Beat the Heat: Expert Tips for Your Garden

During really hot, humid, and windy summer days, watering gardens, hanging baskets, and planters can sometimes be a bit tricky.  See below for tips from the grower at Ludemas:

HANGING BASKETS

• Remember that during days that are 80+ degrees outside, hanging baskets (especially full sun hanging baskets) will dry out daily and will need water daily.
• The best method to check to see if a hanging basket needs water is to use your fingers to check for moisture in the soil.  If the soil is dry, your basket needs water.
• When you water, slowly pour water on to soil (not the foliage of the plants) with your watering can or hose.  The goal is to saturate the soil from the top of the hanging basket all the way down to the bottom so that all of the plant roots get watered well.
• Keep slowly pouring water on your hanging basket until it drips out of the bottom of the drainage holes in the hanging basket.
• If you have forgotten to water and your hanging basket is extremely dry, the water may run straight through very dry soil.  If this is the case, continue to water until the soil is no longer dusty dry/cracked.
• If temperatures are very high (high 80s – 90s+), you may need to water your hanging basket in the morning and the early evening.
• While we highly recommend using fertilizer to enhance your hanging baskets, if you forget to water, do not fertilize a very dry hanging basket – this can do more harm than good.
• When you do fertilize, do it in the morning (as long as your baskets are not really dried out) so that it will benefit the plants during the day.
• Please note that rain doesn’t usually penetrate the soil of a hanging basket/planter/garden bed unless we get an enormous amount of rain – do not skip watering your hanging basket even if we get some rain.

PLANTERS

• The same guidelines for watering apply to outdoor planters – it is really important that when watering that you water until water starts to drain out of the drainage holes in the bottom of your planters.
• Check planters once or twice daily for how dry they are based on the size of the planter.
• Smaller pots are going to dry out much faster than larger pots.

GARDEN BEDS

• Mulch or bark will help keep moisture in your soil.
• Daily watering is generally necessary during warm temperatures.
• To know that your plants have been thoroughly watered, the water should seep about 3” into your soil.