One of the most common and repetitive activities you do in your garden or your garden is irrigation. In today’s post, we will explain how to understand when to water and some tips and recommendations.
Where we are going to stop is in the most common types of irrigation systems. We will tell you what there are, their advantages and disadvantages.
Returning to irrigation, once started in the garden we have to ensure that the irrigation of our crops is correct at all times.
The demand for water from vegetables
It is necessary to know the different demands of water of the vegetables , in function of:
- the cultivated species
- the moment of development in which you are
- the type of culture support
- the time of the year we are in
- and planting density.
Tips and recommendations for watering your garden and orchard
The basic points to follow to avoid mistakes during the irrigation of the vegetables grown in the garden would be the following:
- Know the irrigation needs of the speciesgrown in the garden.
- At the time of sowing the soil must be moistto provide the seed with the necessary moisture to germinate. A previous irrigation is carried out in the garden before sowing to achieve this humidity. If the sowing is done in seedbed the substrate also requires this moisture.
- Young plants will always need more irrigationthan adult plants.
- The leafy vegetables, vegetables classic; Swiss chard, lettuce , spinach … need more watering when they reach their maturity period.
- The root vegetablesrequire more watering when it starts to fatten the root.
- Other types of vegetablesthat originate fruit such as tomatoes , peppers , watermelons, melons, zucchini require that irrigation be increased during the flowering period and beginning of the fruit.
- If it is grown in a pot or on cultivation tables, therewill be a greater evaporation of the water, so the need for irrigation will be greater (not in quantity but in frequency)
- If the substrate is in large pots or growing tables or the soil where it is grown is deep, the irrigation has to be less than if it is grown in small pots or growing tables or in deep soils, for the latter case it is necessary to water more frequently.
- Watering must be done first thing in the morning or late afternoonto avoid evaporation of water due to the intense heat.
- Leaves and stems will never be wet when watering so as not to cause fungus to appear.
- If cultivation is carried out in an orchard on land, it is necessary to know the type of soil available:
- If the soil is sandy the irrigation has to be more frequent since the water is not retained due to the porosity of the soil.
- If the soil is clayey the irrigation will be less since this type of soil retains the water much better.
A very important factor is the drainage if we grow in an urban garden all the containers have to have a good drainage so that the water supplied during the irrigation does not accumulate in the base and causes rot.
These points would be the basic ones to know to always water properly and that our vegetables always have the amount of water necessary for their development in the garden.
What are the most used irrigation systems?
There are various types of irrigation system from the most ancient such as flood irrigation to more current irrigation systems such as sprinkler irrigation.
If we grow in a few pots or a cultivation table, it is best to water with a traditional watering can , this simple tool allows us to supply the necessary water to our plants without further complications.
If our orchard or garden is larger and we have ample space with land to grow our favorite plants and vegetables, we have to evaluate other irrigation systems to supply the necessary water to our crops.
Hose
It is used in small gardens and gardens and in the urban garden. It is a simple system that does not require any installation and with a simple hose the necessary water can be supplied to the different crops.
As disadvantages it can be said that it is an irrigation system not suitable for people who do not have much time and also comment that it is not irrigated at all well since the water stays on the surface without reaching the deepest of the substrate or soil where the roots of the different cultivated species are found.
Drip irrigation
Without a doubt, it is the irrigation system with which water is best used since the necessary water can be strictly supplied.
It works through drippers installed in the irrigation pipe whereby water is supplied to the crop.
Another advantage that it has is that it can be programmed by installing an irrigation programmer and thus dosing the water that is required at each time of the year or the crop cycle.
Flood irrigation
This is an ancestral irrigation system, used when we have the garden designed on terraces or in furrows.
It is an irrigation system that, with the appearance of the drip irrigation system, has fallen into disuse due to the large amount of water consumed and because it is not a very equitable system for crops.
Sprinkler irrigation
It is a system widely used to water the garden lawn. It is simple to install and supplies the water just as if it were raining evenly.
For crops of vegetables and other types of plants such as aromatic plants and flowers, it is not the most appropriate irrigation since it moistens the aerial part of the plants, stems, leaves and flowers, which can cause the appearance of fungi that affect the plants .
Irrigation for exudation
Through this system, water is provided through porous hoses that exude water.
