Plant Care and Maintenance
Guidelines
Updating your garden is an exciting time! Adding color, providing nutrients to the bees and butterflies… These few notes can help you establish your garden appropriately.
As a general rule of thumb, water your plants every other day.
- Mulch can be deceiving - dig beyond the mulch layer to check soil moisture.
- Water in the morning. If you miss the morning, water in the evening when it’s cooler.
- Do not water plant foliage during the day. Wet foliage can be burned by the magnifier effect. Also, wet foliage promotes disease.
- Water the plants at the base, where they’ll need it most.
- Mulch can help reduce evaporation and help retain soil moisture.
- Water less often, but more thoroughly. By saturating the soil deep in the ground, the plants will have to “reach” their roots down further as the top layers of soil dry out first. Deeper roots means plants that are better-equipped to endure hot, dry weather.
- Watering slowly reduces runoff. Additionally, you don’t want to see water pooling around plants.
Trees
- A long, deep watering will ensure the root ball is adequately watered.
- Try a gator-bag to create a slow-drip at the immediate base of the roots.
Perennials / Groundcover
- Summer heat may require additional waterings.
Annuals and Potted Plants
- Water daily as potted plants tend to dry out quicker.
Watering Tips and Tricks
- Inspect your new garden plants daily.
- An irrigation system is not a substitute to watering sod for establishment. Sprinklers should be considered as a buffer or backup.
- Temporary Irrigation: spigot splitter, spigot timer, and multiple hoses / soaker hoses.
Snow
- Take caution when salting your nearby surfaces. Salt can easily damage your plants.
- Surface deicers can leach onto nearby plants. Snow blowing salted surfaces can throw salt over your lawn as well.
- Heavy weight of snow can damage the shape of trees and shrubs.
- Plant-friendly deicers exist: try Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA). However, some sources show that CMA can be more harmful to your concrete surfaces.