Drought Gardening: Going Into Emergency Mode
Take a good look at your garden. Which plants really don't earn their keep? Which are easy to replace? Take a deep breath and toss them into the compost. Think of it as an opportunity to design an even lovelier garden next year.
I have to admit - I am having a very hard time doing this. It FEELS destructive, and unnecessarily cruel. But it has to be done. At least by composting the more dispensable plants you are not totally sacrificing them - they are going back to the earth to come back again, not as competition, but as something beneficial for the plants that it may save by its departure from the garden.
Cut back drooping perennials.
Take a good look at what is left. Plants are emerging - and some may already be showing signs of suffering. Cut back any perennial plant that shows signs of losing its leaves, or any that are shriveling. Plants lose moisture through their leaves, so eliminating a lot of that leafy surface will also help cut down on moisture loss. This will work for many perennials.
Cut iris foliage into the usual fan shape, and remove dead leaves and damaged foliage from any other bulbs and tuberous plants. A plant doesn't fully realize that its dead foliage is dead, and will expend unnecessary energy trying to nourish it. Get rid of it and save the plant a lot of trouble. This is spring clean-up with a vengeance.The leaves will grow back if the promised summer rains arrive.
Do NOT start cutting back trees and shrubs if you can help it. This will only encourage growth spurts, which takes energy that drought-stressed shrubs and trees can ill afford. Instead spray your evergreens and anything else that has foliage (and my roses already do - in March!) with an anti-desiccant such as Wilt-Pruf, that will help the leaves to retain what moisture they have.
Water, then mulch.
Now you can think about watering. Water as well as you can, avoiding the bare patches of dirt and concentrating on those plants that really need it, avoiding (painful as it may be) the drought tolerant ones that do not appear to be suffering. Direct the water to the plants' root systems. Then mulch to hold that moisture in. Mulch a
Latest Articles