In the articles below, discover everything you need to know about watering and irrigation in food gardening, including raised beds and containers.

After soil, watering and irrigation savvy may be the second most crucial thing any food gardener will need to grow a garden to its greatest potential.

We all know about the hazards of container gardening: over-watering, under-watering, root rot, algae, etc. Container gardening is a watering and irrigation master class in and of itself.

In-ground gardens seem easier to grow, but as the line goes: “more garden, more problems.” Then you have irrigation systems and sprinklers to think about—unless you plan to baby your food garden day in and day out.

And although in-ground gardens are more manageable because plants can stretch their roots to access water and nutrients, there are still watering and irrigation challenges depending on soil and sunlight. Some garden areas may be too soggy, and others may be too dry, the ground may be too loose, have too much clay, or any other number of factors happening at once.

What about timing? Is there a best time to water your plants? Most would say morning. That gives the water plenty of time to saturate the soil before it gets hot and begins to evaporate. And it’s early enough in the day that any water on the leaves will evaporate before mold, mildew, and disease have a chance to settle in. But plants, especially those plants outside in your veggie garden, aren’t all the same.

In the articles below, you’ll learn everything you need to know about watering and irrigation in food gardening. You can learn even more in our How to Grow a Vegetable Garden: 10 Things Every Gardener Needs to Know Before Starting a Food Garden freebie. Enjoy!