Super Soaker

Little rain, lots of wind, and warm temps have combined to dry out the soil.

As Connie Nelson points out today, infrequent, deep watering is best. Watering the top inch of the soil helps the weeds more than it helps the perennials and trees.

Pictured above is my homemade soaker, an empty bleach bottle with a ring of tiny holes around the bottom. I put a couple dozen small rocks inside to help keep it from tipping over. The hose is set to a small trickle -- not enough to make the bottle overflow -- and I can go about my gardening for 15 minutes or so before moving it to a new location.

I'm not trying to water the whole garden with this method, but when I'm puttering in the evening, when it's too late to use a sprinkler, this is an ideal way to give deep watering to a few specific spots that need it.

Note: Even a tiny bit of bleach irritates worms, so you want to make sure you rinse the bottle thoroughly before you start using it the first time.