drought

We have had very little rain in the past two summers and so have had to water alot. I notice thought that my plants seem to love rain and look much better after rain than after watering. Why?

Is there something I can do to water more like mother nature does?

It could be that when it rains, the soil recieves an even amount of water through out your yard. When you water the plants, you are applying water directly to your plants and then this water wicks out to the soil where you have not applied water.

One way to mimic mother nature is to water using soaker hoses. In my garden I have soaker hoses snaked through the flower beds under the mulch. When I water, the water is turned on and allowed to run for several hours and sometimes over night. The soaker hose allows water to seep out from the hose and evenly distribute through the soil in the flower bed. And when using this method to water, you only need to have the water on "high" to fill the hose completely and then back the water spigot to a trickle to continue feeding water to the hose.

Or even if you're watering your whole garden rather than just right around the plants, it's also hard to simulate how rain falls--it's generally much more gentle that what comes out of your hose/sprinklers, and comes down over a much longer period of time which really allows the water to soak in rather than running off. And there is also probably more "stuff" like minerals, disinfecting agents, etc in your hose water than there is in rain. A nice rain probably helps wash stuff like that out of the soil which will make your plants happier too. Something like the soaker hoses will deliver water at a slower rate, but I think you're going to find no matter what you try that you'll never match exactly what real rain does for the plants.

there is also another condition to consider- watering should be completed b4 2pm, rain comes with clouds n cooler temps,humidity is increased, the sun is blocked from stealing the moisture n humidity. also, a breeze/wind can pull the moisture from the ground faster than still air (like sunup/sundown times the wind slows). Completing your watering b4 2pm gives the plants time to properly drain causing less tendency towards fungus. mosquitoes, n other unwanted problems.

Another thing I read somewhere is that something in lightning gives the soil a positive charge and boosts nitrogen.I have no idea if this is true.Does anyone else?
Lynn

Sort of. Here's a website with an introductory kind of explanation: http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/N/NitrogenCycle.html

Thank you.That's a very interesting site and does tell us how lightning helps provide nitrates to the soil.
Lynn

Thanks for the link DallasDad, that was interesting--learn something new every day.

legumes, rotation crops; lespedezia, green manures; its just most folx like to control the lawns, ummm, the time of day you mow, n how often in droughty deep summer, n how tall you allow your grass type to grow can also affect your lawn... lets see, Greenville? east/south of Rocky Mount/ I adore your Golden Corrals there/ deep sands, Atlantic winds, silica laden soils n roads that glitter as if created from diamonds; best crops, tobacco, hogs, pines, lazy, hot days/ any salt probs? nutrients are prob prone to washing thru the soils n disappearing pretty fast. sandy loams need stuff to help with moistures...