I water my veggies once a week. I use a rain gauge to keep track of the amount of rain over the week, and make up mother nature's offerings to make it one inch per week. Say it rains 1/4 inch, I will water until the empty rain gauge hits 3/4 inch. Later in the season I'll water the tomatoes/melons about twice that if it gets too hot and dry.

I don't water any of my perennials. I figure if they can't get by on what MN has to offer, then they have no place in my yard - there are plenty of plants that do! Of course I water my containers every day if they need it. It's not their fault that they're confined to that tiny space.

BTW, I've heard that frequent short waterings encourage shallow root growth and that can be bad for plants.

I'm in NE PA, and with the exception of a few freaky summers we always seem to have enough rain to get by...

M

I agree w/ floragal about the problems of frequent quick waterings promoting shallow roots so I try to only water when the plants give a sign of stress and just let the hose at the base of the plant. I have been giving some extra water a couple times a week in the early morning to the veggie garden.
Seems like its been a few weeks since we've gotten any real rain so I'll continue to do so until we get some. I also like to put out buckets to gather rain water if I know a shower is coming and use that.

I only water containter plants when they are bone dry (except for the colacasia). I have the same thoughts as floragal. For the plants in the ground, it's survival of the fittest. Though the weeds seem to do just fine in a drought..

I'm watering my container plants at least once a week.

Newly planted perennials are getting watered about once every two weeks, depending on the rain.

The rest of the garden hasn't gotten watered since the mini-drought we had in May.

Once every ten days, I put a hose with a drip running for 24 hours on all newly planted trees. I have ten newly planted trees. So that particular hose is always dripping on some tree or another.

Otherwise I water deeply, much, much, much more than a splash, vegetable garden, pots, lawn, perrenials beds, annuals beds, and window boxes) once a week or when the plants at issue show signs of stress, whichever comes first.

I am watering my containers daily. New perennials (planted this week) will get a deep soaking every 3 days for 10 - 14 days, then once a week if needed to make up for lack of rain. Basically everything else is on it's own.

My new trees are getting a deep soak weekly too. I don't think you can water them too much the first year!

Alexa