As unusual weather continues, it's time to rethink our strategy for watering plants
As summers go in the Ohio Valley, the weather so far this summer has been pretty enjoyable from a comfort standpoint. As I am writing this, we have yet to have any substantial periods of hot and humid weather, and it has also been substantially dry. We have been experiencing a moderate drought. We've had light showers with enough water for the flowers, but we've not had a good soaking rain to saturate the soil.
Some annual flowers do well growing in the heat, while others do not. Our weather this season is unusual for this time of the year, so don’t be discouraged if some of your flowers are not performing as well as they have in the past. Varieties that thrive in heat, such as geraniums, vinca, marigolds, salvia, portulaca and others, are just waiting for the heat to kick in. They have been looking good, but not growing very fast. The lack of rain has been helpful to these plants because plants that like heat do not like to be in wet soil. Cool and damp can be a double whammy for these types of plants. These plants will thrive when the heat arrives.
The long-range forecasts I've seen do have our normal summer heat rolling in, with a few days getting close to 90 degrees. Whenever we have this weather, the humidity will come along with it. What I am not seeing is any long periods of rain. There are days with periodic showers like we have been having.
Here's what to do if minor drought conditions continue
It seems like our minor drought conditions will be here longer, so we need to continue supplementing the missing rainfall by watering our plants. This would include both newly installed plants and established ones.
This is done best with a watering implement that will put a substantial amount of water into the soil in an efficient manner. Usually, I am not a big fan of soaker hoses because they sometimes result in plants being overwatered. During a drought, however, they are great to use because they will saturate the soil throughout the planting bed.
This is what the plants need. What’s happening now is individual plants are being watered in their specific space, but since the ground is so dry, much of the water is being absorbed into the dry soil away from the roots. Think of the ground as a dry sponge. As you pour water into a dry sponge, the water will naturally be pulled out through the sponge. It does not stay in a specific spot.
You also cannot water your landscape plants like you water your lawn. Lawn sprinklers are good for lawns. Your water pressure is the same whether you are watering 1,000 or 100 square feet. What this means is you are watering your lawn and landscape at the same time, but your landscape is getting very little water. When you are watering your plants, use a soaker hose, or a sprinkler where the water will go efficiently into the entire area of soil or throughout the planting beds.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Unusual 2023 weather has garden expert rethinking watering strategy
