Look around, and you'll notice that the landscapers don't take the summer off; the new home landscape installation crews don't take the summer off; the installation crews at cemeteries and resorts and city parks and the Departments of Transportation don't go on furlough. And this isn't due to the "magic" of their "professional hands", either … because those landscapers and new home installation crews go off and leave those plants in the care of regular homeowners, just like you and me.

Their secret? Pay attention to the plants' watering needs. It's as simple as that. Just remember that with our heavy soils, you need to apply water sloooowly, so it will sink in and provide a deep reservoir of water available to the plant's needs. As the roots or evaporation deplete water, more water will wick up from the lower levels of that reservoir. That means running your drippers at no more than 1 to 1.5 gallons per hour (GPH) for several hours; running your hose at a slow trickle will accomplish the same thing. Visualize what you’re trying to wet: the entire root ball, PLUS the soil around the root ball. Plants don’t “search out” water sources; but they aren’t going to build new root systems where there’s no water to be had, either!

I actually prefer a hose for watering new plants. It only takes a few minutes to adjust the water to a trickle, lay it over the root ball, and then walk off until it’s time to turn the water off, or move the hose to the next plant. The reason I prefer the hose is that during those few minutes, you will LOOK at the plant – something that isn’t going to happen on an automatic timer. If you’ll look at your new plantings, they will “tell” you what they need. Are the leaves turning a lighter green? Maybe even lime-green or yellow? Too much water. Are the leaves looking limp and wilted at mid-day? More water. Are your leaves getting burnt-looking crunchy brown or black tips? Salt burn – you’re watering too shallow, need to deep-water and use First Step soil acidifier to leach out the salts.

So, there you have it. The secret to planting year round: Pay attention to your plants’ watering needs. Missing a watering or two in February isn’t going to make much difference in the over-all scheme of things; but it can be a death sentence to a planting in July.