Gardening Bytes

Archive for the ‘Watering Tips’ Category

Ground covers for shade are sometimes harder to come by, shade can be a difficult place for some plants to survive. Shade can be dry, such as under trees, or a damper environment, such as under large ferns. Keep your perennials planted in shade watered or you may notice a decrease in blooming. Provide extra water for plants near and under trees since trees use up great quantities of water. If plants are long and leggy they may have difficulty thriving in a tree’s shade. Check with your local nursery to see if the perennial shade plants you are interested in are hardy in your region.

This plant list is for shade and partial shade plants.

Ajuga
Alchemilla
Anemone
Astilbe
Brunnera
Convallaria
Cornus
Dicentra
Digitalis
Epimedium
Euonymus
Euphorbia
Ferns
Galium
Gaultheria
Geranium
Hedera
Hellebore
Heuchera
Hosta
Hypericum
Lamium
Lathyrus
Leptinella
Linnaea
Liriope
Meehania
Omphalodes
Oxalis
Phlox
Pulmonaria
Saxifraga
Symphytum
Vinca
Viola
Sedum

Containers lose quite a bit of moisture which is why it is important to water them at minimum weekly and optimally more often during hot summer months. Hanging baskets dry out as well and need a regular watering routine to keep the plants healthy and alive during summer. Mulch in a container works the same as mulch on the ground. When planting up containers it is a good idea to use some form of mulch on the top layer of your container to help retain water in the pot and keep your plants cool. A small redwood bark or redwood chips work well for an all purpose mulch. If you want the tops of your pots to be more decorative use stones, pebbles, broken sea shells, or decorative craft glass with rounded edges. I received a large number of beach agates and decided to use the small colorful rocks to top off my patio pots, they look pretty and function as mulch. Coco shells smell good and looks pretty, but can be toxic to dogs. It is important to read warning labels for any product you use beyond standard garden mulch sold in nurseries.

Azaleas are an ideal shrub to provide structure in your garden. These colorful, smaller shrubs have green leaves that are deciduous and beautiful flowers in spring. Azaleas require a shaded site, or a site with morning sun and afternoon shade. Azaleas prefer well-drained acid soil. You can add pine needles, oak leaves, or peat to increase the acidity of the soil surrounding your azaleas. Dig the planting hole for your azalea 6 to 8 inches wider than the roots or root ball of the plant, and dig deep enough to accommodate the root ball. Plant the azalea so the soil line on the plant is the same depth as it was in the shrub’s original pot. Apply a layer of mulch about 3 inches deep, and keep the plant moist, but not wet, until the azalea is well established.

If a watering system is outside your budget for your garden, a makeshift drip system using a soaker hose is a good choice. Buy a soaker hose that can attach to your regular garden hose. Place the soaker hose under roses, shrubs and other plants that would do well with deep watering. Turn on the water and let the soaker hose run for a half hour to an hour at a time. Soaker hoses are safe to place at the base of shrubs and will not waterlog the shrubs but gently allows drops of water soak into the soil around your plant. A soaker hose can be easily moved throughout your garden areas to water plants. Additional soaker hoses can be purchased and placed throughout the garden so you do not have to move the soaker hose around, but simply attach the garden hose to each section of the soaker hoses in order to water your garden.

You might notice when you grow tomatoes that at times the leaves curl on the plant. Some of this is normal, but here are a few reasons this may be a problem for your tomatoes. Tomato leaf curl may be due to bugs or fungus. Look under the leaves to see if bugs are on the leaf. Viral or fungus infections generally presents itself on tomato leaves when the leaves of the plant are a lighter green than the variety usually has on the plant. Spotting on tomato leaves is another indication virus or fungal infections are present. Lastly, tomato leaves will curl if the plant has had too much water or not enough water. If hot and dry, water the plant, tomato plants are thirsty plants. If it is too wet around the plant, let it dry out a bit before watering. Watch for the natural signs of a healthy tomato plant when watering and adjust your watering schedule accordingly.

Containers with plants often need extra watering because they dry out more quickly than plants in the ground. The use of a mulch is a great way to help keep water retained in containers for thirsty plants. There are a number of mulches that look good as well as help keep containers and plants from drying out. Use smaller redwood bark in the tops of containers, it looks good and lasts a long time. Gravel is another choice to top your containers and providing you with an opportunity to use colored gravel. Rounded glass, the type you get for filling vases in crafts stores, is another choice for decoration and shading the soil in your container. I received a gift of small agate stones that I placed in the tops of a number of my containers, it works well as a mulch and the array of agate colors looks wonderful as well.

Terra cotta pots are a popular pot to plant in, but they often dry out easily, requiring multiple waterings every week. Compost loses moisture quickly through the sides when in a terra cotta pot. A good way to help maintain the moisture in your terra cotta pots and keep your plants happy is to use a lining of plastic in the pot. Line around the inside wall of the terra cotta pot with black plastic or an old compost bag before adding your compost and plant, then water in the new plant. The plastic will help maintain moisture in the pot after watering.