Vegetable watering as a subject in how to vegetable garden may seem to be something that new vegetable gardeners should know how to do instinctively, just common sense. Indeed in general that is the case but in these days of taking care about the amount of water we use it is worth looking at what the best vegetable watering methods are. 

To achieve the best crops vegetables typically need to be watered very regularly but some can give satisfactory results with hardly any extra watering. 

No matter what the vegetable variety there are critical times for vegetable watering and these are at sowing and transplanting.

The natural place to start giving hints and tips about vegetable watering is seed sowing. Having prepared your seed bed make a drill by using a cane or the edge of your hoe. Carefully pour water into the base of the drill avoiding if possible washing the soil from the edge of the drill down into the base. Allow the excess of water to drain away and then sow your seed. Cover with dry soil and do not water as this can bind the soil particles together and make it difficult for the germinated seedlings to break through. 

With your seed germinated and the plants beginning to grow away it is likely that you will now have to transplant some of the plants to give them all the room to mature to a good size. If your soil is very dry water the bed well a couple of days before transplanting as this will let the water soak into some depth rather than just sitting on the surface. Make a hole with your trowel and plant the thinned vegetable plant. At this point assess the condition of your soil. If the soil is wet to a good depth then backfill around the roots and water in but if the soil that you have excavated still looks very dry fill the hole with water and keep doing until the surrounding soil looks saturated. Back fill your planting hole. Given this good start they will soon be away in their new home. 

 The common mistake that many new to vegetable gardening or even to gardening in general is that they give daily watering that are no more than a sprinkle and only wet the very surface of the soil. This does no good as the heat of the sun will soon evaporate this and if not the roots will be tempted to look for water at the surface rather than going deep. It is far better to give the ground a thorough soaking every ten days so that a good depth so soil has water available for the vegetable plant roots. 

The exception to the ten day rule has to be for vegetables that are grown very closely together in a raised bed using the deep bed system. Obviously there is more demand for water from the soil vegetable gardening this way than the more traditional wide spaced rows. 

Now let us look at examples of the requirements of selected vegetable types. 

Potatoes are a favourite starter vegetable to grow and there is no doubt that they crop better when they have a plentiful supply of water. However if you are unable to provide a plentiful supply of water the whole season through then there is a good compromise. 

When you are starting your potatoes off, probably in May, watering well at this time will increase the number of tubers. The next critical time is late summer as watering at this time will result in a much better and healthier crop.

Another type of vegetable where watering is not so crucial is root vegetables. But again it must be stressed that if you are growing densely in a raised bed system you will need to water more frequently. 

Brussels Sprouts will seek out water but you will get better crops if you give them some help when the sprout buttons start to form.

Runner Beans like a moist soil. Dig a trench and line the base with wet paper or cardboard. Incorporate as much organic matter as you can into the backfill and the result will be that much more water will be held and made available for your vegetables roots. Cucumbers and courgettes will benefit greatly from the same treatment. 

At the other end of the scale trials have shown that onions demonstrate little gain from very regular watering.

The vegetables that you need to keep up a good level of moisture are those that bolt (flower and go to seed) in dry weather. Spinach is a classic for this but other varieties to keep an eye on are celery, cauliflower and lettuce. 

The subject of vegetable watering began by saying that it was a matter of common sense and of course the gardener has to take into consideration location, soil type and the summer weather. If your soil is light and sandy it just will not hold moisture unless you have dug in plenty of organic material. In particularly dry summers those gardening on clay can find their soil as hard as concrete. 

Of course we gardeners would love the ultimate conditions at all times, plenty of rain during the night and good sunny summer days. Unfortunately Mother Nature does not oblige!