The City Girl's Guide to Country Gardening Lesson 6: Watering

Friends, as you know, I've been mucking around in the dirt for about two months now. I've got seedlings getting ready to go in the ground (more on them soon), I've tackled some back-breaking weeding, I've mulched, I've planted perennials. Some of which wilted immediately, but some of which (hi delphiniums!) have actually developed blue buds that may one day be flowers.

But while the garden is certainly looking tidier than it did when we first started, I have to confess: Panic has set in. Because now there are actual plants out there. And in hanging baskets. And in pots inside my house. And I'm starting to feel very "final ten minutes of ER" about the whole business, because whether they live or die is all up to me.

So I'm starting to fret. And worry. About water.

Because I know about watering, but confession time: I tend to only remember about watering when I'm reminded — like because it's raining outside. Then I'll think, "Great! That's the watering done." Then I'll forget all about it for several days until I go outside and notice that all the snap dragons I planted have shriveled and keeled over. At which point, I blast them frantically with the hose.

So, I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm either watering way too much or not nearly enough, or somehow, both of these things at the same time. When I run into a gardening friend and she cheerfully asks "How's your yard doing?" I feel a kind of despair. "No idea," I whisper hopelessly. "Should I be watering or something?"

But I'm taking some deep breaths now, because I just talked to my new favorite gardening blogger/garden designer, Amy of Green Gardenista. Amy gardens in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay area and balances her blog with her full-time gig in property management and personal garden design/garden building business, so she knows about plants. And it turns out I'm not alone: "I have to confess that I hate watering," says Amy. "I've killed so many hanging baskets it's offensive, simply because I hate their neediness." Yes! I now own six hanging baskets because I keep being lured in by their prettiness, and good Lord, it's like feeding a baby.

Anyway, Amy was kind enough to answer some of my most basic — truly, it's like I've never actually been outside before — questions without laughing at me. (Well, we talked via email, so she could have been laughing. But she seems super nice and like that would be out of character for her.) So today we're going to talk about Watering 101 and I'll be sharing more of her genius tips over the next few weeks.