Old-School Watering Can

We were cleaning out the basement the other day and look what I found! I was just going to buy a watering can, so I am thrilled. To think this was sitting in my basement, all this time! It's perfect. It makes watering my balcony veggies so much easier. Before, to water them I would fill up a jar and water them one by one. As you can imagine this meant many trips to the bathroom to fill up the jar. Then I decided to water them once a week by putting the pots in the bathtub. That's a very wet and messy job, and some plants, like my climbing green beans, I can't move because they are growing around the balcony posts. This can is just what I needed. When it's filled I just barely tip it over and the water comes out like rain. and no more bending over the balcony rail, yay!

Watering the Garden

How often do you water your garden? How often should you water your garden? I aim for watering every day unless it rains. If it is a long, hard rain then I skip watering for at least 3 days after. In my experience a good long soak is better than short daily waterings, so I should just water deeply once a week. But then I forget, so it was better for me to do a short watering every day.

A long, deep soaking (at least 2 hours) is best because it promotes deeper and longer roots, which in turn makes your plants/veggies stronger and healthier. Short waterings promote shallow root systems in your plants and it's more likely that they won't grow to their full potential when you water in this way. I'm reconsidering how I water my garden...to deal with my forgetfulness I could just simply add a reminder in my phone calendar to beep once a week.