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How Much Water Should You Give Your Vegetables?

Too much and too little water will have a negative effect on your vegetable garden. Too much can cause root rot, which will damage the plant, and too little will dry out the leaves, causing them to turn yellow or brown. But, if too much and too little is bad for your garden, how much is just right?

The basic rule for watering most vegetables is to give the garden uniformly one inch of water through rain or another method like drip irrigation. This varies, however, for hot or arid climates, in which the amount of water needed might be double. To calculate the exact amount needed, the general rule for watering is to add one-half inch of water for every ten degrees over a daily average of sixty degrees Fahrenheit. This average is taken from the daytime high and nighttime low, divided by two. For every ten degrees this amount is over 60 degrees, one-half inch extra of water will need to be added for that day.

Of course, this may vary with the watering method. On days with rain, you may not need to water your plants at all, while, on others, you may need to monitor the amount added to your vegetables. For the latter, a rain gauge under a sprinkler, soaker, or drip irrigation system will indicate that the vegetables have received an inch of water once this vessel collects an inch, as well.

 

 

 

 

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