The Importance of Water in Maintaining a Healthy Garden
- Old Oak Homestead
- Mar 4
- 8 min read
Food and water, two of the most fundamental needs in life, serve as the essential building blocks for human survival and well-being. These two elements, while often categorized separately, are inherently intertwined in ways that significantly impact us.
Water, for instance, is not only crucial for hydration but also plays a vital role in the digestion and absorption of food. Without adequate water intake, the body struggles to break down the nutrients found in our meals, leading to diminished energy levels and overall health.
Additionally, the availability and quality of food and water can vary greatly causing issues of food security.
However, just like food depends on water, water's health and abundance also rely heavily on what we grow. The food we grow, and how and where we grow it, plays a huge role in affecting our water — its amount, quality, and the state of freshwater ecosystems which include our streams and rivers.
When it comes to gardening, we often focus on providing our plants with plenty of sunshine and nutrient-rich soil. But there’s another crucial factor that can make or break the success of our gardens: water quality. The water we use to nourish our plants can have a significant impact on their health and growth. This is because it can have a direct impact upon the soil food web which in turn affects the overall health of the soil. And that impacts the food we eat.
Often we do not even give water a second thought. We just turn the hose on because we need to water. But if the water is not good quality, what happens to the nutrient rich soil we have worked to so hard to build up? How will poor quality water affect the overall health of our vegetable garden's? It goes without saying, this leads to poorer quality of food that we put on our table. Not to mention the higher risk of disease and pest pressure that we would need to deal with. Simply put, we just assume that the water we use to water our gardens is good.
How do I Know If I Have Good Quality Water?
Often we will get a sample of our soil and send it in for testing. But what about our water?
Water analysis is crucial in gardening to ensure the water you use is safe for your plants. Plants, like humans, need clean and healthy water to flourish. By examining your garden’s water quality, you can pinpoint potential issues and take action to resolve them. Your local Health Department can assist you in getting your water tested.
What Makes Water Poor Quality?
Seeing as the quality of water in your garden significantly influences plant growth and soil condition, it also affects the overall balance of your garden's ecosystem. Water containing salts, heavy metals, chlorine, or other chemicals can accumulate in the soil, potentially harming plant roots, altering soil pH, and disrupting nutrient availability. Any pathogens or bacteria in the water can lead to plant diseases, impacting their growth and productivity.
Various chemicals that naturally occur in water can be potentially harmful to plants, depending on the amount present. Bicarbonates are often found in the form of calcium bicarbonate or magnesium bicarbonate. Irrigation water high in these types of bicarbonates leaves behind insoluble calcium carbonate, otherwise known as lime, when water evaporates. High carbonates also increase sodium hazard (discussed below).
High levels of dissolved salts can create havoc with horticultural plantings. Salts are chemical compounds that dissolve into two components in water. One component is positively charged (such as calcium, potassium, magnesium, or sodium). The other component is negatively charged (such as phosphate, nitrate, sulfate, or chloride). Common dissolved salts in water include gypsum (calcium sulfate), halite (sodium chloride), and calcite (calcium carbonate). Fertilizer salts can end up dissolved in water supplies if overapplied to plants. Any fertilizer not taken up by the plant can be carried down into ground water or may be
washed into surface water sources. If fertilizer runoff is just from your garden, it might not be a huge deal for water sources like rivers and streams. But think about what could happen to streams and rivers if hundreds of your neighbors home gardeners as well as agricultural fields have runoff with fertilizer salts. Eventually this would end up hurting everyone as well as animals and plants.
How Water Quality Affects Your Garden
Plants absorb water through their roots which subsequently moves through their vascular system. As water disperses through a plant’s leaves, stems, buds, flowers, and fruit, it carries with it a variety of crucial nutrients, functioning similarly to the human circulatory system.
However, just like water carries the vital elements throughout a plant, it also may carry contaminants. These contaminants can be biological (like microbes) or chemical (like heavy metals). While contamination is less of a concern for ornamental plants, fruits and vegetables given poor quality water can directly impact your health.
What Type of Water Should Be Used In The Garden?
The short answer: clean water! However, from tap water to well water, there can be a lot to think about when it comes to considering what the best quality water is for growing fruits and vegetables. Let's take a look at the two main ways you can water your garden.
Municipal Water
The main concern people have about using city water when irrigating their vegetable gardens is the added chlorine. Chlorine is added to municipal water has been effective in eliminating many serious waterborne pathogens. Many gardeners fear that it will also eliminate many of the beneficial microbes in the soil. Not to mention that over time, chlorine may build up in the soil and chlorine toxicity may still be possible. A tell-tale sign that your fruits and veggies may be suffering from too much chlorine exposure is if their leaves appear burnt.
Chloramine on the other hand contains a combination of chlorine and ammonia. One in five Americans use municipal water treated with chloramines. Chloramine is weaker than chlorine, and therefore it needs both a higher concentration and a longer contact time to disinfect water compared to chlorine.
The best way to deal with both Chorine and Chloramine is to filter your tap water. For the outside hose you can use a carbon filter. However, water passed through a water softener system should not be used for horticulture. This is because it can be high in potassium and or salts. This can lead to elevated levels in either which can build up in soil over time and high salt levels can cause your plant to die of thirst.
Well Water
Well water is untreated groundwater stored in aquifers (underground layers of porous rock). Wells get drilled as far down as 1,000 feet into the rock to access the water. Pipe casing gets installed into the hole, and a concrete or clay sealant surrounds it to protect against contaminants. Water travels through this casing via a well pump. The well system gets capped off above ground. The water then enters your home from a pipe connected between the casing and a pressure tank (generally located in your home’s basement). From there, it gets distributed to faucets throughout your home.
If you are like us, you might be tempted to think that the water coming from a well is more "pure" than municipal water. Unfortunately this is not necessarily the true. It is very important to get your well water tested. Think about it, well water is affected by rain fall. As rain passes through the soil it can pick up a variety of contaminants depending on what chemicals or pathogens are present. By the time well water gets into your home, there’s likely more to it than just water.
Water from a well can be considered "hard water" because it contains minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Not necessarily a bad thing but when these are in very high levels it is not good for the garden. Depending on where you live, iron, sulfur gas, arsenic, nitrates, tannins, and various other items found in nature could be present. Some parts of the country do not have iron issues. Here where we live, iron levels and sediment are very high and we use a whole-home filters to prevent rust stains from forming on everything water touches. Too much iron in the garden is not good either.
It's really important to remember that a well is system is simply the mechanism that transports water from the ground to your home; it doesn’t do anything to treat or sanitize the water. It also doesn't ensure that the water transported to your home is "pure".
We filter the water that is used in our garden through our whole house filter. If we had a water softening system, we would not be able to do this. However, we have also added another filter at the garden itself that will filter out bacteria, pathogens.
It is really important to get you keep your well in good working condition. Not only is this important for your daily activities of daily living but also for growing your food. What is in the water will have a direct effect on your plants.
Here is a checklist for keeping your well in good working condition:
Always use licensed or certified service technicians for any maintenance on your well
Conduct testing annually, or when a change in taste, appearance, or odor are detected
Keep hazardous chemicals away from the well
Occasionally check the well cover cap to make sure it’s secure and in good shape
Make sure the cap is at least 6” above ground
Keep the well cap area free of debris and take care when mowing or moving around it
The Soil Food Web, Soil Health and Water
Soil health is defined as the continued capacity of soil to function as a vital living ecosystem that sustains plants, animals, and humans. We may not have realized that healthy soil can give us clean water. Soil does all this by performing five essential functions:
Regulating water
Soil helps control where rain, snowmelt, and irrigation water goes. Water flows over the land or into and through the soil. It helps to stop water erosion and runoff.
Sustaining plant and animal life
The diversity and productivity of living things depends on soil. Water creates micro-environments within the soil, allowing different organisms to thrive depending on their moisture needs. Water is essential for the decomposition of organic matter by bacteria and fungi, which are the primary decomposers in the soil food web.
Filtering and buffering potential pollutants
The minerals and microbes in soil are responsible for filtering, buffering, degrading, immobilizing, and detoxifying organic and inorganic materials, including industrial and municipal by-products and atmospheric deposits. This helps keep water clean!
Cycling nutrients
Carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and many other nutrients are stored, transformed, and cycled in the soil. Helps our gardens to retain moisture requiring less water to be used. Having clean and good quality water availabile directly impacts the plants ability to phyotsynthesize which directly impacts the activity of bacteria and fungi, which are crucial for nutrient cycling and breaking down organic matter. Protozoa and Nematodes feed on bacteria and fungi, and their populations are highly dependent upon a well functioning soil food web.
Providing physical stability and support
Soil structure provides a medium for plant roots.
Without adequate clean and good quality water, the soil food web cannot function properly. This will lead to all kinds of other problems, pests, disease, diminished crops and lower nutritionally dense foods.
Ultimately, we need to prioritize soil health and foster a diverse ecosystem. Healthy soil is rich in organic matter and teeming with beneficial microorganisms, which boost plant vitality. By making sure you are using clean, good quality water, you will be strengtheing your soil with beneficial biology. In this way you support nature's defense force in protecting your plants and reducing their vulnerability to disease and damage.
It's important not take for granted water quality as it has a direct impact upon your gardens and ultimately your health. We encourage you to get your water tested and based upon the results implement strategies that will give your garden the best possible water it can have. You wont regret it!
Happy Gardening!
References:
Comments