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Gardening Galore
This month in the garden is a watering month and trying to keep the
soil cool.
Watering can be a problem with less water in the pipes as the demand
is the greatest with high temperatures. A good soaking once a week
is better than a dribble e very day as the soaking puts moisture
down to the deep roots where the soil is cooler.
Plastic containers with the bottoms cut off and buried in the ground
round shrubs and trees act as a funnel to get the water down to the
root zone.
On
windy days, evaporation and transpiration can account for up to 12
mm of water a day so watering lightly is wasted to the atmosphere.
Mulching with leaves, grass clippings, compost, grave, paper waster
or any other suitable material helps shade the soil and reduce the
evaporation of water.
Any absorbent materials added to the soil or mulched onto the soil
e.g. compost, manure etc acts like a sponge and soaks up the water
releasing it slowly to the plants with the nutrients they contain.
If
you have bare soil this time of year, nature will try to cover it
for you, to keep it cool.
Termites are also a problem at this time of year. I have advised in
previous articles to feed them. Leave dead leaves, twigs etc on the
soil for them to eat – they don’t relish eating healthy plants but
eat they must if that is all that is available. They will eat all
the decaying plant material turning it into nutrients that are
available to plants. As the soils get healthier and foodstuffs are
available to them on the ground, the damage noticed will be reduced.
If
you have a large termite mound in your garden, I suggest you dig it
up and destroy the fungus farm in there. If you leave the hole open
for a few weeks you can see the termite activity as they build their
mud homes – keep digging them out. When there is no more activity,
put leaves etc in the bottom of the hole and cover it up with the
soil that came out. This will break down leaving a spongy layer to
absorb water in years to come.
If
soil is short in your area, try planting succulents and cacti. They
can survive with little care but if you do pamper them they will
thrive. All the aloes and many of the succulents and cacti are easy
to grow from cuttings. Plant into well drained soils, don’t over
water until they have established themselves. They will reward you
with colourful flowers and foliage. The more care given to them, the
greater reward, but with little care, they will still survive.
Indigenous trees and flowers in your garden will also reward you –
maximum reward for the least input. They are conditioned to our
climatic conditions and can survive once established without water
during the hot, dry season. Most manage to flower and leaf up during
this hot period, helping to shade the soil wit their dense canopies
and cover the soil with fallen leaves, flowers and pods. If possible
leave the covering on the soil and pass a lawn mower over it to chop
it up into a finer mulch. Do not rake it up or burn it as the soils
need all the humus making materials it can get with the benefits of
shade and cover during this hot period. |
October 2004