How much is too much?

One year after moving from the BIG city to beautiful Bethlehem, Pa, my back yard- a veritable wasteland of dust and clay and used unmentionable person products -has become a garden fairyland..
The Gods must have been with me because I haven't a clue what I am doing.
My question is about watering.
I tend to water like crazy..
The (tested) soil is now yummy and deep and full of huge worms.
No matter how much I water there is never any 'standing'..
Whatever I stick in the ground grows and thrives.
But alas, someone gave me the heebe-jeebies about watering too much, and now I am pertwitzed.
There are a couple of things that need less water, Iris and Russian sage and sedums, for instance, which are doing splendidly.
And I do not have anything that is uncommon or picky, I think, and no annuals or roses..
So what would be the signs that I am overwatering?
Is it possible that one morning I will wake up and everything will be rotted and dead and reeking of failure?
This seems to be so intuitive, but MY intuition has taken a cab to the airport..

Thumbnail by gotpups

I only know about watering irises. If bearded go easy on the water cause it can cause rot. If beardless a lot of water is fine. What looks like a 'bulb' on a bearded iris is really a food storage stem. In dry hot areas of the country it can be under dirt. In hot humid areas & cooler one, be careful with the water.

This message was edited Jul 1, 2010 6:13 PM

One sign to look out for is wilting. Your plants might start to look like they need water when they wilt but the wilting could actually be caused by too much water so adding water will just compound the problem.

Good Grief - sorry

Yep, wilting is a great indicator...also if the soil is constantly damp, there are only certain plants that can take consistently damp soil

Sins of fungus or mildew is a sign of overwatering, but your garden sounds fine. Are those pups skipperkes?

Thanks everybody!
Haven't seen any wilting yet except one or two things at the hottest part of the day..
And they bounce right back later..


I think I went a bit too crazy with the mulch.compost (which is free here)..

The soil was so dead no matter how I dug it up that I just raised the whole yard level about a foot with the stuff,,
So it's difficult to tell how damp everything really is..
But the wilting thing is very great information!!!

Yes Robindog, Schipperkes they are..
All rescues (I am a SRA volunteer)

Nina from an Arkansas kill shelter(don't even get me started), Nikki and Max from puppy-mills (one notorious..the miller is now enjoying a 10 year jail sentence) and very new Boo (in this pic), who's owner decided to 'move on' with a nice new partner and move out the nice old dog.
Boo has become VERY helpful in the garden, instinctively knowing the exact spot where I am about to plant something and making it his very own hidey-hole.....
Dogs and gardens..we could do a whole new chapter on that subject!

This message was edited Jul 4, 2010 6:32 PM

Yes! I have an airedale from Airedale Rescue......holes everywhere in my beds.

Our Toby is a Llasa Apso who was rescued.
Martha

Hi Martha...my stepdaughter had a Llasa who had to be put down at 17.....she was crazy!

Here's Toby!
Martha

very sweet. I bet that grooming is fun.

Toby gets a once over with his brush every day or every other day. He has a date with the groomer every couple of months or so. back in early June we had him clipped extra short. They also do his claws. He doesn't seem to mind. He gets K-9 advantix once a month and that stuff works like a charm. No fleas, ticks (which are a problem here) or mosquitos. It's easy to apply and thus he doesn't need a flea bath when he gets groomed. He's a pretty easy dog.
Martha

He's too cute!!!!
I do K9 advantix for Wall-e, too

We decided on the K-9 A because he is only just over a year old and still has puppy chew urges. He has gotten out of several harnesses and chewed them up. We didn't want that to happen to a flea collar. and ticks and fleas are icky!! the less I have to do with them the better.
Martha