Water until established, how does one know it is established?

[ericmark]

So I have made a box to take plants to hide the wood used to build some steps, around 8" deep, around 250 litres of compost to fill the box, so wife goes out and gets the plants, which are planted out, same day.

This was Tuesday, and clearly been hot since, so watered every day, and the water has been absorbed by the soil/compost, the drive has remained dry even when full watering can of water added, hose pipe first day.

I will clearly have to continue in this dry weather to water them, but at what point can I say they are established and I can stop watering every day?

 

[StephenStephen]

If you've not lined the sides with plastic, I would urge you to do so - the water loss through the gaps in the wood will be making a huge difference.
Mulch the top of the soil with bark or well rotted manure, to slow down evaporation.

You really do need to be getting the water to the bottom of the soil, not the top. Otherwise the roots will grow up to the top of the soil where they're more vulnerable to drying out.
So either put in 2 or 3 downpipes or similar (cover them when not watering to prevent evaporation), or water the bed until you know it's reached the base (ie; water is running out of the bottom).

Watering little and often is a bad idea. You need to be watering fully and deeply, but less often.

If that was my new bed, I'd be putting on 4 or 5 cans of water every 3 days or so in this weather.

You'll start to see the plants turning their attention away from the roots and towards top growth after a few weeks - this tells you that the roots are established.

 

[ericmark]

Thank you, some good points, once we get rain water will be fed to the bottom, but from what you are saying should slowly increase the time between watering them.

 

[Odds]

Only thing i'd add to that would be lowering the level of soil by an inch or two so you can create a mulch layer that will hold the water in the plant box - think about mixing in a handful of vermiculite to help with that.

 

[ericmark]

I think this was what I used, this

is it seems what you are talking about, other than far more expensive, I don't really understand why some compost/soil improver/top soil/Vermiculite/Fuller's earth should be used/not used, for plants.

I am not into gardening, but have not option but look after our garden, when successive gardeners have stopped coming. Can't blame them, one's mother was ill, the next had a heart attack not while working here, but each time I am left to finish off half completed work.

Not helped with a wife who wants me the "just" I have always hated just jobs, as they never are.

I am sure the compost will drop down, so can be topped up. But would like to learn more about what I am doing, when to use top soil, when to use Vermiculite, etc.

 

[StephenOak]

You really do need to be getting the water to the bottom of the soil ... So either put in 2 or 3 downpipes or similar

What we have done with some plants is to bury a plant pot close to it. Filling that with water means that the enters the soil some inches down (depending on the shape & size of the pot) and the relatively narrow hole in the bottom of the pot minimises evaporation.

 

[ericmark]

I could simply cross my fingers, and they may survive. I tried multi-times to get rhubarb going, old house it was hard not to grow it, it grew to a fantastic size, but this house, kept dieing off, until the gardener planted it, and now massive rhubarb again, I think horse muck had something to do with is growing well. But I did not expect a problem, and in the past always been plant and grow, it was my method to stop weeds. No weeds under rhubarb leaves.

So I look at the labels, see the price, and think I don't want these to die. But in this house, I seem to have red fingers, I assume that's reverse of green, and things just die.

Except for the trees, which seem to grow and grow, and the chainsaw on a stick gets loads of use.