Keeping Your Garden Blooming

June 25, 2008

With the arrival of summer and scorching temperatures it has been challenge for me to keep my garden from drooping. By afternoon the Shasta daisy are looking thirsty even though the sprinklers ran in the morning. From Yankee Magazine's "Panty Hose, Hot Peppers, Tea Bags, and more - for the Garden" here are some suggestions. For the already established plants or the plants already in the ground, make a Water Tower. Take a 2 liter plastic soda bottle and remove the label. (That's so the bottle is unobtrusive.) Cut the bottle in half horizontally. With the cap on, make a tine hole in the cap with a sewing needle or slender nail - whatever it takes to allow a drop of water to drip from the bottle. Place the bottle, cap down, several inches into the soil, then fill with water as needed. This will give moisture to the nearby plants and will be relatively unobtrusive.

When planting new plants create a mini bog under each plant with a plastic or metal tray from the house - pie pans, bottom quarter of plastic milk jugs, etc. whatever can hols an inch or two of water and is several inches across. Place the container in the planting hole a few inches below where the roots will be at planting time. Plant as you would normally. This is great for sandy soils where the water percolates deep and far from the plants roots.

The above mentioned book is a wealth of great ideas. One great looking flower garden gives the entire neighborhood an incentive for beautification.