I have been anxiously desperately waiting for the summer rain to come.
But that doesn't mean I can stop watering. Rain is very important to gardens in the southwest mainly because it is the primary source for good tree watering. Most homeowners rely on inappropriate watering methods such as sprinklers, or just don't water enough.
Regardless of whether or not there appears to be rain in the forecast, it's still a good practice to water your trees.

For me, I've found that using a water hose works best. I once had my trees on a drip system, but the growth rate required me to make adjustments every 3-4 years, which was (surprisingly) more than I wanted to keep up with.
So I disconnected the drip line and set out the hose.
With the hose on a very low flow rate (about 1/2gal per minute on ground and 1gal per minute in lawn), I just let it run all weekend moving about every 6-12 hours around each tree (north,south,east,west). This allows for good deep watering, and then when the rains do come, the soil is primed to soak it up.

Check out more on watering at the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association.

If you're in the Phoenix area, you can sign-up for my Permaculture Guild workshop this coming Wednesday 08/05/2009 on watering in the garden.

I'll share great tips not only on what, how, and when to water, but also some fun demos on building and using watering systems.

It's that time of year—everything is dying! Or, maybe not. Native plants are blooming and the green couldn't be better. The rains have been nice but still not nearly enough. Especially for trees. Trees need water – lots of water. Just because a tree looks brown and may lose a branch doesn’t mean it’s dying – it just needs water. The cost to keep a mature tree alive is nothing compared to the cost of removing an old tree and installing a new tree.

So, how are your trees being watered? By the sprinklers? Wrong answer! Sprinklers are for the lawn (and the lawn is much more effective at drinking all that water). Are your trees on a drip system? Is the dripper right at the trunk of the tree? Bad bad bad! Trees drink water from the tips of their roots, which are located out at the edge of the tree canopy (or even farther out). Do you water your trees by hand? Enough? Check out this cool watering guide:
Water Use It Wisely
(click on plant watering)
Providing shade, housing wildlife, mitigate the heat island affect, trees are very important in the landscape, the environment, and our local climate. Plant a tree; water a tree; save the trees.