Prepare your garden to survive summer
As we head into another summer it’s time to
take a critical look at your garden and decide
how you’re going to prepare it for the coming
heat.
Some steps are obvious. Check watering
systems and hoses to make sure they’re
working. Buy and replace worn fittings. Apply
soil wetters to garden beds (Yates Waterwise
Soil Wetter comes in dry and liquid forms).
Remove competing weeds and spread new
mulch over garden beds – but don’t make your
mulch layer so thick and dense that it ends up
acting as a barrier to water penetration. Two
good references are Kevin Walsh’s Waterwise
Gardening and Kevin Handreck’s Good
Gardens with Less Water.
Next, check the actual plants and see if it’s
worth removing some and replacing them with
heat-hardy varieties. There are extensive lists
of drought tolerant plants on websites and in
books. Yates Garden Guide, for example, has a
chapter called The Water-Saving Garden that is
filled with good plant suggestions. Many plants,
too, carry labels that indicate their drought
hardiness.
Don’t forget, though, that every plant needs to
be given supplementary water in its first few
weeks. And it’s important for this water to be
applied at the base of the plant, so that it gets
into the existing root system.
Here are some drought-hardy plant
suggestions:
Mediterranean plants like lavender (pictured)
have evolved to handle dry conditions. Many
lavender varieties are available, with a range of
flower colours in shades of mauve, lilac, pink
and white. Lavenders prefer drier conditions
and respond well to regular, light pruning. If soil
is acidic (areas where azaleas grow well)
sprinkle some Yates Garden Lime or Dolomite
around the base every couple of years.
Lots of natives that are classed as low water
users add beautiful touches to the garden.
Correas are good examples. There are many
different correas, but one of the best is the
hybrid with pink tubular blooms called ‘Dusky
Bells’. Correa alba has white, bell-shaped
flowers and is tough and drought tolerant once
established. While correas require little care,
they appreciate being cut back after flowering
and the occasional feed with a native plant food
like Yates Acticote. Most correas do well as
understorey plants in dappled shade.
Other native shrubs such as grevilleas,
bottlebrush and banksias can survive with little
supplementary watering.
And many of the fashionable structural plants –
those that are grown for their shape and the
dramatic effect of their leaves rather than their
flowers – require minimal extra watering.
Lomandras, cycads, yuccas and bird of
paradise are some suggestions.
Of course succulents, which have evolved to
store water, are renowned for their drought
hardiness, and there’s a wide range available
these days. They don’t all look like cacti – even
the gloriously perfumed, warm climate
frangipanis are classed as succulents.
Comments (15)
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Rex
Yates site member
15:57, 05 November 2009
Thanks for that snippet of information about frangipanis. I never knew they were classed as succulents.
Nancy
Yates site member
16:40, 05 November 2009
The waterwise soil wetter from Yates has been a great addition to my "working girl's budget vegetable garden.
terry
Yates site member
17:40, 05 November 2009
The lavender season seems to have finished and most lavender does not look nice in summer. Are there any varieties that look good in summer?
Terry
Yates site member
21:47, 05 November 2009
You learn something every day. Frangipanis classified as succulents, interesting. Can anyone suggest a Frangipanis that would be suitable to grow in the coastal Melbourne Regine that's not to big?
jacqueline
Yates site member
22:06, 05 November 2009
I buy Ringwood indigenous plants species from my local nursery, they seen to thrive in my garden, and for my birthday my two sons gave me lots of straw and lucerne for my veggie patch and my no dig garden...
diane
Yates site member
11:50, 06 November 2009
Thanks for the snippet re Correas as I need to add colour to my garden and planting annuals is useless as they get eaten.
primrose
Yates site member
18:38, 06 November 2009
Please can anyone suggest a method of killing off soldier beetles as they are everywher again, eating raspberries, broad beeans, anything. I;ve tried soapy water but they hide under the leaves .
Monica
Yates site member
11:49, 07 November 2009
The battle against the heat of summer is on again I hope the garden will not suffer too badly. I have a problem with black-birds, they are serial pests they dig up small seedlings by scratching in the garden and re-arranging my mulch.
Sarah
Yates site member
21:05, 07 November 2009
I have traditional french lavender in my garden - about 20 shrubs. They have been flowering profusely. I cut each flowering stem off when it gets to approx 20cms long, this keeps the flowers coming and the bush healthy.
marion
Yates site member
23:13, 07 November 2009
I have many lavenders, green, pink, purple of various varieties in our garden along with many beautiful flowering natives,many lovely non-native plants and plenty of succulents plus about 13 or more different types/colours of violets. At the moment we only have pumpkins, zucchinis, tomatoes, cucumbers,silverbeet in our vegetable garden along with various herbs. BUT we also have the dreaded blackbirds destroying everything they can. How do you stop them? There should be a reward for anyone who knows how.
Virginia
Yates site member
19:16, 09 November 2009
i have a lot of trouble growing anything in my garden, the only success recently is rosemary which was a baby shrub when i planted it
Colleen
Yates site member
12:07, 10 November 2009
My winter vegies didn't get enough sun in the small area in my courtyard, but now spring/summer has arrived my new tomatoes, lettuce etc should do okay as long as I can keep pests at bay!
Barbara
Yates site member
12:44, 17 November 2009
A special corner of my garden does really well all year but suffers when the sun comes around in summer from the west & is really too hot, any shade ideas - also my hydrangeas don't like the heat either, look great then go limp in the heat.. actually I think I have them in the wrong spot - too late to move them now!
Jenni
Yates site member
16:16, 21 November 2009
I have removed my hydrangeas from my clay soil and put them into water well pots so I can control the moisture to their roots. They are just beginning to flower.
tidjun
Yates site member
09:47, 23 November 2009
I have lemon trees outside my house,one day someone broke the branch which has fruits,my husband not happy, so he moved inside the garden but was not survive.
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