Watering the garden because of drought is a deadly way: ‘It makes plants lazy’

New plants need water. No discussion about that, says Ben van Ooijen, director of the Gardens of Appeltern, the largest ‘garden inspiration park’ in the Netherlands. “You have to water everything that has been planted in the past two months, such as lettuce in the vegetable garden. Otherwise the roots will die and the plants will not take root. But you really don’t have to water the whole garden. And the earth doesn’t have to be soaking wet either. Keeping a circle around the plant moist is enough.”