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Ocean Grove. Using the Rapitest in Eileen’s garden. Needs water. © Blogfinger.net photo. July 21, 2015

By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger, Editors @Blogfinger.net

We saw a man watering everything in sight on his property yesterday. Of course it is a heat wave and it is reasonable to assume that everything in the garden needs a lot of water. But that is not necessarily true.  How about adding a little science to your efforts?

1. You can save money on your water bill if you engage in selective watering. You can use a moisture tester to decide if each component of your garden requires water.   Sometimes you can be surprised because a variety of factors will determine the moisture status of a given plant.

2. There are several kinds of moisture detectors, and some are now digital; but all are made in China. We recommend the simplest and cheapest one which is the “Rapitest” designed by a company in Illinois. It requires no batteries, and it measures moisture from 0 through 4 on the meter. Zero is the driest, and 4 is the wettest. It costs about $10.00 at Brock’s in Colt’s Neck, but other gardening stores have them. The meter comes with detailed advice.

3. Plants require more or less moisture for their optimum care.   The goal is to not allow dryness to kill the plant and to avoid over-hydration for those that suffer from too much moisture.

4. The manufacturer provides a list of over 100 plants and rates their watering requirements from 1-4.

—Among the plants that like to be on the dry side: Jade plant, verbena, African violet, hibiscus and euonymus.

—-Among the plants that like to be on the wet side: ferns, hydrangeas, tomatoes, begonia, and coleus.

Or maybe it will rain soon…..

RITA GARDNER from The Fantasticks: