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slopfrog

5-1-1 or Gritty Mix Watering Question

slopfrog
12 years ago

This is my first year gardening (and my first post on GW). I made a number of rookie mistakes that have made life much more difficult. Everything is growing in a mix of composted cow manure and fine "county mulch" which is just mulched yard waste from the county dump... could be anything, but it's free.

The soil is pretty water retentive, but it has been so hot and dry here that watering must be done at least twice per day. Part of this is because many of the containers are too small for the plants that are in them, and part of it is that many of my containers are unsealed terracotta. But make no mistake about it, I have the worst combination of HOT, DRY, and WINDY!

In an effort to make my gardening better, I want to try gritty mix (for container trees) and 5-1-1 (for vegetables and flowers). The benefits for plant growth are clear to me. However, I have to balance this with the convenience factor of not wanting to be a watering slave.

So can anybody who has a hot/dry/windy climate tell me how much more watering they had to do once they switched soils? Thanks!

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