Drip Irrigation for Vegetable Garden

Q: I have a vegetable garden consisting of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. The soil is mostly clay. I use a drip irrigation system and was wondering what rate of water you would recommend?

A: This is hard to answer because much depends on your soil type. If you have sandy soil you have to put more water on a plant because it dissipates so quickly. With clay soil it’s the opposite.

The size of the plant is also a factor. A big tomato vine requires more water than a pepper plant. Your goal is to keep the root zone moist but not soggy and that may take a little bit of digging around with a trowel find out how much water you need for each plant during the summer.