What's Up Magazines

Get your summer garden watered—
and beat the heat

By Kim DeBarge

So many of us enjoy fresh tomatoes off the vine, grilled cucumber and zucchini, and fresh garden herbs during the summer months. But getting up in the morning to hose down your plants can be challenging. It's also tough to conserve water during those dry, hot summer months. But with proper use of ground cover and watering techniques, you can replace this chore with an easy way to keep your garden beautiful all summer.

To cut down on garden maintenance, consider using a soaker hose and mulch in your garden. A soaker hose, placed under a layer of evaporation-blocking mulch, delivers more water to the roots of the plant, where it's needed. Mulch acts as an insulator, keeping the water cool and reducing evaporation, thereby helping the soil to soak up the water. The soaker hose system also keeps water off the leaves and fruits of your plants, where moisture can cause fungus and mold. You can even set these hoses with a timer, controlling the amount of water delivered to your garden. And because the water seeps out of the soaker hose, it does not wash nutrient-rich topsoil down the driveway and into the Chesapeake watershed as watering with spray hoses is known to do.

Contain Yourself!

Are your in-ground plants showing signs of heatstroke? Long days and intense rays can turn your favorite flowering plants into crispy dead leaves by July. Summer is the right time to plant container gardens. You can do the work in a shed or garage, and move your garden outside after the hard part is over. An arrangement of flowers and greenery in a terra cotta urn or pot adds distinction to any patio or deck and window boxes filled with trailing moonflowers add fragrance and beauty outside of bedroom windows. There are a few secrets to planting a distinctive container garden that will make the work easier. The larger the container, the easier it is to maintain. A large terra cotta pot with 20 pounds of soil will not blow over in a July thunderstorm, and the deeper soil means better root systems and water retention for your plants. By choosing a larger pot, you may end up doing less watering and less work! Similarly, a pot that is glazed or nonporous keeps more of your water where it belongs—in your plants' root systems.

To keep your container garden looking its best, a good rule of thumb is to think of the planting like arranging a photograph. Put the tall plants toward the back and save the small, punchy flowers for the front or edge of the container. A central fern or fringed plant surrounded by blooming flowers in a glazed pot can add an exotic touch to any patio. Plan to water container gardens three times weekly, deeply enough to soak the soil. Lighter hanging baskets may need to be watered more frequently. Remember, for maximum absorption, water during the cooler hours of the morning.

A Well-Tended Lawn

That stretch of inviting, grassy ground where picnics are hosted and outdoor games are played is probably the biggest part of your property. To keep your lawn looking its best, mow it with a sharp blade. This ensures that the grass is cut, not torn. Cutting your grass frequently, but not too short, is the best way to ensure a hearty and lush lawn all summer long. About 2 inches is the right height.

Water your lawn with a sprinkler in the early morning, before it gets too hot outside, to promote water absorption and conservation. A light sprinkling of water every other morning should do the trick. Unlike gardens, where soaker hoses are a wonderful method of water delivery, lawns need a fine mist of moisture to stay hydrated, and a sprinkler does the best job of delivering it. The roots of a properly hydrated lawn will go a long way in crowding out the thistles, dandelions, and weeds that crop up if given the opportunity.

If you need to define spaces within your garden, butterfly gardens are an easy way to border that lawn and add a little definition between spaces. The easy-care bushes that make up these gardens bloom throughout July and August and grow quickly. Their bloom clusters resemble tiny purple, white, or pink lilacs and are lightly fragrant. They're also hardy enough to weather our hot, dry August with grace. Best of all, they attract throngs of purple meadow, monarch, and tiger swallowtail butterflies. During the summer months, remember that butterfly bushes don't shed their spent flowers. That means, to keep yours looking beautiful, you should clip the brown blossoms with garden shears about once a week.

Spend a summer morning doing a little gardening and it will pay off in spades as you eat a crisp salad on the deck, read on the back patio, or watch fireworks from your lawn later. Plan on enjoying your potted flowers, fresh fruits and vegetables, and lush lawn throughout July and August!

Editorial Assistant Kim DeBarge is an apartment-dwelling container gardener.