As I looked at the weekend weather, the forecast was for highs in the mid- to low-90’s. The summer heat for our part of the world is already here. Is your landscape ready for the heat?
Let us start with our watering systems. It is best to water in the early morning when dew is still on the ground. Setting the irrigation timer during the cooler morning reduces evaporation that will be intensified later in the day. When you add water, water your landscape deep and slow. It is best to allow the water to soak down deep into the ground and provide a ‘reserve’ bank of moisture for the roots to reach. Deep watering also encourages deeper roots which make for healthier lawns, ornamentals, and trees.
Homeowners can provide the most efficient irrigation in flower beds and around the foundation with a drip or “soaker” irrigation system. When you use a drip system, you allow water to percolate deep into the soil (which prevents runoff) and almost eliminates evaporation that is common with sprinklers and misting systems.
If you haven’t added mulch, now is high time to do so. Mulch has several benefits and key among those benefits is reducing soil temperature and water evaporation. Barks, wood chips from a local tree-trimmer, and pine straw are all wonderful, viable options. You could use rock or plastics mulches, but the organic materials will break down over time and help enrich the soil even as they suppress weeds and reduce water evaporation.
As you add more plant specimens to the landscape, study which plants are heat resistant. There is a wide variety of native and well-adapted species that tolerate our weather fluctuations quite well and can thrive will little extra water once they are established.
Provide extra attention to container-grown plants. The wonderful clay terracotta pots we often use will certainly wick water away from the soil inside if it is not glazed or lined with a water-proof membrane. You can not only move these pots to an area that receives more shade in the summer, but group them together to create their own shady oasis.
Last is the largest part of most everyone’s landscape- the lawn. Set your mower blades higher during the warmer times of the year. The extra leaf matter will provide a small measure of shade to the soil and the leaf matter below it. In addition, leaving more leaf material above the soil will encourage a larger root system below the soil. This larger root system will, in turn, allow your turfgrass to reach more moisture deeper in the ground that you provided when you watered more deeply.
Warm weather is upon us and is a very normal part of our climate. Setting up your irrigation, mulch, plant selection, and lawn maintenance to handle the heat is completely in your hands.
