January 6th, 2024Glen, about the house
Beat the heat
Hot, dry summers can play havoc with your garden but if proper precautions are taken during its establishment and early stages of development, the summer months should be pleasurable and present few problems.
The first and most obvious step is, of course, to plant only those which are most suitable for your particular area and climate.
It is by far better to plant any tree or shrub that will grow well in your area, than a less hardy one simply because you like it better. A slow tour of your neighbourhood should be sufficient to give you a clue as to what would grow well in your garden.
By planting in stages, beginning with the hardiest varieties and allowing them to become established to provide shade and wind protection for the less hardy, it is then possible to grow a great range of colder climate plants.
Many native shrubs and trees are particularly well suited for this purpose since they have had millenniums of seasons to adapt themselves to the climate, the soils and, of course, the droughts.
Amid the most versatile families are the melaleucas. They range from tiny shrubs to mighty 10-metre high trees. Although they all have the typical brush-like flowers the difference in growth habit and foliage is so vast that several of them can be planted without giving your garden a look of sameness.
Other similarly suitable plant families are grevilleas, acacias, banksias and the proteaceae group – such as protea, leucadendron etc. They are all evergreen. The second step is to make sure you are watering correctly.
To gain maximum benefit from watering, particularly during the hot weather, it is far better to water well, than to water lightly and often.
Remembering that trees and shrubs take in all nourishment via their root systems, it follows that it is best to supply their water directly on to the ground around their roots.
As well as maintaining soil moisture longer it will encourage tree and shrub roots to grow stronger and deeper.
Deep roots will find water and food for themselves and not become so reliant on frequent watering. This makes it possible to lengthen the period between watering – a great help when you are planning to get away on holidays.
Before the arrival of polypipe and micro sprays, it was necessary to control the delivery of water to each specific tree by digging a shallow moat around the drip zone or the outer periphery of the branches) and leave a slow running hose to fill the moat.
It is a rather precarious system requiring a good memory or an accurate timer to avoid under watering or the inevitable wastage of an overflow, to say nothing of the frequent trips out to move the hose on.
The solution is a garden-wide, easily installed, and relatively low priced, brown poly pipe system with inbuilt, non-blocking drippers.
They come in various length rolls, have plastic attachments to enable you to create your own network and require only a sharp knife or secateurs, pliers and a pot of hot water to soak and soften the tube ends.
Our large and rambling garden is now fully installed with six such systems, each on independent taps and the whole garden is watered in hourly stages ranging from one to three hours depending on the season and weather.
The length of watering needed can be judged by feeling the soil to a depth of several centimetres for dryness.
The frequency of summer watering can be further reduced by covering the beds and drippers (actually they’re really dribblers) to a depth of 4-5cm with mulch or compost such as pea straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, almond shells, sawdust or pulverised horse or cow manure.
Got a gardening query? Email glenzgarden@gmail.com
