Extreme heat can be a challenge for your garden, but with these top tips you can help your crops beat the heat with ease.
Summer is a great time for gardeners, full of teeming beds and delicious crops, but it has its challenges. Extreme heat can devastate all your hard work if you don’t know how to deal with it. Luckily, we have some very easy ways to beat the heat:
- Water in the mornings or evenings: If you water plants during the heat of the day, you’ll lose more water to evaporation. Aim to water in the early morning or evening so your crops can make the most of it!
- Water at the roots: Be precise with where you’re aiming your hose or watering can. Hit the roots rather than an overall spray of water over the foliage.
- Set up a self-watering system: There are lots of options for these, from a simple water spike to a drip irrigation system.
- Aid water retention with mulch: Once the soil is soaked, spread a mulch over the roots to aid water retention and to cool the root zone. Anything will do – from home-made compost or leafmould to spent potting compost, purpose-made mulching materials such as straw-based Strulch (or straw itself), grass clippings or soil covering materials.
- Shade and ventilate greenhouses: Open doors and windows fully. For long-term protection, consider spraying the glass with a liquid shading material which can be wiped off once the weather cools. However, you can also get creative with temporary shade using old bed sheets or green netting if you don’t have proper shade material.
- Move containers around to benefit from shade: In the garden, move containers into the shade of a building and water regularly. Group pots together to provide mutual shading.
Going away on holiday and worried about how your garden will fare while you’re gone? Dive into our top tips for pre-holiday garden prep here.
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