Oh My . . . How Dry It Is!

 

The weather in 2012 has been anything but normal. One of the major consequences of having below average amounts of snowfall and, thus far, below average amounts of rainfall, is that our soil is very dry. Typically, spring snow melt and March and April rain storms, give a deep watering to all of the trees, shrubs, perennials, lawns, and gardens as they waken from dormancy. This has not happened this year. The result is that the soils are dry and the plants are already stressed from lack of moisture.

While we were preparing the landscape beds this past week; cleaning off the street debris, composting around the shrubs and perennials, and mulching, I noticed that the top soil was dusty and powdery, and the shrubs, particularly the spiraea plants were not showing their typical greening leaves. Even the trees were not as vibrant as they normally are at this time of the year. Since the irrigation system had not yet been activated this year, we watered all the individual plants and watched while a good amount of water ran off the dry surface, particularly if there was any elevation to the bed. So we quickly worked on mulching the landscape beds, leaving a ring around the trunks of the trees and shrubs to avoid rot. Once we added the mulch, we then watered the plants which allowed the surrounding mulch to hold the water longer to give the plants more relief. At the garden center, we use an organic perennial mulch that doesn't use up any of the nitrogen from the plants as it continues to decompose and add nutrients back to the soil

One of the major spring tasks that homeowners do is to spread fertilizers on their lawns and planting areas in preparation for the growing season. A concern for this year, in particular with dryness of the soils, is applying fertilizers before thoroughly watering the areas. Sometimes "plant burn" or "fertilizer burn" may occur and lead to a browning result or plant death. So at least for this spring, you should water before feeding.

We may have no control over what "Mother Nature" may do, but we can pay close attention to what effect the current weather has on our gardens and make sure to use whatever moisture conservation methods are available to us.