difference to a summer patch.

Catch the rain while you can

This is a dry country and every house here should have a tank of some size on it. Rainwater has none of the treatment chemicals in it and the plants notice, and a tank means the garden has something to drink when the restrictions are on.

Shade the ones that need it

Shade cloth over the leafy greens through the worst of the afternoon drops their water demand a long way, and a taller crop planted on the western side will do a similar job for free. Wilting at two in the afternoon is not always thirst. Sometimes it is just heat, and shade fixes it where more water will not.

Check the soil rather than the calendar

Push a finger a few centimetres into the bed. If it is dry down there, water. If it is damp, leave it alone. A soil moisture meter takes the argument out of it if you would rather not guess.

Overwatering will kill just as fast

Yellowing leaves and a soggy surface that never seems to dry are the signs you have gone too far the other way, and waterlogged roots die exactly like dry ones do. Back it off and let the bed drain.

Pots and containers are a different job

Anything in a pot dries out faster than the same plant in the ground, because the whole root ball is exposed to the air on every side. Check them daily in summer. Damp all the way through, never sitting in a saucer of water.

Shop related products

• Pope Drip Eze 2LH 13mm x 30m. The drip line, and the thing I would buy first.
• Pope Simple Set Tap Timer. So the early morning watering happens without you being up for it.
• Pope 4 Piece Watering Set. Fittings to get the hose sorted properly.
• Pope Comfort Grip Hand Spray. For getting water down at the base rather than over the top.
• Martins Organic Sugar Cane Bale 11kg. Mulch does half of this job for you.
• Easy Wetta Garden Mulch 50L. For beds where the water has started running off instead of soaking in.

Did you know we also stock soaker hose and shade cloth in the shop. They are not listed on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what is on the shelf.

The irrigation fittings and the mulch are in the garden centre. If you bring in a rough sketch of your beds and where the tap is, we can work out what you need for a drip system in about ten minutes, which is a lot quicker than guessing at it in the aisle.

More from the garden

• Heat Tolerant Vegetables: Ten to Grow in a Hot Summer
• Growing Tomatoes in Summer Heat: Five Mistakes to Avoid
• Succession Planting: How to Keep a Summer Patch Producing

Cheers, Candeece. I have drowned as many plants as I have dried out, so I am qualified on both counts.