Do
- Water your flowers before the hottest time of the day when the soil is as cool as possible. You want the moisture to reach the roots before evaporation takes place.
- Water your flowers at their base. You want to hydrate them as close to the roots as possible. I’m sure we’ve all seen people spraying the blooms or the leaves from up top when a hose close to the soil would have been better to get the water to slowly seep to the roots and really saturate them.
- Water your outdoor flower plants in containers more frequently. Their soil dries out more quickly so watering in the morning and again in the afternoon is necessary when the temperatures rise in the spring and summer. The smaller the container is the more soaking they’ll need.
Don’t
- Water too much or too little. If you water just enough to always keep the soil nice and moist, you risk the flower’s ability to develop deep roots. It’s good for it to have to dig deep for water already in the soil once in a while.
- Water using one of those hoses with a jet-spray nozzle. It will oftentimes damage your blooms and leaves or totally move/damage the top soil surrounding your flowers.
- Rely on Mother Nature to supply all the needed watering for your flowers to grow healthy and strong. They need approximately an inch of water a week so place a rain gauge near your beds and if you get less than an inch a week, get the garden hose out. If you’re still not sure if the soil is moist enough, just keep a wooden dowel handy and stick that a few inches into the ground. If it’s moist enough, the dowel will come up with some soil stuck to it and if not moist enough, it will come up dry and clean. Again, pull out your garden hose at that point.