Category Gardeners and Landscapers
Water-Smart Gardening: Planning and Planting This Spring
Very few things set off your home as well as a beautiful garden full of flowering plants and refreshing greenery. In order to keep your garden looking its best, however, you need to water it regularly. Don't wait till the summer gets hot: you should start watering in the spring to keep new growth healthy and encourage new plants to grow deep roots and establish themselves. Sprinklers are a convenient solution if you're short on time—but you probably feel that your water bills are high enough already, and it's actually not always the most efficient means of watering. Here are some irrigation tips and techniques you can use to help your garden thrive this spring and summer.
If you want to keep your garden healthy but you're short on time to do the maintenance needed, you may want to consider hiring a professional gardening service to help you out this spring and summer.
Use BizPals to keep your garden looking beautiful all year long!
Spring Planting: Choose Wisely
If you're planning to buy some new plants this spring, choose varieties that don't require as much watering. In general, California native plants require less care than exotic species. Look for species that are referred to as "drought-tolerant" plants" or "low-water plants". When you're planning the layout of your new plantings, try to place plants with similar needs together, where they won't compete for available water. If you simply must have plants that need a lot of watering and you don't have sprinklers, plant them near to a water source in case you need to tend to them frequently during a heat wave.Healthy Soil, Healthy Plants
When getting your yard ready for spring planting, you should check the condition of the soil. If it's compacted and heavy, the soil may be trapping water and preventing it from getting to your plants. You can aerate the soil by turning it over gently and making sure it's oxygenated. Add some mulch to the soil around your plants—it will help keep down weeds that might compete with your plants for moisture, and mulch prevents water from evaporating. When putting in new plants, apply mulch around them immediately. If you have well-established plants in your garden, spring is a good time to mulch around them since they are beginning their growth period. Healthy plants need less water, so throughout spring and summer you should remove weak or diseased plants that might attract pests and disease. And don’t forget to prune judiciously and weed regularly in order to give your blooms a fighting chance.Watering Times and Techniques
When you're getting out the watering can or the garden hose, timing is crucial. Morning is the best time to water your garden so the water has a chance to sink in and nourish the plants throughout the day. If you don't have time to water in the morning, evening is the next best time. Avoid watering in the afternoon when the heat of the sun will evaporate the water before it can reach your plants. If you only have five minutes to spend on garden chores, take care of your vegetables first since they may need daily watering to survive especially if the weather is hot. Other plants may not need daily watering and you can encourage the roots to grow deeper by watering them slowly and thoroughly less frequently. Plants that grow deep roots will not only be healthier, they will be better able to survive a dry spell. How often you water will depend on what the weather's been like in the past few weeks as well as the species that you're tending to. For precise guidelines on how often to water, check with your local Cooperative Extension to see what's recommended.Irrigation Systems
If your busy lifestyle leaves you little time for gardening, you may be tempted to install sprinklers or automatic irrigation systems and let them do the work for you. Some gardeners find that sprinklers can cause problems such as higher rates of evaporation and runoff, so they are turning to low-pressure irrigation instead. Methods of low-pressure irrigation, which include drip irrigation and can be above-ground or below-ground systems and can be more targeted and efficient than traditional sprinklers. Less water is used and it's delivered directly to your garden's soil, so the plants' leaves stay drier and are less likely to develop pest or fungal problems. You will probably be able to set up a simple drip-irrigation system of soaker hoses yourself, but you may need to use a landscaping service to install the more complex kind of underground low-pressure irrigation system.If you want to keep your garden healthy but you're short on time to do the maintenance needed, you may want to consider hiring a professional gardening service to help you out this spring and summer.
Use BizPals to keep your garden looking beautiful all year long!
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