Wednesday, July 8, 2009

low tech

So when watering the garden this week I came across a problem. I let the little pots hanging on the fence dry out too much. I know I just said the other day that too much water is a bad thing, but too little is bad too. In containers you have to be especially careful. Since there is so little dirt, and often there are holes in the bottom so they don't collect too much water when it rains, they dry out really fast. Well, the poor little flowers were begging for water. And when I pushed my finger into the dirt, I discovered just how dry they were. They were at the point where all the dirt clumps into one big spongy lump, and they were getting wimpy because of it.

Anyway... when I tried to water them with the watering can, the water bypassed the dirt and went right back out of the holes in the bottom. I tried to water more slowly, but that just made my arms tired, holding the full watering can above should height. I had to figure out a way to make the water drip slowly into the soil so it could loosen the dirt and soak in. And I didn't really want to dig the drip hose out.


I'm not exactly sure how it dawned on me, but ice cubes came to mind. I threw a generous handful in each pot.

I'll let you know if the flowers perk up.

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