Summer Mulching Reduces Water Use

With a dry summer in the forecast and ornamental landscape plants and trees increased demand for water it becomes more and more difficult for gardeners to keep their plants healthy and happy.

One of the first steps in beating the heat is to chose plants that tolerate our extremes in weather. Try to select plants that can harden themselves to possible drought and constant high temperatures and demand a minimum of summer maintenance and care. Our long, hot summers hamper the success of more northern, cool weather plants such as White Birch, Northern Maples, Lilacs and Peony.

During periods of drought, water or soil moisture becomes extremely important and essential for good plant production. Because continual watering is often costly and time consuming, it pays to conserve the moisture around plants.

The best way to conserve garden moisture is by mulching. A good mulch will not only retain valuable moisture needed for plant growth, but will insure several other things as well to improve gardening success.

A mulch insulates the soil and protects it from the drying and hard baking effects of the hot sun and winds. Mulched soils are cooler than unmulched soils and generally show less fluctuation in soil temperature. Cooler, more even temperatures and less evaporation from the soil surface causes plants to grow at a more constant rate.

Mulches also break the force of rain and irrigation water and tend to prevent erosion, soil compaction and crusting. A mulch helps the soil absorb water more readily and helps prevent the splashing of soil and certain plant disease organisms onto plants and flowers during a rain or overhead irrigation.

The mulch covering also helps reduce germination of many weed seeds. Fewer weeds provide less competition for available moisture and nutrients, and means less weeding for you. Using mulches to control weeds is much safer than using chemical weed killers or risking damage to tender, newly formed roots by cultivation.

Mulches are usually applied two to six inches deep, depending on the material used. In general, the coarser the material, the deeper the mulch. For example, a two-inch layer of cotton seed hulls will have the same mulching effect as six inches of oat straw or four inches of coastal bermuda hay. The courser materials generally prevent weed growth better than find materials such as compost or composted bark because they do not allow the weeds roots to become well anchored and established.

There are inorganic mulches such as gravel or crushed rock. Even though they prevent the soil from drying, they, reflect heat which can be damaging to some plants when in sunny locations. A gravel landscape can create a very harsh, hot environment for plants to survive in.

By far, the more common and better mulches are the organic types. There are many of these, and selection will be determined by appearance desired and availability.

A few of the more widely-used mulches include the following: Bark (pine and redwood), grass clippings, hay, leafmold (oak), pine needles, sawdust and woodchips. Your choice of a mulch should be weed free, clean and long lasting. Organic mulches improve the soil structure when they do break down and decompose in the soil, making for better aeration, drainage and water-holding ability.

Woodchips, some bark and sawdust will often take available nitrogen, which is essential for plant growth out of the soil. When these are used, it may be necessary to replenish the nitrogen by adding a fertilizer high in nitrogen such as cotton seed meal, blood meal or ammonium sulfate.

Be prepared for summer. Cultivate the soil, water well, then mulch. Your summer labor will be less, as well as your summer water bill.

Visit the Extension Center Gardens

The Montgomery County Extension Center is very fortunate to have a large area for demonstration and testing gardens. These gardens are used by our Master Gardener Volunteers to test a large variety of well adapted and unusual plants for the Montgomery County area.

The Montgomery County Extension Center demonstration and testing gardens are located at 9020 FM 1484, Conroe, TX 77304, directly across the street from the Lone Star Convention Center. This is an excellent place for local gardeners to visit, to see what plants can be used in our local area. We have a number of floral display gardens including a bog garden, antique and heritage rose gardens, the All-America Selection display garden, and cottage garden. There is a very nice herb garden, a number of vegetable testing gardens, an orchard and much more.

The gardens are open to the public Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. with the exception of County holidays. The Master Gardeners are available to lead tours upon request, from organized groups. During the months of May and June our Master Gardener volunteers will be available on Saturday, May 16 and June 20 from 8 a.m. until 12 noon to meet with local gardeners, show you around the gardens and answer questions.