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Rain in the forecast? Check your soil moisture

Use a handy meter, screwdriver or trowel to gauge your garden's needs

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 5, 2021

Frog moisture meter in a container plant

A moisture meter takes the guesswork out of
determining irrigation needs. (Photo courtesy
Regional Water Authority)

So far, 2021 has sure felt damp. After scant precipitation for so long, any real rain seems like a deluge.

But did your garden get enough water?

Probably not from this most recent storm – but more rain is on the way.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento received 0.21 inches on Monday, bringing our total for 2021 (a.k.a. since Friday) to 0.26. Normal for the first week of January – 0.46 – is almost double that amount.

We’re still way behind our “water year” total, which measures back to Oct 1. Since then, we received 2.34 inches, 4.4 inches below normal for Sacramento. It’s also far below our rain total for this same time period last year. During that very dry water year, we had already totaled 5.09 inches at this point.

What should be our three wettest months are still ahead of us, so there’s still hope that this will be a “wet” year. In Sacramento, rain is forecast for Wednesday, Friday and again next Monday.

In winter, most of our garden needs less water than during the heat of summer. With the sprinklers turned off, a half-inch of rain will keep plants well hydrated for a week.

But scattered showers may not deliver as much water as your thirstiest plants need. And those showers may not reach all of your garden, particularly plants under eaves or shielded by big trees.

The solution? Measure your moisture. If you take a few minutes to look, your soil will tell you if it needs more water.

The easiest option to do this: Get a moisture meter; it’s a simple tool with an instant read dial and the most effective way to judge how much water is actually getting to plant roots. Meters are available from some water service providers as well as local nurseries and big box stores.

Push the meter’s pointy end 6 inches into the ground and see if that soil is wet, dry or moist (just right). Check the soil for potted plants, too.

No meter? Use a long-handled screwdriver. If you can’t push it in at least 3 inches, irrigate that dry spot. But the screwdriver method can be misleading for containers or raised beds, where soil tends to be less compacted.

To really know, look at the soil. Take a trowel and dig down 6 inches and feel the dirt. Grab a handful of soil and squeeze. Can you easily make a ball out of that dirt? If so, the soil has enough moisture to keep plant roots happy. If it refuses to clump, it still needs more water.

For more water-saving and irrigation tips, see www.bewatersmart.info .

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

gardening Sacramento drought Regional Water Authority rainfall January soil moisture irrigation weather

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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