“Gardening requires lots of water – most of it in the form of perspiration.”   ~ Lou Erickson

Florida’s winter and spring tend to be drier months. The gardener should plan on providing supplemental irrigation. A supply of quality water, applied at the right rates to the root area will make or break your garden. Depending on your situation, an oscillating sprinkler, drip irrigation, overhead irrigation, soaker hoses, hand watering, or a combination may be options (SFYL, Watering the Vegetable Garden).

Layout tape lined side up to prevent sediment collection and hole blockage. Drip is effective in delivering water to root zone with minimal evaporation. As with any irrigation system, there are advantages and disadvantages (Simonne et al, 2018). Frequent inspection is a key to success.

In this Growing a Green Thumb series we have;

• Picked a site with eight or more hours direct light and water source.
• Properly submitted  soil sample for analysis completed.
• Loosened the soil, tractor, tiller, shovel, etc.  to break up clods, add air, and work in amendments.
• Added irrigation.

Seeds vs. plants vs. tubers, which is better? Until next time – Happy Gardening!

Resources

SFYL, Watering the Vegetable Garden, https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/edibles/vegetables/watering-the-vegetable-garden.html

Eric Simonne, Robert Hochmuth, Jacque Breman, William Lamont, Danielle Treadwell, and Aparna Gazula, 2018, Drip-irrigation Systems for Small Conventional Vegetable Farms and Organic Vegetable Farms, https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS388  

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