Dried Up In One Day

[plumtreeblossom]

With the exception of lunch and sympathy with my beowabbit, yesterday was a pretty awful day, and it got worse when I got home. To my horror, almost all of my vegetable plants had, in 1 day, wilted to almost dead. I'd checked the soil in the morning and it felt perfectly moist -- I'd watered them the day before and it had rained that night.

But somehow, the giant plants had soaked up their water and their soil had dried up in just that short time. I was heartbroken. About 10 gallons of water later, I was able to revive the plants themselves, but much of the young fruit was dried up and dead. Those baby cukes I posted about...yeah. There are a few-ish left, but I don't even know if the plants will re-fruit.

And the sad part is that I have no way of ensuring that it won't happen again. Maybe this just isn't the right hobby for someone who can't be at home in the daytime.

:-(

Comments

[kalliejenn2.livejournal.com]

i believe you're not supposed to water plants when the sun's on them anyway because it burns the leaves (or something like that). my bucket pea plants also kicked the bucket this week due to extreme heat/sun. so sad.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Oh no. Poor plants.

Not sure if this would help you, but: my mother uses empty soda/water bottles to provide continuous indirect water for her garden. She fills a bottle with water, tips it upside down, and buries the neck of the bottle in the dirt. The idea is that a little bit of the water will immediately spill into the dirt, but then the dirt will gradually suck the water out of the bottle. The sun will probably heat the water inside the bottle, but that doesn't seem to affect the plants.

Mom uses this on plants that get a lot of direct sunlight, since (as Jen says) watering plants in direct sunlight makes for unhappy plants but letting them go all day without water is likewise sub-optimal.

[terryo.livejournal.com]

Mulching will help a LOT to retain moisture in the soil and keep down weeds... .even just putting some newspapers down (weighted down, obviously) will help.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Really? I don't know anything about mulching. I'm container gardening, but most of the gardening websites I've been looking to for guidance presume in-ground space. Tell me more?

[terryo.livejournal.com]

The idea is to cover the exposed ground with something that will cut down the evaporation from the soil. Newspapers can do it, some people use plastic with a hole cut for the plant (usually works best right after the plant sprouts), There is always the vegetative mulches (like are put around trees, etc to make them pretty... bletch); something others use is grass clippings, even leaves. You just want something that is dense enough to block evaporation (but not totally blocked so the soil can breath... plastic can be tricky). If you use a vegetative mulch, it can often be worked into the soil after growing season to enrich the soil (do watch the pH, though!)

Good luck!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Bleah.

On hot days especially, watering in the morning is key. A garden is not something you need to tend to multiple time a day.

[moria923.livejournal.com]

What a disappointment, after you'd worked so hard! I'm sorry.

[ka9sqb.livejournal.com]

Second the motion on mulch. Also,
the inverted bottles can work. Ruth
has some of the glass globes you
fill and invert; they seem to work
quite well. Have also heard of someone
siphoned from a bucket set beside
the pots. Good luck working
with a warm summer!
Anon, Don

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Vegetables in pots just need bodacious amounts of water. A couple of people had proposed growing some on our roof, but cooler heads prevailed when it was pointed out that they would have to haul water from their apartments up the elevator, then walk up the one flight of stairs from eighth floor to the roof, carrying the water with them. We told them that even though we used a lot of water on the roof flowers, that vegies would require probably four times as much during dry and hot periods. The result? Lots of flowers, no vegetables -- but there is a solitary strawberry plant - with berries on it.
I am so sorry about your baby vegetables. I know you put a lot of work and hope in them. Sad!