Subject: Surviving the heat
Man, is it hot! Temperatures are supposed to be over a hundred degrees for the next two weeks. We have only had about a half inch of rain since the beginning of April. All the pastures are brown … either just dirt left, or a withered and crunchy grass that is long past the point where it was begging for rain. It lost its’ voice back in May.
Driving to town today I was looking at all the gardens along the way. The plants are stunted and withered, most of the gardens are only using a small portion of the available space, and many growers have already given up. So, what’s the secret? How can we stay in the game and be productive when the environment is stacking the deck against us? It’s been too hot for too long, no rain for months, the exposed ground surface gets up to about 120 during the day, and even many of the large trees are dying due to the stress of high temp and lack of water.
Here are a few things that you can do to assist in keeping your garden alive and healthy even in this harsh climate.
Watering:
* The best time to water your garden in any weather is still going to be in the morning before the sun has a chance to start sucking the life from your plants. By watering in the morning, you will give the plants a resource to pull from when most of the water in the leaves is being taken away by intense evaporation. The plants go into survival mode in extreme temperatures and you need to give it all the help you can to make it till the temps drop back down again.
* You can also greatly assist the plants by watering in the evening as well. The water that the plants have lost during the extreme heat of the day can be replaced by watering in the afternoon or evening after the sun has passed the critical point of plant suckage. This gives your garden a break by letting it recover and even grab a little growth before it relaxes for the night.
* Soaker hoses, water emitters, and drip systems are all good and can be very helpful in these conditions as well. Sometimes the drip and soaker systems need to have shaded locations or the water may be evaporated before it has a chance to penetrate the ground though.
* The plants have to be able to get water when they need it or they will not survive. Even if you can’t water at the “best” times of the day, as least give them some water. It won’t be hot and dry forever … at least I hope it doesn’t …
Mulching:
* Mulching the surface of your soil at the
plant base is a very good way to help your soil hold on to its’ moisture
longer. It breathes due to the porosity
of mulching mediums, but keeps the sun from direct contact with the soil
surface. Just by adding a 1-2 inch layer
of mulch on your soil, you can decrease the soil temperature (and the temp of
your plant roots) by several degrees. The
less contact the sun has on the surface, the cooler the surface will be, and
the less water it will give up to evaporation.* Mulching helps the soil take in water easier when you have the hose out. A heavy soil (a lot of clay in the mix) turns into concrete when it dries out, making it difficult for water to penetrate the surface. By adding a layer of mulch or compost, the fibers in the mulch penetrate the surface and keep it more open to both air and water so the water can soak in much better.
Shading:
* Shading the soil with some form of organic
material will help in the same manner as mulching by lowering the temperature
of the soil and plant roots. (newspapers
work very well for this)* Mass plantings of many garden plants tends to help in the same way also by shading the soil with the plants themselves to keep it cooler. (like bush greenbeans or tomatoes)
* Organizational planting is helpful to place a taller shady plant in a position where it will tend to give shade to a shorter, more delicate plant in the hotter portions of the afternoon. (grapevines work very well on trellises and can be grown in almost any garden location for this)
* T-posts in the corners of garden beds work very well to tie strings to, to hang plastic from, or to hang a shade material from. (we use them for just about everything)
Keep
some water out for the critters:
* In the hot dry seasons, your garden friendly
insects and critters need water too. It
is helpful to keep a small flat open container in shaded positions in your
garden to allow them a place to get a drink.
Wasps, bees, spiders, praying mantis, lizards, toads … these are just
some of the critters that are very helpful in your garden, and even if you don’t
like them there, your garden will be better if you can find a way to make
friends with the guys that are helping you keep it healthy.* If you do decide to keep water out for the critters, just keep an eye on it … mosquito larvae can hatch out in just a few days and you can dump them out to get rid of them.
Nobody has ever said that gardening is easy. It “can” be made much easier by a little
planning and knowledge … the more you do for your garden, the more it will do
for you. And the longer you are in the
gardening game, the more knowledge you will have to make this little task work
better with less effort. Come on
September … I know we should have some rain by then …
Keep your chin
up and keep it wet …
Duane
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