Save Water by Learning How Much Your Plants Really Need Stay up
to date with the latest headlines via email. The following is an
excerpt from Solar Gardening: Growing Vegetables Year-Round the
American Intensive Way by Leandre Poisson and Gretchen Vogel
Poisson. It has been adapted for the Web. Mention watering, and
the first thing we think of is how we can garden so that we
don’t have to water. If a garden’s soil is rich with humus, the
decomposing organic matter will absorb water like a sponge and
hold in the moisture, making it available to growing plants.
Mulching also makes for moist soil, because it prevents the
evaporation of water from the ground’s surface. That’s why, in
American Intensive Gardening, we grow plants close together to
form a living mulch. Just like a miniature rainforest, the
canopy of leaves shades the soil, keeping it cooler and reducing
moisture loss through evaporation. Recently we came across some
old gardening notes that indicated that in 1978 we had had to
water our garden for t