How do I tell how much water my plants need? I have recently installed a dripper irrigation system through parts of my garden to replace some manual labour - but how do I tell how much they actually need? I used to water with the hose 'by eye' - but I have no idea if I was over or under watering. What does 'water well' mean in terms of litres per hour or some other measurable value?

Hi Tom, watering can become complex. Ideally you want to water deeply once or twice a week to encourage the roots to bury themselves deeper into the soil, rather than watering a little each day, which only promotes the roots to stay near the surface to seek out moisture.

Depending on what type of soil you have, this will dictate how long this might take. Suggest digging a hole so you can see how far the soil moisture goes down, you are aiming for 10cm below the ground.