watering help

Hi - I just found the website, and have been using the book as my guide.
Mel's watering guidelines are generally based on the type of soil, and chapter 18 has guidelines for plant types. However, all of this guidelines tend to lean towards only watering once or twice a week. How did we get to once or twice a day? It thought the whole point of SFG was, less work, less water?

I have no idea how to water my garden now based on all of this conflicting information. Help.

There are a few previous posts that may be helpful to you. You can find them by using the search feature. There are links to a few of those discussions below.
to the forum!
link 1

link 2

Hi limethumb, welcome to the forum!

Which book are you reading? I tried to look up your guidelines...I have what I think is the latest one (copyright 1981) "All New Square Foot Gardening" and it only has 10 chapters. (My bad if I have an old one!) On pages 137-139 it talks about watering and mentions needing to water a little more often. The way I look at it is this: The soil is much more friable / better aerated, so it drains better. You may be watering more often as a result (or not... some people still rely on rain!) but you probably won't be saturating everything each time like you might be with a row garden.

Please take what I've said with a grain of salt as this is my first year at SFG and hopefully if I've gotten anything wrong someone else will correct me. I installed a low-flow misting system this spring (under $50, yay!) and it has worked out great for me, with minimal impact to our watering bill. (I can't use a rain barrel, HOA won't let me...even though they don't mind 7 foot trellises in the front yard. Go figure!! )

I don't really want to start a new watering thread here, but I did want to say hello and WELCOME!