Only Use Cold, Gentle Water

Use a nozzle that offers a gentle rain. Always check the temp of the water as it comes out of the hose to make sure it's cold. As the temperatures rise, the first water out of the hose can be burning hot - even early in the day.

Water in the Early Morning

Water in the early morning, when the stomata on the leaves are closed (rather than taking in sunlight) and the leaves can dry as the sun comes out. Watering in the evening can lead to disease problems, and is best done only infrequently.

If you need to water during the heat of the day, try not to water the leaves - just water the ground around the plants.

First Two Mornings

Water everything the first two mornings after planting - this is crucial for the plants to survive and thrive.

If a plant looks especially sad, you can leave the hose on a _slooow_ flow directly into the center of the plant and leave it on for 10-20 minutes. For trees/shrubs, you can leave it on overnight. Before (and after!) doing this, check and make sure the roots are firmly in the planting hole, with good soil connection, and have not been moved by an animal or by the water. If they have, pack the soil back around the roots and re-create the catchment basin.

Fill the Doughnut

Unless you are using TreeDiapers, there will be catchment basins (or “doughnuts”) around every plant. These basins are made of soil and work to catch and hold water for the plant (they are often covered by the mulch and may not be easily visible). As you water, fill the basin, wait for the water to go down, then fill again.

Helpful tip: Water all the plants from east to west (for example), then west to east. This gives a natural pause to each plant. Depending on how long you spend with each plant, you can do this twice.

Time Between Waterings

Plants do not like being watered every day. After the initial few days, give the roots time to dry out between waterings. For trees/shrubs, this means watering 2x a week; for smaller plants, this means watering 3x a week (once everything looks established, this can drop to 2x a week).

1" a Week

New trees/shrubs need an inch of rain a week, or 10 gallons of water. This is 5 gallons 2x a week. You can time yourself filling a 5-gallon bucket. This is how long you would need to water each tree/shrub 2x a week.

If you are using a TreeDiaper, you can recharge the TreeDiaper whenever it gets low, which may only be once a season.

Did it Rain?

Often rain is not heavy enough to replace a watering. To know how much rain actually fell, I recommend looking at the weather (https://www.wunderground.com) and noticing the depth of each rain. A light drizzle of .01" does nothing, but a rain of .5" is a solid half an inch.

Helpful tip: Weather apps only tell how much rain is predicted to fall. Very often the reality is different from the prediction, and often it is much less than what was predicted. If you want to know for sure, set up a rain gauge in your garden. There are some cool ones out there.

Provide Shade

If plants look sad on hot days, use what you have to provide shade. For smaller plants, I use cardboard “hats” to create shade. For best effect, take these off at night, then put them back on once you finished watering in the morning.

You can use cardboard, large pots (if plastic, these need to be next to the plant, *not* over them), benches, etc. During a hot summer, any amount of shade helps.

Remove the Flowers

If your plants look wilty, and the other steps don’t help (or, if you don’t want to make cardboard hats), gently remove the flowers from the plants. The is especially helpful for fruit trees, but can be done for any plant. This encourages the plants to focus all their energy on their roots first, to create a strong base for future years.

Keep Watering ALL Fall - Until Frost (mid-November)

Lack of watering is the biggest reason new trees/shrubs experience winter stress/death. I cannot emphasize enough - for new plants, keep watering until hard frost so your plants can come back in spring healthy and beautiful.

Happy Watering!