Water has been a constant issue this year. First, we had too much, then we had too little. I would have run out during the heat wave. The misfortune of others saved me. Over the course of this summer, I doubled my water storage on the off-grid garden plot.

Last summer, I redid the roof of the garden house. I thought the water collected there would be enough. I started with 1,000 liters of storage in five barrels. Then, I bought five more barrels used. The wet year filled them up quickly, especially the strong rain storms in spring and early summer.

Our summer was a few weeks of heat wave. This year, the water might have been enough. I never touched the 600 liters of reserve on the forest plot. But everything else was empty at one point.

Neighbors gifted me their extra water, 400 liters I used up within days. Then, another neighbor had to get rid of his animals. He gave me not only his water but also his barrels. Slowly, I moved barrels onto my plot. The pump was almost always running somewhere while I gardened.

Slowly, I was building up my water storage. There are blue barrels all over my plot now. Most of them are full.

On hot days like today, I have to water a lot of the garden. And I, at the moment, have the privilege of having more water than I need because the neighbor had to get rid of his animals, and there’s a lot of surplus water that I can just pump over. Though I’m going through it very fast, which is a tiny bit scary.

But on hot days like today, it can be really, really hard to decide what to water and not to water. So over time, I’ve tried to figure out what plants look like when they could benefit from some water. And of course, there are some plants that you definitely need to give water to, like seedlings. They aren’t very robust yet. You can’t let them dry out for more than a little bit. So those definitely need water.

I’ll be watering the spinach. I’ll be watering the brassica and the newly seeded beds. Those definitely get water. But there are other plants where it’s a little bit more flexible.

And as you can see, I have beans here. There are a lot of beans, and the leaves are really, really just slopping over. And it’s just looking sad. It’s just not lush and strong. And if you move the leaves a little bit, they are very, very soft and fragile.

I have the same plant over on the other side of the garden in the shade. And I watered it yesterday. So if we compare, same plant, but the leaves are a lot more lush. And if I move them, they are a lot more firm because there’s more water pressure in it. So the turgor is higher. Yeah, there’s sciencey things behind it. But you can see that this looks a little more lush and happy. This plant won’t get water today. The other three over there, they definitely will.

Similarly here, these tomatoes look fine. I mean, they are just the tiniest bit droopy. I could water them, but it’s not urgent yet.

If we go more into the sunnier side of the bed over here, you see that these are really letting their leaves drop and they could benefit from some water.

And the cool thing is this really goes for most plants. So even if we go over here, we can see the same droopiness in the chilies that would like some water. So this one here, for example, they are all just the tiniest bit droopy and soft.

And if you start touching your plants–don’t be scared to touch your plants! Unless they are very, very fragile plants, they’ll be totally fine being touched. So I suggest you start to touch your plants on a regular basis. Couple hours after you’ve watered them, what do they feel like? How heavy are the pots (if you’re growing in containers)? What does the soil look like? And that way you can learn from your plants and listen to them when they need water instead of just following some random numbers someone threw out on the internet. So instead of calculating or guessing, you can listen to your plants and see when they want water and then give them some if you have some.

Other than that there’s obviously some priorities. We have plants that need more water like seedlings and fragile plants. Cucumbers really, really don’t like variations in water levels. So if you’re growing cucumbers, make sure you’re keeping those well watered as well. But most plants will let you know when they need water.

To water my plants I use two different things. I use watering cans with attachments in the front to just manually water things and I have a pump. The pump uses the batteries from all my tools, so that’s part of the tool system, and I can exchange the batteries from thing to thing. And I just put that in my rain barrels. I have a hose attached to it. And that hose runs to the bed or another barrel. I have a shorter hose for more water pressure.

As there isn’t a lot of pressure, there’s not a lot of water coming out at the same time. So I like to set down the hose for a bit and just let it soak for a second or I hold it in place depending on the plant. With tomatoes, I try to avoid touching the actual stems so I get it as far down to the mulch as possible and water them there. But in general, I like to just give it a little bit of a good rinse.

I don’t water every day. So I like to give them a deep watering that goes further down so they build longer roots. Because down there, water stays a lot longer so it’s more efficient to water vigorously every few days than to water a little bit. It also makes for stronger plants.

With the long 30-meter hose, I have a good range but it comes at a severe loss of pressure. The long hose needs to be left in the bed long enough to check on things like ripe tomatoes. I usually use the 10-meter hose for watering, the long hose for transfers from barrel to barrel.

Using the long hose is wasting energy. The long hose has more friction, so more energy is lost through the hose. I didn’t like it. Over the next week I’d strategically place my rain barrels to make sure every bed is within 10 meters of a barrel. The shorter hose also has much nicer water pressure, so it’s not just about wasting energy. With the short hose, watering requires less of my very limited patience.

The thirsty beans got a good drink that evening. They’d need it to grow large fruit for me. During the few weeks of heat wave, I had to water the garden a lot.

I showed you these yesterday, and look at how much happier these look. And keep in mind, it’s another very hot day so they won’t look like this for a long time. But compared to yesterday the leaves are much more stable and a lot less droopy and soft.

So this plant has had a good drink because I watered it a lot yesterday, and we’re going to water it again probably tomorrow. So yeah, whenever it looks like it’s sad again.

I would have run out of water. Luckily, my neighbors had more than needed. I pumped hundreds of liters onto my land from two of my garden neighbors. Because of my neighbor’s misfortune with his animals, I now have twice the water storage. Most of my barrels are full, too.

Watching Pepper steal my tomatoes in the heat looks wrong as I edit this in a thick sweater. The rain is back. The rest of the barrels will fill quickly. Summer feels months ago with the fast fall.

At least, I don’t have to water the winter greens. Nature is handling that for me. I already miss evenings like this one where my husband flies the drone while I water and harvest.

But next year will bring another growing season. And there is much to be excited about this winter.

So long, and thanks for being here.