Please don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely not complaining about the glorious sunshine and high temperatures of late.

But with an ever growing to-do list, husband overseas and a teething six-month-old, watering the garden is the last thing I need. In times of hot, dry weather such as we are currently experiencing, proper watering can be critical to plant survival so it is important to understand the needs of plants to water effectively.

Getting the garden hose out and giving the leaves of the plants a quick misting won’t cut it. Whilst it’s true that watering is not rocket science, the question remains: how much and how often?

Despite the heat, don’t be tempted to irrigate too often. If you repeatedly water the surface of the soil sparingly, the roots will come to the topsoil and rely on frequent applications. This is not what we want.

Healthy roots should go deep into the soil in search of soil moisture. Best practice is to give an area a soaking and let it begin to dry out before round two with the hose.

As a general guide, the RHS recommends up to 24 litres of water per square metre every seven to 10 days will be sufficient to maintain healthy plant growth.

If in doubt as to whether your garden needs watering, push your finger into the top 2-3 inches of topsoil – it should go in easily and be moist when you pull it out. The soil should be dark, moist and cool to the touch not soaking wet.

If you can, water plants first thing in the morning or in the evening. Watering at these times will reduce the amount of soil water loss from evaporation before the plants have time to absorb it.

In my professional opinion, watering in the early morning is best as this will make water available to plants throughout the day, better equipping them to deal with the heat of the sun. Established trees and shrubs tend not to need watering but recently planted trees and shrubs (even those planted three or four years ago) will need attention as they won’t yet have established wide ranging drought tolerant root systems.

Herbaceous perennials will almost certainly need watering during hot, dry spells.

It’s best to start watering before drought kicks in as once they start to wilt the damage has been done on a cellular level and plants may find it hard to recover.

If it's a green lawn you’re after, water is essential when the sun starts to beat down. But is this a good use of water in times of drought? I think not.

In addition to watering correctly, there are a few other tricks that will help to prevent water loss from the soil.Top of that list is mulching. a thick layer of mulch helps to retain soil moisture as well as keeping weeds down. Which brings me nicely onto my last point – keep weeding.

Weeds are plants too and if you don’t remove them, the little freeloaders will make off with soil moisture at the expense of your permanent residents.