Landscapes and gardens across the country are suffering from record-breaking heat and drought. The obvious effects of drought include brown lawns, crisp leaves, smaller flowers, and fewer fruit. Others, though less apparent, are just as devastating. Long-term drought can weaken plants and make them more vulnerable to disease and insect attack. Plants may experience a decrease of winter hardiness if they are subject to dry conditions well into fall. Some wildlife species have been forced to flee their natural habitats due to the drought. If you’ve hired professional garden design London services to create your garden, it becomes all the more important that you preserve its beauty by following these tips.
- Water less frequently.
A lot of us garden owners tend to overwater our gardens. Water your landscape weekly, not every day. You can adapt your yard to be less thirsty over the course of a growing season by watering less often. Doing this also encourages deeper root penetration as shallow roots require more frequent irrigation. Yes, plants may wilt and lose some of their leaves at first, but later on, they will adapt and learn how to survive.
- Focus on watering shrubs and trees.
You can replace perennials, annuals, or lawns. To protect valuable shrubs and trees that are under your lawn, let it go brown. However, you should water it monthly. A twenty-year-old tree can be worth a lot for its cooling effects and the food value of its flowers to pollinators such as butterflies and bees.
- Help your soil absorb more water with wetting agents.
Wetting agents are surfactants that are applied to the ground once a month to make water “wetter” and to help water penetrate dry soils better and more evenly. By using such agents, you can actually train your soil to become more absorbent of water or any kind of moisture.
To increase soil’s ability to absorb water, inoculate the soil with beneficial mycorrhizal roots inoculants. Many plants rely on the mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationship between root fungus and plant roots to increase soil’s ability to extract water and nutrients. These inoculants can be inexpensive and make a big difference in the plant’s health and resilience to drought.
- Check for leaks in your watering systems and sprinklers.
Learn how to use the irrigation controller. Also, check how much water is being used and for how long. Avoid watering for more than 15 minutes twice daily as this can cause shallow root growth and decrease a plant’s ability to survive dry conditions. You can water for longer periods, but less often. You will use less water, and your landscape will be more productive.
- Switch to organic gardening practices.
Healthy soil is the foundation of a healthy garden. Organic gardening methods will improve the soil’s health and its water retention capacity. Chemical fertilizers can cause soil damage over time. They harm and eventually kill the complex underground network of earthworms and bacteria. The soil’s ability to absorb and retain water is dramatically improved by feeding microorganisms with natural and organic fertilizers.
