![]() Nonsucculent ornamental plants, fruiting trees, vines and shrubs: Mulch with coarse, wood-based mulch, not bark. Succulents: Mulch with stone or decomposed granite. Cover your garden beds in 3 to 4 inches of mulch: Mulch is critical for conserving water, improving soil texture, supporting beneficial microbes, moderating soil temperature and many other things.Lock the cover so others can’t change the schedule you set. Once you know how long, how often and when to water, use that information to set your irrigation controller. Run inline drip at night when soil is coolest. Run spray irrigation early in the morning so leaves dry before nightfall. Do the “Canary Test,” follow this link: /canarytestgiveaway Don’t be surprised if each zone needs a different run time. If the water is not as deep as it should be, run the irrigation again and again until you figure out how many minutes of run time gets water deep enough. For trees and shrubs, water needs to penetrate 12 inches deep, 8 inches for perennials and vines, 6 inches for everything else. Stick your finger into the soil, dig down with a trowel, or use a soil probe to see how deep the water has penetrated. How long to water: Run each zone according to its normal schedule.Determine your garden’s summer irrigation schedule: Run times are long, though, an hour or two at a time, depending on how long it takes for your soil to saturate. That slow drip is what helps the water percolate deep to the roots. ![]() Drip irrigation releases water very slowly to the soil, which is a good thing. Use irrigation “staples” to hold lines in place. Adjust drip lines that may have shifted a bit. Install a flush valve onto each set of driplines, then flush the system to remove errant dirt and debris. Drip lines sit between the soil and the mulch so water drips directly onto the soil and wets the roots. Inline drip irrigation is the most efficient kind of irrigation and the only type to use with mulch. ![]() Switch from overhead spray or individual drip emitter systems to inline drip. Fix leaks and broken heads, adjust sprays that land on sidewalks and streets. Despite last winter’s generous rainfall, we still need to manage water in our gardens. Bolivian sunflower (Tithonia diversifolia)Īs temperatures heat up and the sun reaches higher in the sky, plants use more water. ![]() Let the soil “cook” for six to eight weeks.įind detailed directions for soil solarization at /killerrays. Cover the soil with CLEAR (not black) plastic. Water to saturate the soil, then turn off the irrigation. Cut grass or weeds as short as you can. Problematic soil fungi and bacteria, including those that cause Verticillium wilt, Fusarium wilt, Phytophthora root rot and so on. ![]()
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