When and How Much to Water

• 1). Newly planted vegetables should be watered in the morning. This helps prepare the plants for the heat of the day. If you water them at night, this will simply bring them back to normal after they have wilted. Watering should be used to help plant growth.
  
  
• 2). Do not sprinkle or spray water on plants. Lawns have to be sprinkled, but vegetables should be watered by flooding, bubbling or drip line irrigation. It is the roots that need to be watered, not the leaves.
  
  
• 3). If you are using a sprinkler system or drip line irrigation, make sure to supplement with hand watering as needed.
  
  
• 4). No matter how you are watering, take care not to water too much. The soil should never be soaking wet. Soil probes are extremely useful. Soil should be dampened between 12-18 inches for vegetables, 2 feet for shrubs and 3 feet for trees.