For many people, having raised garden beds will be very convenient. It can make things simpler when you’re trying to take care of your plants.
Many find that raised garden beds will help make it easier to plant things. It can also protect from weeds better since you’ll have an easier time pulling them.
If you’re new to the idea of using them in your garden area, then you might not be familiar with how to do things. For example, you might not be entirely sure how to go about watering your plants in a raised bed.
It’s going to be pretty easy to water plants in a raised bed. Keep reading to learn the best way so that you can have the best experience possible while gardening.
You Can Water by Hand as Usual
Before moving further, it’s important to note that you can water raised beds by hand as usual. You don’t need to use some type of fancy system if you would rather just water the plants yourself.
If you’re going to be watering by hand, then it’s a good idea to do so in the morning. Studies have shown that plants absorb moisture the best during the morning hours.
It’s also going to be wise to water the plants before the heat of the daytime hits. This ensures that they will be able to endure the heat much better.
As always, you want to understand the watering requirements of the plants that you’re taking care of. Learn how much water they need and do your best to assess when they need to be watered.
Remember that it isn’t always as simple as watering the plants on a weekly schedule. You might need to specifically check the condition of the soil to see whether the plants need to be watered.
Watering too much or too little can be dangerous because the plants can become wilted or experience other problems. So long as you’re being smart and trying your best, it should be easy to get consistently good results when watering by hand.
Use room-temperature water when watering your plants, too. Ideally, you should avoid using tap water to water the plants in case some of your plants are sensitive to chemicals such as fluoride and chlorine.
Many people who water their plants by hand choose to buy distilled water or spring water from the store. You could also leave water out in a watering can for 24 hours ahead of time so that chemicals will dissipate.
Finally, it’s important to remember that how often it rains will play a factor in whether you should be watering the plants or not. You must keep an eye on the weather when taking care of the plants whether they’re in a raised bed or not.
Remember that natural rainfall will give the plants some of the water that they need every week. This is why it’s often more prudent to check the soil than it is to just water on a static schedule.
The weather plays a role in how often you need to water the plants due to how hot things get as well. Many plants will need a bit more water when the weather is particularly hot.
Automatic Systems
If you’d like to try to make things as simple as possible, then you could use automatic watering systems. There are many different automatic system types that you can use that will work well.
Some people like using simple sprinkler systems to water raised bed gardens. This is easy to set up and you can get decent results, but you can’t expect it to work perfectly.
It’s hard to get the sprinklers to hit every plant properly and it might not always water things as evenly as you’d like. To add to this, you might get the leaves of the plants wet and sometimes this can cause plant diseases.
Soaker hoses are also popular options that you can set up, but they sometimes have problems. For instance, many people have had soaker hoses crack over time, and they also have issues with watering plants evenly just the same as sprinkler systems do.
One of the best options involves using a drip line irrigation system. What’s so good about using a system such as this is that it automatically waters your plants evenly at all points throughout the raised bed.
You can set things up so that you’ll be able to water the plants thoroughly with the flip of a switch. This type of watering system can also be placed on a simple timer so that it will water the plants at specific intervals.
It’s really easy to get a system such as this working with a timer. You’ll be able to choose when to start watering the plants, how long the watering session will last, how often this is supposed to occur, and more.
If you’re looking for a simple solution to watering your raised beds, then this is probably the best option. It’s great for anyone who wants to be able to water plants in raised garden beds without having to put in a ton of effort.
Once you’ve installed the drip irrigation system, you’ll be able to maintain things even when you aren’t there. It just works, and you won’t have to worry too much about things.
That being said, it will be important to make adjustments based on natural occurrences. For example, you might set your timer to water weekly, but you might need to adjust the settings depending on if it rained or not.
You wouldn’t want to thoroughly water the plants after it rained a lot since the plants likely already got enough water. Too much water has the potential to kill plants, and this means that you do need to pay attention to things when using an automatic system.
Some people might argue that you feel a bit more in control when you’re watering plants by hand. This is true in many ways, and it might be better if you’re trying to be careful to avoid using automatic systems.
However, the convenience factor of using a drip line irrigation system is hard to deny. It’ll be able to water the plants evenly and you won’t have to spend time individually watering each plant in the raised bed.
Just being able to get things done faster can be amazing in many ways. Which method you’ll choose to go for will depend on your personal preference and budget.
Final Thoughts
When you’re looking for the best way to water raised garden beds, it’s going to come down to two choices. You could choose to simply water everything by hand to play it safe.
There’s some merit to watering everything by hand since you’re going to be out in the raised beds checking on the plants every time that you go to water them. You’ll be less likely to water the plants too much since you can easily check the soil to see how things are going.
The other best option involves using a drip line irrigation system. This can be set up to water your plants automatically, but you can also just turn it on when you want to water things.
For many people, an automatic system will be the most convenient option. It’ll ensure that the plants get watered evenly, but you will need to be careful to make adjustments if it rained recently.
Choose your favorite option and you’ll surely get good results. You know that you can have a good time watering raised beds using either of these options, but it comes down to what is the most convenient and sensible choice in your situation.
Ben has a bachelor’s degree in construction engineering. When not constructing or remodeling X-Ray Rooms, Cardiovascular Labs, and Pharmacies, you can find him at home with wife and two daughters. Outside of family, He loves grilling and barbequing on his Big Green Egg and Blackstone Griddle, as well as working on projects around the house.
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