Is all the watering worth it?

On Gardeners' World, the other week, Monty Don sowed some carrot seeds. He scattered some seeds on a patch of earth, raked them in and gave them a quick water. They won't need watering again he told his audience. Martyn watched  a video on YouTube a week or so ago where the gardener stated that he never watered his plot as the plant roots grew stronger searching for water, and yes he did mean this year!

So have we been wasting hours of time and energy watering our crops. Have you?

I just can't believe Monty's carrot seeds will germinate and flourish in parched soil. We always make sure that any seeds and seedlings are well watered even in a 'normal' growing season. This year we have given them closer attention.

Parsnips and carrots were sown at the beginning of May since when we have had hardly any rainfall so we made sure, on every visit that the sowing areas were well watered with the rose on the can. We had the best germination rate for years with no need to resow. Parsnip germination was as near 100% as I could tell and I needed to do lots of thinning out. Since then the plants have been well watered. The tops are growing well but whether this growth is matched by good roots, only time will tell.

Carrots

 Carrots too germinated well with no resowing needed this year.

Parsnips

Once the seeds had produced small plants they were watered at soil level using a can without a rose. This way the water should have penetrated deeper into the ground so that roots didn't just remain in the surface layer. Above the parsnips are shown to be planted in three square areas. Each area was given two cans of water so six cans to the whole parsnip bed.

Peas have been given lots of water. We have sown Onward peas in three batches. 

The ones on the top left are being harvested at the moment. The ones on the top right are starting to produce pods,

The ones on the bottom left behind the swedes should hopefully come next and the ones on the bottom right are Oregon Sugarsnap which are almost ready to harvest.

As peas hate hot, dry weather we have watered them really well - we can do nothing about the heat. Before germination each row of peas was given a can full of water with the rose attached every other day. Once the peas were about the size of those on the bottom left, watering was increased to two can fulls with the rose removed. Then, when they were the size of the ones on the top right this was increased to four cans per row. The theory is that the more leaf growth the greater the loss of moisture through transpiration and so more water is needed by the roots.

The beans have also been well watered, about a can to 10 plants.

The runner beans are now flowering although no beans have yet set. The climbing French Cobra beans on the other hand have tiny immature beans.

The second lot of broad beans - Masterpiece Long Greenpod are performing much better than the first sowing and now sporting beans.

The squash and courgettes are now flourishing. The courgettes are producing plenty of fruit and the Crown Prince are now setting fruits. Borage plants have been set amongst the Butterbush squash. Five curcurbit plants have shared a can of water at each watering.

Brassicas have been been given the same amount of water as the squash and are doing well. The main problem has been that the heat has induced flowering mainly in the broccoli plants so the cropping isn't lasting as long as usual.

The sweetcorn plants are sturdy specimens and are now starting to produce the male tassels.  Each row of ten plants has been given a can of water.

The alliums have suffered this year. This time the villain isn't the lack of rain but gales earlier in the season. Many of the onions were either blown flat or out of the ground. As onions don't mind being dry, they have hardly been watered at all - just an occasional shower with a rose attached to keep them going a bit longer. The bulbs will be smaller this year but usable.

When first planted at blades of grass size, the leeks were flattened and we didn't hold out much hope for them but they have rallied and are now growing well. Each of three rows have received a can of water at each watering.

On the top photo, although the tomatoes in the plot greenhouse are growing well the ones on the right that have less benefit of shade are suffering a little from the heat.

The outdoor planted tomatoes on the other hand are enjoying these conditions despite the plants being the tatty leftovers.

On the photo below left are the annuals that were planted last autumn and left in the garden greenhouse over winter where they languished for too long due to cold, wet conditions. Although they are producing some flowers, they never fully recovered.  The seeds sown directly in spring are now growing well although a few resowings have been required.

Like the peas the sweet peas hate the hot, sunny conditions and have been well watered to keep them growing. They are rewarding us with masses of flowers.

The lavender has been happily fending for itself and is now a mass of flower. The butterflies and bees are loving it. Unfortunately at the moment most of the butterflies are small whites, one of the brassica growers nemeses. At least so far the more destructive large whites haven't made an appearance.

The dried flower mix is growing well now but so far I'm not too impressed by the assortment from a potpourri point of view. Hopefully the two rows on the left statice and helichrysum will be more useful.

The potatoes have really been our sacrificial plants. Although they have had a very occasional treat of some water, we just couldn't give them what we knew they required and so didn't try and have left them to struggle on. The result is that the tops hardly grew so we don't expect much of a crop.

We were hoping for a let up in our watering, as thunderstorms and heavy rain were forecast for Friday. In the event we had a paltry effort producing less than 2mm of rain, ( 0.08") so I guess the watering cans will be out again today.

So back to my original question posed by the title - I think it's safe to say that so far it has been worth it. What do you think?

Anyone out there want to save money on gym membership, we will offer free exercise routines, all you need are a couple of watering cans!

NB: Our watering cans hold 10 litres (just over 2 gallons) and we have been watering every other day.

Copyright: Original post from Our Plot at Green Lane Allotments http://glallotments.blogspot.co.uk/ author S Garrett