What to do with wet garden beds

[tuesday]

I recently moved into a rental house where a previous tenant built garden beds in the middle of the back lawn. I've been thinking it'd be fun to plant something there, but I'm a little uncertain if it's really a good spot (and I have very little gardening experience), because the in-ground sprinklers that water the lawn water these boxes pretty thoroughly every time they run, and then the area is partially shaded so the area wouldn't necessarily dry out quickly in the morning (the sprinklers run at night). And I was looking, for example, at tips for growing tomatoes, and one I read said to avoid watering the leaves; with these boxes, it would be impossible to avoid getting the leaves quite wet quite often.

So my question is, would these sprinklers be a problem? Is getting the leaves of vegetable plants wet very problematic? Anyone have suggestions of vegetables that don't mind quite a bit of water? Or have I moved into a house with decorative boxes of dirt in the yard?

[valley]

Hi, Glad to hear you're ready to plant. Just thinking: you can adjust down the watering time, have them come on every other day and even lower each sprinkler head. most are adjustable. You might see if you can trim what ever is shading.

You can start the plants you like best indoors and move them out when the weather and water permit. How does that sound?

Have a good growing season.

Richard

[rainbowgardener]

You didn't say where you are located. Climate makes a big difference. If you are in arid Arizona, the tomatoes can probably handle being sprinkled. In my humid climate it would be a disaster. Also night time is not good. If you are going to sprinkle your tomatoes, it would be a lot better to do it in the morning, so the leaves have a chance to dry out. Can't the timing on the sprinkler system be changed?

But leafy greens would handle both the sprinkling and the shade a LOT better than tomatoes. Use that as a spot to plant things that like water - lettuce, spinach, chard, parsley, mint, etc.

[jal_ut]

And I was looking, for example, at tips for growing tomatoes, and one I read said to avoid watering the leaves;

Hmmmmm....... I water with sprinklers and they run 12 hours at a time at night once a week. The tomatoes do fine. I have never seen any indication that the water harmed them.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes, and you are a mile high in a very arid climate. What I said...

In my very humid summers, it would not work. I fight the fungus enough without putting water on the leaves. And I know the humidity makes a difference, because the one summer a couple (or three?) years ago when we had such bad drought that it wasn't even so humid, much less rainy, all that went away and my tomatoes looked just as happy and healthy and thriving at the end of the season as they did at the beginning. Never happens in normal Cincinnati summers!

[applestar]

Note, too, that jal said once a week. Take away from this is that each climate and the condition of the soil make difference in how to water and what happens after.

(With my heavy clay subsoil, if I watered for twelve hours straight, I would end up with a shallow lake )

Remember that sun angle will be higher and will rise East and slightly north of east, and set West and slightly north or west as the season progresses depending on your latitude. Right now, my sunniest beds are shaded by the woods at sunrise and the house from mid afternoon to sunset, but during the summer, the entire area is sunny from mid morning until sunset. BTW -- jal's plot is out in the open and I believe is sunny from sunrise until sunset.

If your garden is subject to seasonal shadows depending on the sun angle, it's a good idea to start making note of them right now and through the growing season. It will guide you in planning what to plant where. You can actually take advantage of the micro-climate created and plant things that need the sun in the spring or some shade in the summer. You can get all science project like and draw up a grid map and trace shadows (recruit your kids even) or -what I've always wanted to do but haven't been able to do yet- get up on the roof at various times of the day and take photos.

(Actually it's a good idea to do this full year round because I realized the reason I can't grow good garlic in some areas is because those areas are COMPLETELY FULL SHADE during late fall-winter-early spring months. )

So this bed in the middle of the lawn -- is it a raised bed?

- One way to work with this area is to choose plants that would grow well with the same existing watering schedule and the light condition
- or change the watering schedule and also the sprinklerhead angles
- another I can think of is to raise the bed if it is not already, which will help it dry out and stay above the humidity and any fungal spores sequestered in the turf/sod a little more.

[imafan26]

If grass grows it must be getting a decent amount of sun. Work some organic matter in the soil to improve it and prepare it for the veggies. Once the plants get in there, they will take up a lot of the water. Sprinkler heads can be adjusted. They are not that hard to change out if they are not adjusting and it is not costly. It takes a very little bit of skill but good fingernails help. If you buy your parts from an irrigation supplier not a retail store, they will show you how or you can just change the whole head out to an adjustable one.

Grass, if watered deeply should not need to be watered often unless your soil is sandy.

The sprinkler may probably be more of a plus than a detriment over time.