Q.Hillside Garden
I have my vegetable garden on a hillside, which I water every 3 to 4 days, giving all plants roughly the same. It is trellised, so I don’t get a huge amount of runoff; but for some unknown reason, the plants at the top of the hill seem to perform poorly. Can you give me a reason for this?
Certified GKH Gardening Expert
There are three possible causes. The first would be while there is not too much run-off, the water is still running some down the hill. The top of the hill may not be getting penetration of the water into the soil before the water continues down the hill. Another possibility is that the water is leeching the nutrients in the beds higher on the hill and moving them to the lower beds. The third possibility is that the top of the hill gets a harsher light than the bottom and this dries the soil at the top out more quickly.
