Keeping Your Garden And Lawn Moist During The Dry Summer Months
While the spring season can bring the rain your flowers and grass need
, the summer months can deplete them of all of the moisture that they need to look beautiful and lush. However, if you are careful, there are some things you can do to prepare for this dry, harmful time.Good soil is the most important beginning to gardening. Is your garden soil mostly clay?
If so, you will see that water just runs off instead of soaking in. Add soil amendments to help combat this problem.
If your soil is a sandy-type, you will notice that water does not run off, and it does go right into the soil. The problem is that it drains out immediately.
You will need to add soil amendments like peat moss, manures, compost, or organic matter. If you are working with straight topsoil, be sure to add amendments like perlite or vermiculite, peat moss, humus, or composted cow manure because topsoil is so dense.
Plants under the eaves of your house or in southern, southwestern or western exposures need to be watered more frequently since they get very little water from precipitation, and the reflected heat from the walls leads to increased water stress and heat stress. Be careful what you plant next to rocks or a blacktop or pebble driveway since these surfaces are so hot and retain heat.
Wind, breeze, and moving air may sound pleasant, but it is far from for your plants. How could this innocent little wind possibly have any effect on gardening?
Wind can dry out the soil and dry out your plants very quickly. Unfortunately, most people just look at their plants to see if they have begun to wilt, judging that if they are wilted they need water.
Alas, if a plant has begun to wilt, then it has already suffered water stress. In a weakened condition, that plant cannot cope with the normal problems of insects, diseases, etc.
Those plants located under eaves or very near the walls of your house certainly benefit from a layer of mulch about two inches thick. The mulch helps to keep the roots of your plants at a more even temperature, it helps the soil underneath it to retain moisture and nutrients and mulch will also help keep weeds down.
When mulching, remember that, besides water, one of the basic requirements of any plants' roots is oxygen. If you pile up mulch around the base of plants, shrubs, or trees, the roots have little chance of getting the oxygen they need.
Pull the mulch out from the base of your plants and trees and make a little circle of the mulch away from the trunks or stems. You'll end up with a kind of well which will hold more of the moisture in the area of the roots.
Plants need deep, thorough soakings. It is truly far better to water less frequently but for a longer period of time.
If we are fortunate enough to get one inch of rain in a week, that is generally considered sufficient to a well-established garden. If your garden is new or your annuals are planted "high," then you are going to have to supplement that one inch of water.
It is better to water in the early morning if you possibly can. Night water rings can create ideal conditions for disease development including fungus.
Deep soaking is the goal. The most ideal and water-conserving method is one that provides a slow, steady trickle of water.
Soaking hoses or irrigation systems set on a very slow setting fill this need. By watering in this manner you achieve several important objectives; the water you use does not run off the soil but instead reaches the roots below making your plant stronger in the long run; the water that reaches the roots helps the plant to conserve the nutrients it needs to grow and develop.
By conserving the plant's nutrients, it becomes stronger over time and more drought-tolerant. You don't have to have dry, wilted, dead flowers and vegetables in the summer anymore-just take the necessary precautions, and you can have a gorgeous garden all year round!
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