Watering question

I am using a soaker hose for the first time and want some advice.
The only source of water for the garden this year is from the fawcet: it has not
rained decently since mid - late April.

If I use the soaker hose for an hour or so it still looks as if only a small amount
of the garden soil, the soil directly under the hose and maybe an inch or so beyond.
Is this true?

I have some seeds not yet sprouted, I am trying to keep them moist. I fear getting too much
water on the squash plants I have battled fungus before,

I have been doing top watering of the rest of the garden not yet covered by the soaker hose
Is this needful?( I will do it today as temps are expected to go to 85 degrees F.)

When I get the whole garden on the soaker hose, can I just time it? I will place the hose lines about one foot apart.

The other thing I do is when I anticipate not getting into the garden for two days
(like Mother's Day weekend) i put buckets of water into the low paths / ditches I dig around
the raised beds so as to give water somewhere to drain to- in case we ever get too
much water again.

Some pictures follow. Am I doing this right?
Thanks so much for your thoughts on this.

Pictures 1 and 3 have a weird perspective thing going on
making it appear that the plastic planter with the moss in it is sitting on the ground or
floating over the milk crate. It is not.

The third photo is taken from my second floor window, through the screen.

The last two photos are of water in the ditches.



Heather Y.

Soaker or drip irrigation concepts: Water is applied slowly, and at the surface of the soil. Almost none is lost to evaporation or run off, it all (99%+) soaks in.

1) What kind of soil do you have?
Sand: Water will race pretty much straight down. Very little sideways movement at all. You can use tubing with a faster application of water.
Silt: Water won't actually puddle, but there will be some sideways movement. A middle rate of application will work, but the fastest watering could cause puddles.
Clay: Even a slow irrigation method can cause puddling, and a lot more sideways movement- Once it begins to puddle it is soaking straight down, not just under the emitter, but the whole puddle area. If you are drip irrigating a hillside, the plants may need berms to hold the water to give it time to soak in. Slower application method is best.
A really well prepared soil with plenty of organic matter, plenty of air spaces between the particles: Probably won't see puddling, but you will highly likely see better sideways movement.
If the water puddles, but still soaks into the target area, that is OK. But if the puddles spread farther, and are not actually watering the plants then you need to adjust something: Tubing location, emitter rate, or how long it is running. Sometimes more complex solutions are needed.

2) How deep does it get?
Best is to test it. Water an area that is as much like the planted area as possible, but you can dig up. Water for whatever set amount of time you want, then let it sit an hour (perhaps more in clay soil) then go dig a hole and see where the water went. How deep? How wide?

3) Here is the million dollar question:
Did it wet the root zone of the plants you are growing?
a) Yes- Then that is how long to run it.
b) No, it did not go deep enough- Then run it longer, or add another line pretty close.
c) No, it did not move sideways enough- Then run another line over the area that is the most dry.
d) In some areas it is great, in others it needs more water- Then add more line in the drier areas- Widely separated line = more water at the surface, wider spread of the water (strawberries, lettuce... shallow rooted plants). Closer placement of the line = coverage will overlap, and go deeper. (Tomatoes, Melons, other large plants with deeper roots)

4) Simple helpers:
A surfactant can help the water soak into the soil. They have names like Water Wet, or Water In, but liquid dish soap (for washing dishes by hand) can be added to the water at the rate of 1 tablespoon per gallon. Soak the surface, then run the irrigation to further dilute it and deep soak the area.
A watering tube is more for large trees- it is a vertical pipe with holes, filled with coarse rock. Fill the pipe with water, and it can soak deeper, faster.

Diana,

Thank you so much for sending all that in depth information. I am printing that out!

My backyard soil is heavily amended clay - I amend with table scrap compost, potting soil for seeds about four inches down, some acidifiers in recent years to bring the Ph down some, also I spade and fork about 12 inches down before I plant-where I plant, in the kinda-sorta raised beds.

The puddling you see in the pics is in part due to the fact that I walk on those wider paths.
I am going to try hand digging small holes in the area next to the squash roots to see how far down the water goes.

thanks
Heather Y

Places where you walk will be compacted. Very poor soil structure, very prone to puddling. I would put some chips or something in the paths, so at least I did not have to walk in mud.

You can check how deep the water gets when you water, and how fast it soaks in this way:

Dig a small hole. Perhaps a foot across, and a couple of inches deep.
Turn on a hose fairly slowly.
Time how long it takes to fill a container (perhaps a 1 gallon jug).
Then (without adjusting the hose flow) start filling the hole.
If the hole never puddles, then the water is soaking in very well.
After you have run 1 gallon into the hole, turn off the hose, and let it sit for an hour or so. Then dig it up and see how deep the water went.