General hints and tips for successful gardening in a changing climate
Summers are getting warmer and beneficial rainfall rarer, but there are many ways gardeners can use water wisely and continue to grow the traditional garden plants that we all know and love...
- Soil preparation and mulching are vital to success. The sun and wind dry out soil by evaporating moisture from its surface. Gardeners can dramatically reduce this waste by adding a 5cm (2in) mulch layer of bark chips in early Spring before the sun starts to really heat up. This will shade the soil and keep it cooler. Try Levington Water Saving Decorative Bark - it’s effective and attractive.
- Buy a water butt and connect to the rain down pipe from the roof. If you already have one and it doesn't have sufficient capacity for your garden's needs then buy another and connect them.
- Water garden plants thoroughly or not at all. Just wetting the top inch of soil encourages plants to produce surface roots. Instead, a thorough soaking once a fortnight is better than daily dribbles.
- Sink plastic pots or tubes alongside precious plants so that the water you give them goes straight to the roots.
- Enrich the soil when planting - improve its water-holding capacity by digging in organic matter such as Miracle-Gro Ecosense Soil Improver or Levington Multi-Purpose Compost.
- You may already use water-retaining gels in your pots and baskets, but don’t forget that you can also add them to garden soil prior to planting. It saves time and water. Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Gel absorbs 400 times its own weight in water, ready to release it to plant roots whenever required.
- Ban weeds. They steal water and soil nutrients. You will see them die in days if you spray the leaves with Weedol 2 or Weedol 2 Gun!
- To best utilise the limited water available for hanging baskets and patio pots, plant your containers with Miracle-Gro Moisture Control Compost. It absorbs twice as much water as ordinary composts and contains enough nutrients to feed all season long.
- Water early morning or late evening. Sun and wind increase evaporation from the soil surface.
- Feed your lawn early in Spring. Lawns will be thicker, greener and more vigorous if they have the benefit of a Spring feed applied before the start of summer heat-waves. One application of EverGreen “I want to feed my lawn after cutting” will green-up the grass in just 3 days and continue to feed for 6 weeks. This improved drought-tolerance formula can be applied directly after cutting and there’s no need to water in.
- Use bath water if things get desperate, but only on plants growing in garden soil rather than those in containers. Add a tablespoon of Miracle-Gro Ericaceous Plant Food to every 5 gallons of this ‘grey’ water to help neutralise soap alkalines.
- Feed your plants. In dry conditions use a soluble plant food such as Miracle-Gro All Purpose Plant Food that is applied in liquid form. A healthy plant will utilise water more efficiently than an underfed plant.