How to Water Square Foot Gardens

Watering a square foot garden takes very little advanced planning. The keys to watering a square foot garden are the weather conditions and the physical condition of the plants. A plant needs watering only when it shows signs of stress.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Examine the leaves of the plants in a square foot garden. If the leaves have begun to droop and appear a bit wilted, it's time to water the garden.

2. Hook a sprinkler nozzle to the garden hose. The sprinkle head allows copious amounts of water to be used to drench the plants with minimum impact to the soil. Since the surface area is severely limited, the soil in a square foot garden must be protected by using a sprinkler head to avoid gouging out the soil surface.

3. Drench the plants. Go ahead and turn the soil muddy with water. The roots of the plants in a square foot garden are more susceptible to drying out than plants in a larger bed or garden.

4. Check the moisture level of the soil. Continue watering until the soil is completely saturated. Do not leave large pools of water on the surface as the erosion from the runoff could cause open fissures in the dirt.

5. Let the soil dry until the plants begin to wilt and show signs of drying out.

6. Water as necessary. Due to the higher temperatures, soak the plants more frequently in summer.