Water-Wise Tips to Manage Your Garden During a Heat Wave
After over 25 years in the gardening industry, I have something to admit. Watering is the hardest part to learn! It takes years of practice and experimentation to get it right.
Making it more difficult is our changing climate. With heat waves, droughts, and flooding more common than ever, what can we do to protect our plants?
To answer this, let’s deep dive into water-wise tips that help you manage your garden during a heat wave. The emphasis on watering will ensure your plants not only survive extreme weather but thrive.
Symptoms of Overheated Plants
To protect your garden during times of water stress, it’s important to know what to look for. You don’t want to confuse signs of an overheated plant with fungal or snail damage.
Common symptoms you might see when plants overheat include:
Sunburn/leaf scorch
Leaf problems
Leaf drop
Tip dieback
Split bark
Sunscald
Wilted leaves from moisture loss
Stressed plants due to drought or excessive heat are more susceptible to disease. This opens the way for pathogens to infect your plants when they’re not their healthiest.
How to Protect Your Garden During a Heat Wave
So what can you do? It’s 100°F outside, your plants are wilted, and your garden bed looks dry. A closer peek shows you that your soil is already moist… what do you do to keep your plants alive?
Water your garden wisely
When it’s excessively hot out, most people think the answer is to water their gardens more.
Believe it or not, there is such a thing as it being too hot to water your plants. You also need to be careful about how often you water your garden during periods of extreme heat. Too much water can be just as detrimental as too little.
The best thing you can do is build healthy soil, water deeply around your plants’ root zones to meet their needs as they grow, keep up with weeding, and use mulch to retain water.
Put up a shade cloth for plants
There are many tools available to protect your plants during a heat wave. Shade cloths are a great example.
Here’s what mine looks like:
If you’re wondering about the difference between a shade canopy and a shade cloth, shade canopies block UV rays instead of reducing them. Your plants still need sun! Opt for a shade cloth (or two) instead.
Move potted plants to safety
When a heat wave hits, be proactive. Move your potted plants to a shaded area for the time being. You can return them to their original spot once the extreme weather leaves.
Design your garden with intention
Planting the right plant in the right place matters.
The most suitable for your garden will depend on your area’s soil type, sunlight, and space. If you’re stumped, I always recommend including regionally-appropriate plants since they do the best!
Monitor for pests
There are many common pests that love the balmy summer temperatures including:
Spider mites
Powdery mildew
Bark beetles
Tree borers
The best way to manage them while supporting the ecology of your garden is with an integrated pest management approach. With the right garden layout, suitable plant varieties that attract beneficial insects, and proper watering techniques, you can keep pests at bay.
FAQs About Water-Wise Gardening In a Changing Climate
Water-wise gardening is about getting the most out of what you have available. As climate change brings longer, more intense, and more frequent heat waves, this matters more than ever.
Think of this FAQ as your guide for managing a water-wise garden during excessive heat. The more prepared and confident you feel, the better the outcome will be!
When do I water my plants?
It’s not ideal to water your garden during the high heat of the day. It’s best to water early in the day before the heat comes on then again late in the day once the temperature starts to cool.
How often do I water my plants?
It depends. There are many factors that dictate how often you need to water your plants:
The texture of your soil
Whether you use mulch
The type of plants and their water needs
Your garden’s unique microclimate – sun, shade, wind, heat, and grade of the property
Whether it’s a newly planted or established plant
Established plants need less water than newly planted ones because they already developed a deep, healthy root zone. To get those fresh flowers rooted, gradually water deeper to encourage growth then begin watering less often, letting the top few inches of the soil dry out before watering again.
What do I use to water my plants?
There are many methods you can use to water your plants. Drip irrigation systems, pop-up sprinklers, hand watering, rain catchment systems… you name it.
In my experience, the most water-wise way is with a drip irrigation system. I recommend you avoid sprinklers because of the amount of water wasted on evaporation, especially during a drought.
Where do I get my water from?
Rainwater is hard to come by during a drought. Your best option (besides avoiding water waste) is to hold onto the rain when it does come!
You can do this by planting trees and shrubs, installing a rain garden, guiding rainwater from a downspout into your garden, capturing rainwater with rain barrels and cisterns, or increasing the pervious surfaces around your property.
How do I properly water my plants?
The answer is simple: If you want to grow deep root systems and a water-wise garden (you do), water deeply.
Here’s what that looks like:
Depending on the plant, get the water down 5-12 inches. For perennials and veggies, shoot for a good 5-7 inches.
Wait until the top few inches of the soil is dry before you water again. This may take multiple days!
For larger shrubs and trees, go deeper and water even less often. Try providing a deep soak once a month.
Can mulch help water my plants?
Mulching is a crucial step in growing a water-wise garden, especially during extreme temperatures. You can lay out a nice thick layer around the perimeter of the plants (near the root zones) to reduce water evaporation. Your garden bed might look dry due to sun exposure and wind, but the soil will be moist when you feel down a couple of inches.
While mulch is a great tool for your garden, you also want to keep areas bare or uncultivated. This approach supports both your plants and the beneficials like native ground bees.
Why does it matter if my garden is water-wise?
A water-wise garden is a bountiful, resilient garden.
When you water deeply, you permeate the soil and help the plant grow. When you water shallowly, that water evaporates quickly and you need to water more often. When this goes unnoticed over time, your plants become stressed from losing water, become weak, and are more prone to pests and diseases.
Ways We Can Grow Together
The good news is that you can beat the heat to grow beautiful, healthy plants! It just takes intentional preparation and an understanding of proper watering practices.
Want to learn more about how a water-wise approach to gardening can help your plants thrive despite extreme weather events? Book me for your next garden club, business group, organization, or lunch and learn event!