Yesterday we looked at some of the fundamentals on how to water plants. We identified that every plant and every garden is different and so couldn't be scientifically analysed with a blanket rule being passed on from gardener to gardener. Yet, there are ways to calculate and observe your own plants and come up with an equitable, and efficient, method of giving them the moisture they need.

Today, we're going to look at plants that we have growing in the garden - those that are mostly affected by the extremes of weather and fluctuations in soil conditions.

How to water plants that grow outdoors

When watering plants outside there are a number of things that one can do in order to improve the efficiency of getting water to the plant. These are;

• Create a well around the plant. This inhibits runoff and allows the water to be centralised over its root structure.


• Mulch the ground around the bed. This offers a blanket to keep evaporation to a minimum and retains moisture wonderfully.


• Add compost to your soil. The ideal soil is always a well-draining loam. This means that it is neither clay nor sand but really a mixture of each. While it's the ideal it's also fairly difficult to achieve so adding compost improves the texture of your soil recreating the positives of a good loam.

These few items will aid your plant watering immensely.

Once your soil is right and you've ensured that the conditions are as perfect as one could expect then it's time to start testing your soil for moisture content. The best way to do this is with a very inexpensive tool called a plant moisture meter. Most meters don't require batteries or any electrical source. They measure the amount of moisture in the soil much like a hydrometer measures moisture in the air.

To start analysing your plant's watering needs start off with 1L of water and pour into the well you made around the base of the plant. Leave it for an hour and then test it with your moisture sensor. The gauge should be in the middle bracket of 4-7 (moist) and if not add another 1L of water to the well. If it heads straight for the wet end of the spectrum then you know that 1L is too much and you can modify this over the next few days.

Now, continue testing at the same time everyday without applying any more water. If the gauge continues in the moist band then you can safely assume that your plant doesn't require any more moisture.

Just like we did with the container plants you will need to assess these at the extremes of each season to get a true gauge of your plant's watering needs. But, apart from that, you should now be an expert on how to water plants.