Watering salad in raised bed in garden. Gardening in spring time.
How to take care of plants, flowers and lawn during heat wave
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Scott LaMar/WITF
Watering salad in raised bed in garden. Gardening in spring time.
Airdate: August 4, 2022
Listen to Smart Talk every weekday at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. on WITF 89.5 & 93.3. You can also stream WITF radio live on our website or ask your smart speaker to “Play WITF Radio.”
We’re in the middle of a heat wave and high temperatures could be in the 90s for the next week or so. The grass is brown, leaves are falling off the trees, flowers are wilting and gardens are dry.
So, how do you take care of what’s growing in the ground during the middle of summer?
Erica Shaffer has appeared on Smart Talk many times to talk about gardening.
On Thursday’s program, Shaffer said the key to keeping plants healthy during hot, dry conditions is “watering less, but watering more.” In other words, rather than watering a little every day, water maybe once a week but give the plants and flowers the kind of water they would receive during a rain shower.
Shaffer added, “there’s so many different kinds of soils that we have in our area. The people who took the time to add compost to their soils are going to get a lot further along because there’s going to be more moisture retention. Mulch is a big deal. So it’s not only temperature.”
Which plants are heat resistant? “Any plant and perennial that you ever buy that has silver foliage is going to tell you that it’s that it’s heat and drought tolerant.”
