Summer Watering Guide

 

Summer Watering Guide for Franklin County Gardens

Franklin County enters Summer 2026 under a Drought Warning, and we need to consider our watering practices. A Drought Warning means that water supplies are stressed and conservation measures are needed to manage our limited resources. We are running behind seasonal norms for rainfall and gardeners should expect soils to dry more quickly and plants to show stress sooner than in an average year.

A garden drinks in many different ways, and understanding those needs is the difference between plants that merely survive and plants that truly flourish.

💧 Watering Basics for Flower Gardens, Vegetable Beds, and Lawns

Healthy gardens depend on steady, deep watering—just enough to keep roots growing downward, not so much soil stays soggy. Most flowers and vegetables need about 1 inch of water per week, whether it comes from rain or your hose. Lawns need roughly the same amount, though cool‑season grasses can tolerate brief dry spells.

🌼 Flower & Vegetable Gardens

• Water deeply, not lightly. Aim for soaking the top 6–8 inches of soil. Shallow sprinkling encourages weak, surface‑level roots.
• 
  Morning is best. Early watering reduces evaporation and gives foliage time to dry, lowering disease risk.
• Check soil before watering. If the top 2 inches are dry and crumbly, it’s time.
• Mulch helps. A 2–3 inch layer of mulch slows evaporation and keeps soil evenly moist. Keep mulch away from the stem.

🌱 Lawns

• Water early in the day to reduce evaporation and fungal issues.
• Infrequent, deep watering (once or twice a week) is better than daily sprinkling.
• Let grass grow a bit taller during hot, dry periods—longer blades shade the soil and conserve moisture.

🌧️ Using a Rain Gauge

A simple rain gauge is one of the most useful tools a gardener can own.

• Place it in an open area away from trees or buildings.
• Check weekly totals—if rainfall is less than 1 inch, plan to irrigate.
• For vegetable gardens, keep a small notebook or phone log to track rainfall and watering patterns.

💦

Using a Bubbler to Water at Ground Level

A hose‑end bubbler (sometimes called a “watering wand bubbler” or “gentle‑flow bubbler”) is one of the easiest ways to deliver slow, deep moisture right where plants need it: at the soil surface, not the leaves.

Soft, low‑pressure flow. Bubblers release water in a quiet, gurgling stream that won’t splash soil onto leaves or erode mulch.

• Perfect for flowers, vegetables, and young shrubs. The slow soak encourages deep root growth and reduces runoff.
• Excellent for drought care. Place the bubbler at the base of the plant, let it run for several minutes, then move it to the next plant.
• Tree watering made easier. Instead of spraying the trunk, set the bubbler in a wide ring beyond the canopy dripline and let it seep into the full root zone.
• Water early in the day. You’ll lose less to evaporation and help keep foliage dry.

A bubbler turns watering into a calm, controlled process—especially helpful during dry spells when every drop counts.

🌳 Don’t Forget the Trees

Trees—especially young or newly planted ones—need special attention during low rainfall or drought. Their roots extend well beyond the canopy, so watering only at the trunk won’t help.

• Water in a wide ring at and beyond the dripline.
• Apply water slowly so it soaks deeply into the root zone.
• Mature trees may need a deep watering every 2–4 weeks during extended dry periods.

💡 KNOW HOW: Measuring How Much Water

If you’re watering with a sprinkler, you can place a straight‑sided container, such as a coffee can, within the spray pattern. The depth of water collected shows how much is reaching the soil over a given period. This method helps you understand whether your sprinkler is delivering enough moisture to penetrate the root zone.

To make sure your trees are getting the right amount of water during dry periods, it helps to measure how much you’re actually applying. One easy way is to check your hose’s flow rate using a five‑gallon bucket. Set the hose in the bucket and time how long it takes to fill. If it fills in five minutes, your hose is delivering about one gallon per minute, which lets you estimate how long you need to run it to reach your target volume for a deep soak.

Some gardeners prefer tools designed for slow, steady watering. Slow‑release watering bags and drip rings apply water gradually and directly to the root area, which is especially helpful for newly planted trees that need consistent moisture to establish.

As a general guideline, newly planted trees benefit from about ten gallons of water per week applied slowly enough to soak deeply. Larger, established trees may need more, and a common rule of thumb is to provide roughly twenty gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter measured at breast height. No matter the method, applying water slowly helps it soak into the soil rather than running off, and a layer of mulch around the base helps the soil retain moisture and keeps roots cooler during hot weather.

☀️ IT'S THE GROWING SEASON 🌿 

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Heirloom Vegetables

 Heirloom Plant Varieties Provide More Than a Good Harvest or Beautiful Blooms

Home Gardeners can select plants with better flavor and interesting history.

Heirloom tomatoes by Kim Schwind UCANR

Heirlooms provide a sense of history. The wardrobe from Great Aunt Rose’s attic, an antique hand-carved chair, and a rusty tool from a local auction carry a sense of history, of the people who used them. This holds true for heirloom plant varieties.

“Heirloom seeds are usually more than 50 years old and have been passed down from generation to generation,” said Kathy McFarland, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. “This means they come with fascinating stories and heritage from years past.”

Many gardeners are drawn to the stories behind the names. ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’ tomato came from radiator business owner, “Charlie,” who came up with a large, meaty and productive variety that he sold during the depression. He used the money from this side business to pay off his mortgage.

‘Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad’ tomato has been traced back to Kentucky through Ripley, Ohio. The seeds were carried by an escaping slave as he traveled the Underground Railroad. The tomato is characteristic of those grown in that era.

While the stories don’t enhance flavor, shelf-life, color, or fragrance, they are a way to connect to our plant and flower heritage. “Heirloom seeds have often been handed down as family favorites,” said Chris Mayer, Director at Wilson College’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Living.

Home gardeners, unlike commercial growers, have the luxury to choose what they grow. Many choose these vegetables and flowers for taste, shape, hardiness and color not found in hybrid selections.

Originally from India, Bullnose Peppers (Capsicum annuum) have been in U.S. gardens since the mid-1870’s. These sweet peppers were grown by Thomas Jefferson and are still grown at Monticello. They ripen early, withstand bad weather and their thick skins make them ideal for pickling, stuffing and raw with dips. While 20 seed companies offered these over 25 years ago, today vendors are rare and seeds often “out of stock.”

Heirloom varieties are open-pollinated which means that, unlike hybrids, seeds you collect from one year will produce the same plants the next year. “Using heirlooms helps preserve the gene pool and assure that resilience from pests, diseases and climate are built into the system,” said Mayer.

Tomatoes are the one vegetable that has a wide range of shapes, colors, taste and growing habit. Cherry, slicer, beefsteak, or canning types are available as are pink, orange, white and ‘Green Zebra’ striped varieties.

“Most heirlooms taste better than the hybrid and genetically modified produce because these have been bred and selected for generations based on how they taste,” said McFarland.

Pennsylvania heirloom tomatoes include Brandywine, reported to be introduced in 1885 by Amish farmers in Chester County. Other Mennonite and Amish heirlooms include Hahnstown Yellow, Amish Oxheart and Eva's Amish Stripe.

Mid-March is the time for seed starting for transplants in mid-May. Gardeners seeking heirloom or unusual varieties probably won’t find them at the local garden centers or nurseries.

The annual Master Gardener plant sale on May 20, 2023, will have some of the heirloom varieties ready to plant.  Best results for planting transplants is after the last frost date and when the SOIL TEMPERATURE is ready. Check out the soil temperature information and note that in our area the best time to plant is mid-May.  

Also see Heirloom Vegetables: Good Taste and Interesting Tales 

U of California. The Real Dirt Blog. Heirloom Tomatoes

CKagan, Master Gardener

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Heirloom Vegetables: Good Taste and Interesting Tales

Purple Calabash

[I now have a column in the Franklin County Free Press (online). There may be different topics covered there. Please visit their page. I am sharing my April 10, 2021, column here.]

Heirlooms provide a sense of history. The wardrobe from Great Aunt Rose’s attic, an antique carved chair, and a rusty tool from a local auction carry a sense of history, of the people who used them. This holds true for heirloom vegetable varieties.

“Heirloom seeds are usually more than 50 years old and have been passed down from generation to generation,” said Kathy McFarland, Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company . “This means they come with fascinating stories and heritage from years past.”

While the stories don’t enhance flavor, shelf-life, or color they are a way to connect to our vegetable heritage. “Heirloom seeds have often been handed down as family favorites,” said Christine Mayer, Director at Wilson College’s Fulton Center for Sustainable Living. 

Heirloom varieties are open pollinated which means that, unlike hybrids, seeds you collect from one year will produce the same plants the next year. “Using heirlooms helps preserve the gene pool and assure that resilience from pests, diseases and climate are built into the system,” noted Mayer.

Many gardeners are drawn to stories behind the names. ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter’  tomato came from radiator business owner, “Charlie,” who came up with a large, meaty, and productive variety that he sold during the depression. He used the money to pay off his mortgage.

Aunt Lou's  Underground Railroad

‘Aunt Lou’s Underground Railroad’ tomato has been traced back to Kentucky through Ripley, Ohio. The seeds were carried by an escaping slave as he traveled the Underground Railroad. The tomato is characteristic of those grown in that era.

Home gardeners have the luxury to choose what they grow. Many choose heirlooms for taste, size, hardiness, qualities for cooking, and color not found in hybrids; and savings seeds from year to year ensures the same plants.

The Japanese White eggplants, originally from Kyoto, Japan, are considered a Kyoto heirloom and are often found in home gardens and served in upscale restaurants. Their spongy texture quickly absorbs flavors such as ginger, soy sauce and miso as well as any sauces.

Japanese White Eggplant

Tomatoes have a wide range of shapes, colors, taste, and growing habit. Cherry, slicer, beefsteak, or canning types are available as are pink, orange, white and ‘Green Zebra’ striped varieties.

Heirlooms may not be pretty but gardeners seeking tasty fruit often find them the best. “Most heirlooms taste better than the hybrid and genetically modified produce because these have been bred and selected for generations based on how they taste,” said McFarland.

Pennsylvania heirloom tomatoes include Brandywine, reported to be introduced in 1885 by Amish farmers in Chester County. Other heirlooms include Amish Paste, Hahnstown Yellow, Amish Oxheart and Eva's Amish Stripe. 

The Hinkel Hatz pepper is named for fruits the size and shape of chicken hearts – a translation of hinkel hatz. It is a rare Pennsylvania Dutch heirloom dating to before 1880. The peppers are usually red or yellow and reported to have been cultivated for over 150 years.

Fish Peppers date to the early 1800's, grown by African Americans in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Black chefs made white paprika from the creamy white young pods for fish and shellfish white cream sauces, a secret ingredient passed down through oral history. The white paprika did not detract from the dish's appearance.

The rediscovery of these  peppers may be due to a barter - bees for seeds. In the 1940’s, Horace Pippin sought a remedy for his war wounds. Hearing that bee stings may relieve the pain, he bought bees from H. Ralph Weaver, in exchange for vegetable seeds which included the rare fish pepper. These seeds were made available to in the 1995 Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook.

Several years ago, I discovered German Strawberry oxheart tomatoes. Strawberry refers to the shape and not the size. Oxheart tomatoes are large (up to 3 lbs.), heavy and meaty with few seeds. Here are a few pictures.

CKagan, Master Gardener

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°Brix- Measuring Sugar in Fruit and Vegetables

Black Cherry Tomatoes

Update: A post asked what is the sweetest cherry tomato. Aha. More poking around on the internet. 

A large tomato may have a Brix reading from 2.3 to 8.2; a small tomato from 4.5 to 11.7. In a tomato challenge one bag of Sungold won out over a different bag of Sungold.   These were the F1 hybrids. What I find is that there are three varieties that show up often: Sungold (9-10), Isis Candy (8-9) and Sakura (8.8) . (‘Rosada’is the sweetest variety tested in the UK - ‘Rosada’ is a baby plum variety with a Brix rating of 10.5.- Hard to find.)

IMPORTANT TO NOTE: Many factors influence a tomato crop and the crop’s Brix level. Variety selection and crop maturity are two key factors. Environmental factors, such as moisture, fertility, sunlight, and temperature also have an influence on Brix levels. 

This article has lots of good information. 

I am always amazed at what I learn when checking a fact for a post. In checking if the Black Cherry  tomato is open-pollinated before I posted I discovered a notation of a °Brix rating (note the symbol preceding the B).

And so I begin my "but I digress" internet time. Here's the interesting information I found. It is not a game or misspelling of bricks.

Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the measure of sugar content in an aqueous solution. One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution and represents the strength of the solution as percentage by mass. There is a digital refractometer that takes the measurements.

Drop of juice to measure sugar content

This measurement is used in fruit juice, wine making, carbonated beverage industry, starch and the sugar industry (think produce crops-corn, tomatoes, apples, citrus, melons).

At a Yara North America internet site (which piqued my interest even more to find out about this organization.) I found this explanation.

“Sugar levels in tomatoes:

°Brix is a measure of the Total Soluble Solid (TSS) content in the tomato or tomato product. The TSS in tomatoes is mainly sugars (fructose). A tomato juice, which is assessed as having 20 ° Brix, has 200g/litre of soluble sugars.

"Tomatoes for processing require a minimum °Brix of 4.5. This compares with an acceptable range of 3.5 - 5.5 in fresh tomatoes. The TSS of processed products is measured by refractometry.

"The °Brix content of the finished tomato product is largely controlled by the processor and manufacturing process. However, some processors do pay a higher price for higher dry matter tomatoes. In general, smaller, cherry tomatoes have a higher °Brix ratio and are sweeter than larger round or common tomatoes."

Penn State Video Capture

Ohio State has a more scholarly online article and Penn State has an online video of how to use a Brix refractor.

And this, my friends, is why, as a life-long learner, I find getting on the internet sucks up so much time. (2 hrs, w/photo finds and research)

Since this is research-based information, I am signing this as

~ Carol Kagan, Master Gardener

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Are you interested herbs? Check out the Herb Sampler on this Blog  

The Second Edition Herb Sampler (2019) is available through Amazon.