METHOD OF WATERING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 November 1940, Page 9

METHOD OF WATERING

SOME USEFUL HINTS. In dry weather watering will be necessary, especially among seedlings and newly-put-out flowers and vegetables. No doubt, holding a hose or sticking it up and leaving it to spray is the easiest method of watering, but it is not the best, for one is very liable to apply far more than is necessary, and, in addition to cooling down the soil and expelling the air, it washes the soluble plant food down into the subsoil or out into the drains, where it is lost to the crop. It is, however, better to give a reasonable soaking once in a while than simply to spinkle the surface and leave the soil underneath dry. To conserve moisture once it is applied is also very important, and after watering or after every shower run the hoe through the surface soil to create a surface mulch which prevents the moisture from evaporating off into the air. Mulching with some kind of organic material, such as lawn mowings, strawy manure, leaf mould or spent hops, is very valuable, especially to surface-rooting plants like rhododendrons and azaleas, which soon show signs of distress during dry, hot weather. Newly-transplanted specimens should get a good soaking with water before the mulch is applied. Beds occupied by wallflower, polyanthus primroses or other springflowering plants will be very dry, and it is better to give them a good soaking before planting, in addition to giving the plants a good watering in afterwards, and to spray the plants lightly overhead in the evenings until they form new root hairs and take to the soil. The same applies to seed beds in the vegetable garden. A good watering a day or so before sowing will bring the soil into good working order, and sufficient moisture will be stored up to bring about germination. A little stimulant in the form of liquid manure will also encourage the development of young vegetable crops, especially those of a leafy character, such as lettuce, spinach, and cabbage. Where possible barrels of liquid manue are most useful, and this can be made by soaking about a bushel of fowl, sheep, cow or horse manure which is placed in a sack—either separately or all mixed together, for about three days, when the first brew can be drawn off. This will be too strong to apply pure, and it will be mixed with an equal quantity of clean water. The barrel will be kept filled up, but as time goes on the draw-off will become weaker and less clean water will be used to dilute it. Some people object to have what they call smelly barrels in their backyard, but if the barrels or other containers are kept covered with a lid and the liquid drawn off regularly they are not at all objectionable.

Those who have not the facilities for making liquid manure from natural materials can substitute that formed by dissolving a little sulphate of ammonia or guano in water and applying it at once. A dessertspoonful of sulphate of ammonia or a table spoonful of guano will make quite an effective stimulant of both vegetables and roses It is most important to remember that liquid manure of any kind should not be applied to plants when the soil is dry, for two reasons. If too strong it may burn tender roots, and also because much of it would run right through the soil and off into the drains or subsoil. Give a good watering with clean water first and then apply the liquid manure,, when it will remain in the soil until the plants can take it up. Another method of feeding plants, especially those of the root crop nature, is to dust garden manure along the rows, hoe it in and then water not too heavily.