For the first few weeks after planting, your plants will need special attention. The soil must be kept very moist for this period. How often you water them will depend on your soil type, the time of the year and prevailing weather conditions.
Immediate After-care:
As a rule of thumb, water your plants every day for the first couple of days, then twice a week for few weeks, then once a week etc… until they are established. Light sandy soils near the beach or soils will require more water than clay-based soils.
It takes about three months to establish a plant, and for this time you will need to monitor them carefully. Most species will give you some warning when they need water – the leaves will wilt.
Long Term Maintenance:
If, once your plants are established, you continue to water them every few days or even every week, the roots will remain on the surface. This will mean that your plants will blow over easily during a storm or cyclone, and you will not be able to leave them for a couple of weeks without watering.
If you want to be able to go away on holidays for a few weeks, and not have to worry about your garden, you must adopt the correct watering regime.
The principle is simple:
Develop a watering regime in which you thoroughly soak your garden every few weeks without any watering in between. This means that the water will penetrate deep into the soil. The roots will follow the water down, and your plants will then have the ability to survive dry periods without stress.
The idea is to thoroughly soak the ground, equivalent to about 50 mm of rain, and then delay the next watering for as long as possible. If you have well drained soil you can leave the sprinklers in the same place for two or three days. In clay soils you will have to shift them as soon as water starts to run, but you must keep shifting them back till the ground is completely soaked.
Water-wise gardening
Every gardener these days knows the importance of being water-wise in the garden. You may have seen the strong advertising and education campaigns being run in the media.
There’s plenty of people out there giving advice, but much of it misses the mark, since it fails to mention the importance of good strong root growth, which is THE KEY!
So, here’s the real drum on minimising your use of water in the garden.
The secret is simple—encourage deep root growth so that when the ground dries out the plants can seek out water deep beneath the surface.
1. Soil preparation
Thorough soil preparation is THE KEY. Make sure that the roots of your plants can penetrate deep into the soil. Plants with large healthy root systems are the survivors when the going gets tough. Large healthy root systems can only develop in well-prepared, thoroughly loosened soil.
2. Watering
Develop a watering regime in which you thoroughly soak your garden every few weeks without any watering in between. This means that the water will penetrate deep into the soil. The roots will follow the water down, and your plants will then have the ability to survive dry periods without stress.
3. Mulch
A thick layer of organic mulch is essential. This not only reduces evaporation and minimises water use, but it also keeps the soil cool, and conditions the soil as it breaks down.
For comprehensive guide please download this file
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Good Garden Watering/Irrigation Australia