Hello,

I'm sorry for the long post that follows but I thought it was important to be specific. I'm wondering if you smart, green-thumbed individuals out there could help me figure out when and how much to water my newly planted garden beds. I have 2 medium sized beds that were planted by a local landscaper. We have some boxwoods, incrediball hydrangeas, summer alliums, avalanche and karl forester ornamental grasses, zegrab, d'oro daylillies and a veronica ground cover. I live in Wisconsin, only a block or 2 from Lake Michigan, so my summers are usually pretty moderate but this year has been unusually hot (for everyone in the country I think). Lastly, we have clay soil and the landscaper did put down a layer of compost before planting followed by a layer of hemlock mulch.

I have tried to read up on watering but I keep reading conflicting information. I know new plants need to be watered frequently. But then I have read in several places the importance of letting the soil dry out before watering again. Our clay soil holds onto moisture so it rarely feels totally dry to me. I have been checking the soil with my hands to feel if it is dry, but then I end up watering every 3-4 days anyway because I get too nervous to wait longer. Are you supposed to let the soil dry out for newly planted plants or is that just the rule for an established garden? And if there are different rules for newly planted vs established, when does the "newly planted phase" end? I'm having trouble determining when it is time to water because my soil does not dry out every 2-3 days but I thought that is how often I am supposed to water.

I have read the best way to water is slowly and deeply at the base of the plant. It is not practical for us to lay a hose at the base of the plants and move it around the base and from plant to plant (the ideal method from what I have read) because we had about 75 plants planted. We would be standing there moving the hose every few minutes all day. Are soaker hoses adequate? I have been trying those and I feel it is providing the slow trickle we are looking for, but still we are only getting one side of a plant in most cases, unless we reroute all of the hoses half way though. This brings me to my next problem - watering in the morning. With 2 toddlers and 2 full time working parents, we don't have hours to be tinkering around with hoses in the morning. If we can connect the soaker hose and leave it for thirty minutes or an hour and shut it off, that is doable. If we need to be moving it around to get the total circumference covered, we probably don't have time for this in the morning. Can we water in the evening? I have read that morning watering is best and evening watering can cause rot and other issues. But its a trade off- in the morning the best we can do is turn on a soaker and leave it, vs in the evening I could find a little more time to move a hose around to fully get the bases of the plants. Which would be preferable?

I VERY much appreciate some advice. Oh and I should say that my husband put the kabosh on installing a drip irrigation system. Thank you!