7 Ways to Conserve Water in the Garden this Summer

Although the bounty of tomatoes, beans, and sunflowers makes the summer garden a magical place, the intense heat of July and August can be enough to break us and our plants. I know I’ve almost thrown in the towel on my garden after struggling through weeks of hot and dry days. That’s why I now implement a handful of water-saving practices that help keep my plants and me happy.

Some of these practices involve improving the soil’s ability to hold moisture, while others focus on how and when you deliver hydration to your plants. However, they all decrease the amount of water you need to add to your garden. The result? A lower water bill, happier plants, and more time to focus on other gardening tasks.

7 Ways to Conserve Water in the Garden

Saving water comes down to using less on your plants. However, that doesn’t mean providing your plants with less water! The sweet spot lies in maximizing your efficiency so the majority of the moisture you apply to your garden makes its way to your plants rather than evaporating or running off.

Pay Attention to Timing

The best time to water your plants is in the morning or evening when the sun is low in the sky, and evaporation rates are low. These conditions give the moisture a chance to infiltrate into the soil and percolate down to deeper layers of soil rather than immediately evaporating off the surface. That means less is wasted and more reaches the plants’ roots.

Both morning and evening work well if you’re using drip irrigation or watering near the base of your plans with a hose or watering can. However, if you’re using overhead irrigation, morning is preferable. The low morning temperatures give the water a chance to settle into the ground, and the bright late morning light helps dry wet leaves and prevent fungal diseases.

If you aren’t around in the morning or evening, consider setting your irrigation system on a timer (I’ll cover more on that below). And if you have to water during the middle of the day, opt for deep soakings every few days rather than shallow sprinkles every day. This method allows moisture to soak deep into the ground, which encourages deep roots and limits evaporation.

With all this said, if your plants are thirsty, go ahead and water them! I find that small grow bags and containers in direct sun often require afternoon watering during extremely hot days.

Cover the Soil with Mulch

Moisture escapes through the soil in a few ways. First, it travels through plant roots and escapes through their leaves in a process called evapotranspiration. This process is how many plants cool themselves, so it explains why plants need more hydration when it’s hot out than they do when it’s cool.

Water also exits the soil as it evaporates off the soil surface. Limiting the amount of loss via evaporation makes more hydration available for plant roots. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by applying mulch on top of the soil surface.

You can find many different types of mulch, including wood chips, straw, pine needles, and landscape fabric. One material isn’t necessarily better than the other, but each type of mulch has its pros and cons. In general, it makes sense to select a material that’s readily available and affordable. No matter which type of mulch you select, apply at least two inches of material to prevent evaporation.

Applying mulch around your plants also provides numerous other benefits. It prevents runoff during heavy rain events and allows the moisture to percolate into the soil. Therefore, you can enjoy hydrated soils and plants instead of eroded soil. Mulch also helps prevent weed seed germination and growth, thereby limiting the number of weeds taking moisture from the soil.

Install Drip Irrigation

When it comes to watering your plants, you can choose between two main systems. Overhead irrigation like sprinklers and hoses apply water into the air, mimicking natural rainfall. Drip irrigation applies moisture to the soil surface so none is wasted or left on leaf surfaces to develop fungal issues.

Both irrigation systems have their place in the garden, but drip irrigation is better for conserving water. Plus, drip irrigation keeps the plants’ leaves dry, which prevents fungal diseases from developing.

Overhead Irrigation Options

If you need to cover a wide area with overhead irrigation, choose wisely! A sprinkler that applies moisture just where you want it is the best choice. Here are some overhead irrigation options ranked best to worst in terms of conservation.

Since soaker hoses and drip lines slowly emit onto the soil surface, very little moisture is lost through evaporation. Drip irrigation systems also allow you to distribute moisture only where you want it. While sprinklers cover a wide area, drip lines apply to certain lines within this area. That means you can hydrate your rows of tomatoes and beans while leaving the open space in between the rows dry. Not only does this conserve what you use, but it also prevents the growth of weeds between crops.

Setting up a drip irrigation system may seem complicated, but it’s pretty easy once you become familiar with the parts and terminology. As long as you have the necessary parts on hand, you can set up drip irrigation in your garden in a single afternoon. When it’s time to water, just turn on the valve and walk away!

I like to use connectors with valves to connect each line of drip tape to the header. This makes it easy to turn each line on and off, which allows for greater control. For example, these connectors allow you to water a row of large tomato plants for 15 minutes more than your row of okra seedlings.

Add Organic Matter to the Soil

While many people are focused on how they apply water to their gardens, the soil structure also plays a big role in moisture retention and, therefore, conservation. Soil is made up of three sizes of inorganic soil particles: sand, silt, and clay. The percentage of each of these particles determines the soil structure. For example, a soil that is 40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay is considered a loam, and soil that’s 20% sand, 10% silt, and 70% clay is a clay soil.

A larger percentage of clay leads to increased water-holding capacity, and a larger amount of sand leads to decreased retention. However, moisture often has an easier time infiltrating and percolating through sandy soil. That means soils high in sand often experience fewer runoff issues.

While it’s difficult to change the texture of your soil, you can change its properties by adding organic matter. Soil is primarily made of the three inorganic particles I explained above, but it also contains a small portion of organic matter. The exact percent of soil organic matter (SOM) depends on the soil, but it typically ranges between 1-5%.

Since organic matter helps improve infiltration and storage, it’s a great addition to all types of soils. Compost, worm castings, leaf mulch, and coco coir are all great sources of organic matter that are easy to find and apply. Increasing the SOM to at least 5% will result in improved retention and allow you to decrease the amount you use. 

If you don’t want to add a few inches of compost or leaf mulch this year, feel free to spread your organic matter additions out over time. Adding an inch of compost to the top of your soil each year will slowly improve the soil over time. Organic mulches like wood chips and straw will also break down and improve the soil’s ability to retain moisture.

Group Plants Based on Water Needs

Another way to conserve is to avoid watering your plants more than necessary. The trouble with following advice is that some plants need more irrigation than others. For example, your thirsty celery plants require a lot more moisture than the drought-tolerant echinacea and coneflowers.

This is where thoughtful garden design comes into play. Grouping plants with similar requirements allows you to irrigate your garden so that each plant receives exactly the amount of moisture it needs. No more and no less.

For example, your cluster of drought-tolerant native perennials may only need irrigation once or twice a week during the summer. However, your garden bed full of baby greens and root veggies may require it every other day. Grouping similar plants together makes it easier to provide each plant with just the amount of water it needs.

If you live in a dry climate, it also makes sense to plant drought-tolerant ornamentals. You can find native perennials, flowering annuals, and vines that require little irrigation yet look beautiful in landscapes.

Utilize an Olla

While drip irrigation and overhead watering are the most common methods, they’re not your only options. Before either of these systems existed, gardeners relied on ollas to get their plants through periods of drought while avoiding daily irrigation. 

So, what’s an olla? In short, it’s a clay pot that you bury in the ground and fill with water. The liquid slowly leaches out of the pot and into the surrounding soil, preventing the soil from drying out. Since the flow is dependent on the soil moisture level, ollas are unlikely to lead to over- or underwatered soil.

Despite their historical usage, ollas are stars when it comes to conservation. Research shows that irrigating your plants with an olla is ten times more efficient than surface irrigation.

Ollas come in many different sizes and shapes, and choosing the right one for your garden is key to maintaining moist soil. Larger ollas are better for larger gardens, but you can also utilize multiple small ollas to hydrate your entire garden. For example, a quart-sized olla can irrigate about a square foot of soil, while a seven-quart olla can cover two square feet of space.

Install a Timer for Your Irrigation System

Let’s face it: the garden isn’t always our first priority in life. With jobs, family obligations, and summer fun to think about, sometimes we forget to hydrate our plants. You may think skipping watering helps conserve, but it often leads to last-ditch effort afternoon irrigations and stressed plants that require extra hydration to recover.

Installing an irrigation timer is an easy way to put this task on an automated schedule. After you install a drip irrigation system, add a timer between the hose and the rest of the system. The exact run time depends on your plants and environment, but watering for an hour every two to three days is often a good place to start.

Some timers have a rain delay setting that you can set up to a rainfall sensor. When the timer senses adequate rainfall, it will skip watering for one, two, or three days. If you choose a timer without this feature, remember to pause irrigation during rainy periods.