How to Water a Garden

Water.  It’s one of the first things we think about when we think about growing plants:  How much water? When to water? The best way to water? What to do if there’s too little or too much water? Water is such a fundamental of life.  And it also creates a lot of confusion for gardeners and would-be gardeners, especially now, as our planet heats up and significant climate and weather shifts are occurring.

There are many tips out there on the internet about how and when to water, and they’re not necessarily wrong. It is best to water when it is cooler out: earlier and later in the day, namely—to cut down on quick evaporation.  And it is best to water deeper and less frequently rather than often and shallowly. And yes—we should water the soil around the plant and not the plant itself, as for many plants watering their leaves and stems creates the conditions for the start of disease. But how does water fit in with the entire garden ecosystem as a whole?

Understanding the meaning of “Regenerative Gardening”

I believe most of us are very familiar with the word “sustainable” now: brought to its essence, to garden sustainably means to minimize harm to the environment. To not add new harms. Regenerative gardening takes things one step deeper into earth-care. It is a way of interacting with the natural world so as to not just maintain the status quo, but renew, restore and regenerate the ecoystems within which we garden. An ecosystem is a community of living organisms: plant, animal, microbial-- in a particular geographic area, interacting together with the physical environment, consequently creating a self-sustaining system.

A Garden is an Ecosystem

When we garden we are creating an ‘artificial’ ecosystem. We are bringing certain plants into a particular area. We may add microbiotic life through amendments such as compost or plant-based teas. The gardens we create are not islands floating on their own, however: they exist within their larger natural ecosystems as well. 

What Regenerative Gardening & Ecosystems Have to do with Water

But why am I going into all of this? What does this have to do with how we’re going to water our gardens today?  Namely, to water our garden is not to only water our garden. It is to water our garden and the broader ecosystem of which it exists.  What we do in our gardens: the water, how we treat the soil, the plants we choose to plant, how and when we harvest, what we do with our “waste” plant material, how we add needed nutrients to the soil—all of these and more—affect far more than our own gardens, or our own lives. After all, a bee intent upon nectar and unwittingly pollinating plants as it goes about its day, does not stop at the border of your garden. To the bee, your garden is part of its habitat, and it treats it as such: visiting your flowers and then moving on. There are no borders in the natural world. When we garden regeneratively, we are keeping that uppermost in our minds: what we do in the garden we do to our ecosystem.

When We Water Our Garden We Water Our Ecosystem

Just as with the bee who crosses from the garden into the natural landscape, so too does water.  Any water we put into our garden does not necessarily stay in our garden: excess water continues its downward flow, ultimately adding itself to the groundwater recharge as it flows into the water table. Whatever we have put into the soil or on our plants flows with that water, too. We are never “just” watering our own garden. We are watering the environment in which we live.

So often when working in our own gardens we are intent on one main thing:  keeping our plants alive. We want the flowers, fruits and vegetables a plant that has grown and matured can bring us. We want the beauty of ornamental plants and the peace and solace they can bring. Nothing wrong with that. But when we see plants that are appearing to degrade: they wilt, or brown, or yellow, or in some other way communicate to us they are not thriving, we often reach first for the hose.  It’s natural to think that our plants must need water.  But it behooves us to do a few things first, before we turn on the faucet:

·       Never use chemicals in your garden.  Full stop. Make this a promise to yourself, your plants, your garden ecosystem, and the larger ecosystem. Chemicals are not needed. Chemicals degrade life. When we use chemicals on garden “pests,” our plants, or in the soil, it becomes part of the water as well.  When the water soaks into the soil, your plants’ roots, and the groundwater, those chemicals remain.

·       Nurture the soil like it’s your child. I will never stop promoting the importance of caring for your soil. The aim is biodiverse, living soil. When your garden is growing in soil (not dirt) you have just won a huge percentage of the watering game. Soil, cared for well, becomes a soil sponge.

·       Mulch. And mulch again. What is mulch? It is covering the soil with organic matter (compost, wood chips, bark mulch, grass clippings, shredded leaves, straw, cocoa hulls, etc) to regulate soil temperature (cooler in summer; warmer in winter), prevent water run-off, retain soil moisture, improve soil fertility, health & structure, attract beneficial insects and earthworms, and suppress weeds.

·       Determine if your plant’s failure to thrive is due to light, soil, bacteria or fungal disease, overcrowding, insect damage, lack of nutrients….or water. I promise to write on each of these topics in Gardenotopia. There are solutions to every problem in your garden—no chemicals needed. Remember: it’s an ecosystem within an ecosystem. Our job as gardeners is to learn from nature: how nature balances itself, when left to its own devices, and how to do the same in our gardens.

·       Capture and reuse water:  Through rain barrels, cisterns, rain gardens, swales, ollas (terracotta containers that are inserted into the soil and filled with water, which slowly leaches out into the surrounding soil) and more.

·       Plant more drought-tolerant, native and deep-rooted plants.

·       Use drip irrigation to get water directly to the roots, where it is needed. If not an option, focus your hose or hand-watering at the soil directly surrounding the root base.

When we do our best to plant, nurture and grow a garden regeneratively, the benefits in terms of water are many. If we are using chemicals, neglecting to amend our soils with organic matter, skipping mulch, using uncaptured water exclusively, planting predominantly non-native &/or high-water-need plants and overhead watering at all times of day…..we’re going to find ourselves watering more and more as we try to revitalize our suffering plants. But when we take care to do our best to nurture the soil, to mulch, to capture and reuse water, to educate ourselves as to harmful pests and diseases, to pay attention to the water needs of plants when making our plant choices….and most especially, to remember that our garden is not an island, but part of a much larger ecosystem—how we water, when we water, and how much we water becomes more manageable, efficient, affordable, and just one part of a healthy, thriving, whole.