Blog
- Tuesday 22 December 2015
- Written by Ryan Garratt
Effective summer watering
Soil quality
The single most important thing in the long term, in relation to summer watering, is to consider the soil you’re watering and not just the plants in it. This means digging through generous amounts of organic matter, either in the bagged ‘all-in-one’ form of Enriched Organic Planting Mix, Organic Compost and/or one of the various aged manures from one of our ASQ landscape yards.
With existing gardens, it is very important to continue to feed the soil. This is best done by using the same materials you used when planting, but putting them on top of the soil instead. Then the worms and other good guys will incorporate them deeper into the ground, without damaging soil structure - as you would if you were to dig them through using a shovel. Doing this each year will have your garden continually building soil in a structured fashion, creating depth for roots to more easily grow. This will allow the smaller and larger pores, or pockets, to hold both water and oxygen evenly through a plants root ball, instead of pooling up on the hard clay base stopping the oxygen and leading to root rot.
Mulching
Second on the list for effective summer watering is good mulching. Once the soil has been considered and ‘fed’, you then want to protect it with mulch. It really doesn’t matter what mulch you use, sometimes the style of house and garden will dictate this. Needless to say, there is a huge range of materials from straws, barks and pebble mulches, available at ASQ Garden & Landscape. Mulching helps so much over summer (and winter for that matter), by smothering competing weeds, insulating soil temperature and stopping moisture loss due to sun, heat and wind.
Watering
Now the building and protecting has been done, it’s good to think about how you actually water. Little, shallow waters done too frequently will make your plants lazy and stop them developing a strong, deep root system. This causes them dry out much quicker than a plant that is well established. It is best to water slowly and deeply, so water an area until it looks like it’s running off instead of soaking in. Once you’ve finished watering everything, go back to the start and water again. Watering this way leads to stronger, more self-reliant plants.
Due to the summer extremes often experienced in our part of Australia, there are other things that can be of tremendous benefit. If soil has been neglected for a time, and exposed to harsh sun and wind, it becomes hydrophobic. This means the water will not penetrate properly and any watering is a waste until the issue is fixed. Rapid soak is a very quick, effective and economical way to increase the water holding capacity of the soil.
Wind protection
Another thing that is very common late in the hot Victorian summer, is strong north winds. These winds can literally toast a garden. If the weather prediction is a period of strong, prevailing northerly’s, Envy is a great protectant foliage spray that is somewhat like sunscreen for plants. It will stop wind burn and excessive water loss due to evaporation. It is equally as good for frost protection too.
