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Does any one fancy doing a trial on the "no watering" theory.

A chap on our allotment site (you know the type, been there for years, grows fab veg, no pests or diseases, makes everything look really easy) wins loads of prizes at the local shows, has fab veg but NEVER waters them after the initial watering in. He says that the plants are stronger and healthier if they're not watered as they have to put their roots down further and pull nutrients from the soil. He weeds as normal but never seems to get many as the soil is dry on the surface. Also he doesn't get blight or other diseases, he says because of the lack of surface water. No slugs either same reason. He does mulch his bean roots though with compost.

Tomatoes and other "greenhouse" plants are not included in his theory as he says he always grows these behind glass.

Last year, my club set up an experiement where we stocked 2 beds the same and planned to water one as normal and not the other. Still weeding them both the same. Unfortuneately the rain was so persistant last year that no artificial watering took place on either bed!

We're going to do the same this year and wondered if anyone fancied giving it a go.

Rules are simple. 1. water plants, tubers, seeds in until established. 2. Weed, prune and harvest as normal. 3 check your end results against artificially watered plants.

Apart from initial watering in, we don't water any outside crops at all and we grow a lot of vegetables. And before people say it rains a lot in Scotland, it doesn't in these parts. The main thing is to mulch heavily to reduce water loss.

Sounds like a fun and enlightening challenge to see the results. Maggienetball, does the gardener you spoke of have lots of organic matter in his soil? That would help a great deal too.

A third thing to add to the challenge would be to have a 3rd bed which only used naturally available rain water either directly from the sky or collected in water butts from the shed or greenhouse roof or from ponds or other open water on the allotments.

He does look after his soil and digs in manure every year. But he doesn't add any feed.

We only water our plants from rain water filled waterbutts anyway.

I think the real test is whether or not you actually NEED to add water other than what is provided by the heavens after the initial watering in.

I 've heard from many people in the past who don't water at all so there definitely must be smething in it.

apart from in the gh.. and pots.. and initial watering in, we dont usually water either
e did last April cos it was so stupidly hot last year.. but normally nope. but it does rain here a lot!

It might work in some climates, but i wouldn't try it here, there is no way they could survive the heat.

Depends on the soil, too... Some things will have to be watered, especially if grown in containers.

the challenge is only for things growing in the open soil and the soil type is irrelevent as I know people with all different soil types who don't water.

maggienetball wrote:the challenge is only for things growing in the open soil and the soil type is irrelevent as I know people with all different soil types who don't water.

Sorry to be pedantic (and please don't take this as criticising the challenge), soil type does matter, not all soils (in particular ours as we live on what was a shingle beach only 6000 years ago), can retain moisture. We could have a foot of water in a day (ok so that doesn't actually happen) and a couple of days after that the ground will be bone dry down to a few feet again.

Yours must be great for growing carrots then!

Soil type doesn't matter to take part in the challenge.
It will affect your results though. If everything dies then that is the challenge result. (sorry cos I really don't want your plants to die!)

If you apply extra water because of your soil type then it is no longer a "no water" challenge.

I wasn't suggesting that anyone gave (and potentially lost) their entire plot over to waterless growing, just a small space, if they can spare it and if they're willing, to see what happens.

You need lots of different soil types for a challenge to work. I know someone who has extremely well draining soil but still operates on a no water system. He does dig in an abundance of organic matter though.

carrots? nope they split because of all the shingle. I can only grow the short stubby type (I forget the variety). In our place, not watering is just not an option, plus why should we when water is plentiful. It is however a good challenge for those where water is in short supply and conditions can support it. I have wondered about the wisdom of weeding though as the weed cover does retain water and I am unsure as to whether the moisture they retain is worth the nutrients they take.

I am mindful that many plants struggle if competing with weeds, (onions spring to mind).
However, I am basing my challenge on the system used by the chap on the allotment who grows fab veg. He doesn't water but does weed.

There's nothing stopping anyone splitting their no water bed into 2 and having 1 half weeded and the other not though.

Seems like another good challenge.

Fine as far as the challenge goes - if you have a garden large enough to spare some of it for the potential loss of veg! My father's garden was almost pure sand; he didn't water much, either (we didn't even have a hose, so he would have had to carry all the water in cans). He did produce a lot of veg, but his cabbages never got bigger than fist size... I'm sure he could have grown bigger ones with watering!

You only need a small space and hopefully the challenge will result in many people getting bigger and better veg. Like my allotment neighbour and many others I know. Or, at the very least, not having to go to the allotment every day to water in a hot spell - which is a common complaint both here on the forum and around the plots. There are bound to be exceptions and failures.

It wouldn't be a challenge if success was guaranteed would it?

I am simply offering what I thought was a straightforward, easy to follow challenge to anyone who WANTS to take part. No one has to, if you think the challenge is daft, doomed to failure or simply not for you, that's fine.

I would love to expand this discussion about soil types and climate after the experiemnt ends to compare people's preconceptions and experiences, with the actual results from participants.

No, no - I think it's a very interesting challenge! But I don't think I'll take part - I only have a small garden (one-person size), and always just a few of each plant type in there. To have a proper comparison, you'd have to have tow more or less identical beds - and I just don't have room for that. (To be honest, I'm probably not organised enough to set up two comparable beds... Hardly manage to get everything planted I intend to anyway! )