Pot watering

It's rained and rained here in the last few days.
Still pouring.

I water my pots every night, plants get very dry in pots It’s just part of having them in a smallish garden my outdoor taps seized up so its carrying the cans out from the kitchen every night ?

Aside from water crystals, I heard that diaper fibers work great also.

It cut down all the pot watering when we bought a copper
‘Stick’ which when plunged into the pot showed, dry, moist, wet.Often the pot feels dry on top but is wet about five inches down.
If going away for a few days, in hot weather, we move the pots to a shadier site ( if possible) water well and they seem fine.

DH looks after the plants outside and I look after those inside and I have to say mine share appears to thrive on neglect! I water when they are beginning to wilt which is probably very cruel. That said the 'Christmas' cactus keeps flowering and the orchids keep budding and the leafy ones continue to throw out shoots so I must be doing something right

The daffs should not require watering now as they will dying down.
Have you thought about water retaining gel or crystals? These are relatively cheap, many under a fiver, great in the summer when pots and baskets can dry ou very quickly.

Whilst I found when one`s plantings are facing south east and the weather hot, all potted plants need watering twice a day...........surprising how quickly they get dry .......and a dry pot ends up a wilting pot, which is far from attractive!!!

I'm not really bothered about watering my Summer pots I'm used to that but rarely have I had to water my Spring pots of bulbs and pansies before and I only water potted shrubs in the Summer months. Thanks for all the ideas anyway.

Train a grandchild to do it

I think you just have to grit your teeth and get on with it. Automatic watering systems are very difficult to disguise or keep out of sight and plastic bottles just look horrible.

By definition, potted plants require more frequent watering. Of course the automated/expensive solutions will solve the issue.

Alternative solutions include:

1) Plant in the ground - duh. If you could have done that you probably would have done that to start with.
2) Consider one of the projects on Youtube for watering using old plastic liter bottles or ones that include a wick for watering. You still have to water, but not as often. And they tend to use old material you would otherwise likely discard.

I’ll take a look thanks Beattie9 but might be a bit pricey fo me.

tanith

Have you considered an automatic watering system?

Kits are available from garden centres and DIY stores and consist of lengths of fairly unobtrusive small-bore tubing, terminated in either mini-roses or 'dribblers'. The whole thing is controlled by either a manual valve or one operated by a time-switch.

Some years ago, I made my own based around a solenoid valve taken from a scrap washing machine.

Such a system is particularly suited to hanging baskets and the like.