Summer temperatures have finally reached us. With highs in the 90’s and evening lows around 70, our garden plants and vegetables will need a bit more care to remain healthy and productive.
It is a given that our garden plants will require more watering in the heat of summer. The best time to water is in the early morning or late evening to avoid evaporation. It is best practice to water your plants by drenching the soil once every few days, rather than dampening the surface daily. If possible, check the soil each day to see if the soil (at finger’s depth) is moist or dry, especially with new plantings. How much water your garden plants need and how often is going to be based on 2 things, size of the plant and the type of soil your plant is in.
The suggested amount of water needed per plant would be 2 gallons for each caliper inch of your tree or shrub every 3-4 days. However, depending on your soil type, 2 gallons p/caliper inch every 3-4 days may not be efficient as certain soil types hold water differently than others.
In my gardens, the soil is a silty clay loam. It is reddish-brown in most areas of my yard, breaks apart easily when dry but is sticky and clumps together when wet. This type of soil holds water longer than sand or loam. After a good long soaking, my garden soil stays moist for about 3-4 days during summer, even longer in the shady areas. For a lot of my patrons visiting the gardens, I get several questions about plants that will grow well in sandy soil. If you have sandy soil, you will need a different watering regime than I would, as sand does not hold water well. Plants in sandy soil would need watered about 3-4 times more often as those planted in a clay soil.
For new plantings, we water every 2-3 days during summer months. The trick to watering new plants is to make sure you are saturating the ground beneath its root system so you can train the new plant to send its roots down deep. If you only water it lightly each time, the roots will remain close to the surface and it will cause weakness in the trunk.
Raised Beds and container plants will need their own schedule. Since they are on top of the surface, they will dry out much faster from heat and wind. Something I have always done, to help me know when it is time to water, has been to keep impatiens planted in a pot relatively close to each garden area. The minute I see my poor impatient impatiens looking sad and miserable, I know it is time to water everything else.
There are a few helpful watering tools that you can use if you don’t have time to water your plants as often as needed or even if you plan on being away from your gardens. A few of my favorites include watering timers, buckets and self-watering terra cotta bottle holders. Watering timers can be particularly useful if you are going out of town for extended periods. Just be sure to enlist someone to verify the timer is working properly every few days or the results could be drastic (Trust me, I found out the hard way). Buckets can be set up beside plants to aid in watering. Drill 5 holes in the bottom and then place on top of the soil as close as you can to the trunk. Fill the bucket(s) full of water and let it slowly drain out. And for my extra-large containers, I love these terra cotta watering stakes I found awhile back. They are sturdy and large enough to hold a 2-3 Liter recycled plastic bottle and when they are placed properly, they can feed a single plant for a week or two.
When you’re done watering, it’s time to lock in that valuable moisture. Mulches such as pine, bark, straw bales, compost, leaves and grass clippings will help to slow evaporation by shading the soil from the sun’s rays. Mulches also keep the root zone cooler, reducing the stress your plants are under.
When temperatures rise above 90, many plants really start to struggle. Some plants, including tomatoes cope by rolling up their leaves. This is a natural response that reduces water loss. Many fruiting plants, including tomatoes, beans and peppers may also drop their flowers and stop producing as they try to cope with the heat and save their energy. Do not make the mistake of thinking that theses plants are lacking nutrients and fertilize them. Fertilizing once temperatures reach above 90 can be stressful for your plants. It will only create the need for more water to process the fertilizer so that it does not burn your plant. If there is fruit left on your vegetable plants, harvest early and allow fruits to ripen indoors so you can take some of the stress off your plants and allow them to survive the heat. They’ll produce again as soon as the weather is cooler.
Another way to help plants beat the heat is by providing them with shade. Shade cloths, umbrellas and tarps can aid in providing temporary shade for your plants. You could even use white bed sheets or old curtains for shade. If your plants are in containers, simply relocate the plants to a shadier area. Trust me, even if the plant says ‘Grow in Full Sun’, it will be much happier in the shade than it will be getting baked by the sun.
Charla Ingram is a plant, nature, and golfing enthusiast who, along with her husband Chris, owns and operates C&C Gardens in the small town of Bessie, Oklahoma.