Re: watering and dealing with the heat

Yes, Marilyn, that's my basic problem with any soaker hose - that and
the fact that they don't work on a slope worth beans and I've got
mostly slopes.

Further to the water not going sideways bit.  I've been digging my
concrete like soil at the bottom of the hill to fill a raised bed at
the top of the hill...we won't go into this story:-)   In an effort
to soften the soil down there, I turned on a hose that reached only
about 1/3 of the way down the hill and let it run, thinking it would
eventually hit bottom and saturate the soil, making it easier to dig.

Well, it slowly did hit bottom and when it got to my "excavation", it
started filling it.  I watched what was happening.  Water filled the
low spots, found the excavation and filled it....when I left at dark,
the soil at the edges of the excavation was bone dry, while the hole
was almost full of water.  I will be interested to see tomorrow
whether it soaked into the soil at the edges at all before it drained
away.....rather doubt it; if I can remember, I will report.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@hort.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Marilyn Dube <mygarden@easystreet.com>
> Marge,
> This is the problem I had with burying my leaky black soaker hoses
in my
> veggie raised beds- the water didn't go sideways at all - leaving
the middle
> 1 foot (wide)deeply watered and the 2 foot (wide) sides dry as
could be.
> :(  For me it does better laying them on top of the soil, even
though you
> lose some water to evaporation.
> 
> Marilyn Dube'
> Natural Designs Nursery
> Portland, Oregon

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