Hot summer garden pointers

Here's a few pointers for gardeners suffering through a hot, dry summer.

1. Do not water lawns.  Grasses naturally go dormant in hot, dry weather, so don't go against nature.

2. Plant okra.  This isn't my favorite fruit, but when young and tender there are several interesting ways to cook it.  And this is important because okra likes hot weather, and seems to be the one garden item the Phactor has that may do well this season.  For some reason, probably because they were filled by dining on broccoli, beans, peas and the like, the bun-buns and woodchucks have left the okra alone.  A good surrounding fence may have helped.

3. If you do water plants, water them well.  At our last TGIF one of impatient friends, the always in a hurry type, mentioned that even watering her garden twice a day did nothing and the garden looked awful.  So how long was she watering?  Probably 10-15 mins.  And she was using a nozzle on a hose, and almost no one has the patience, or time, to water well using that equipment.  Generally a nozzle applied too much water over a small area too quickly providing the illusion that you have watered well when in fact the water is just running off.  When instructing amateurs, the Phactor lets them water until they think they have done it thoroughly.  Then they get handed a screw driver or trowel, and asked to make a little trench across the area they just watered, and seldom has the water penetrated more than a quarter of an inch.  Get a sprinkler and let it run, and the bigger the area you are watering the longer you must let the water run.  If you don't notice the difference in your water bill you aren't watering enough to matter. 

4. Pay particular attention to new plantings.  New plants, those in the ground less than 12-15 months, need special attention in hot, dry weather.  If you want to limit water use, then you must concentrate on new plantings or write off your purchases and efforts as losses. 

5. Don't prune anything now!  You really don't know whether trees or shrubs have died back or just dropped some leaves to in reponse to the drought.  Some plants will just go dormant, so wait until next season before doing anything drastic.  Of course, a few plants may actually be dead and there are ways of checking for certain, but even then some types of plants will resprout from the base. 

6. Put out some water for birds and other wildlife.  Yes, be kind to wildlife.  Our lilypond is one gigantic bird bath-watering hole, but just a shallow bowl of water will provide lots of relief.

7. Keep your eye on well established plants for signs of stress.  When you see a plant looking water stressed, it's a good idea to give it a deep watering.  Plants that wilt during the heat of the day, but recover in early evening is probably doing OK.  Wilting actually reduces the heat stresss because droopy leaves absorb less sunlight and therefore lose less water through transpiration.  If wilted plants do not recover, then water them well.  Look for scorched, browing tips and edges on leaves.  The Phactor missed noticing  this on a witchhazel, and now the leaves are really damaged although the plant will be OK.

8. Perennials that die back are probably OK.  Many perennials can and will die back under conditions of drought, and they will probably recover next season, assuming conditions get better.  Some ferns, lily of the valley, and wild ginger have all died back, but we're not worried.  They will survive.  There will probably be a few things that do not survive.  The wax bells are a bit of a worry.

9. Ice cubes.  No matter how severe the water restrictions, margaritas must be served on the rocks.  This is very important for maintaining a proper attitude about weather and gardens.  Cocktail hours are exactly for attitude adjustment.  For example, one new perennial has flowered for the first time, a nodding onion.  Of course this prairie native is plenty tough, but it had been forgotten until up popped the flowers.  There are always some bright spots.  Now to find a recipe for a gumbo.

Drought - Garden news during dry times

It's been a bit over 3 weeks since any significant rain has fallen, and it's getting tough on plants.  New plantings are being pampered with regular watering because the only alternative is to let them die.  The natives are struggling, but they will survive.  A number of our perennials have just folded their tents and probably won't be seen until next season, e.g., wax bells, late flowering snake root, and quite a few others.  Some of the hate-to-be-dry plants may have bought the farm: e.g., Clethra alnifolia struggles in our summers in a good year; now it's toast, which is too bad because it's really cute in flower.  It's so dry now that some well established plants are struggling, e.g., the bottle brush buckeye.  A couple of magnolias are showing some signs of stress too.  You may notice certain trees shedding more bark, which is because tree trunks actually shrink in diameter during dry times.  Others plants are doing surprisingly well considering.  When it was younger and during it's growing season, our Japanese parasol pine wilted very easily, but now it has been weathering the hot, dry pretty well in a location where it is protected from the afternoon heat and sun.  A couple of new mountain laurels and a new ornamental black gum are proving pretty tough, and having had rather bad results with ornamental hemlocks in the past, a new one, a quite pretty one, has been watered regularly, and so far so good.  Nothing usually affects wild ginger, but now ours has died back, which it has never done before.  Many of our ferns have packed it in for the season, e.g., the osmundas (3 sp) especially.  The flowering displays of our hostas and native forbs are reduced in size, number, and duration.  The yellow cone flowers seem to be an exception.  However, having seen many maize fields that are clearly a total loss across Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, the Phactor is happy enough that his livelihood does not depend upon his garden.  Lastly, the bun-buns are eating things they've never touched before showing that they are getting a bit desperate. This morning dawned overcast, but no rain seems to be in the offing, and if this front passes without rain, it will likely be another week before any precipitation is possible.