Tip for planting in hot weather

It’s now late May and many of us have not had real rain for several weeks. The floods of winter feel like they happened in a different lifetime. The surface soil is dry and if you still have planting to do this can mean a lot of watering - not very efficient on water or time. There is a tip that I use and which I never see demonstrated on the TV gardening shows so I thought I would share it. It involves using the dry top-soil as a protective layer to keep the soil damp at the roots of newly planted plants:

  1. water the plants well while still in their pots

  2. dig your hole and put a handful of something absorbent, like compost, in the bottom

  3. add your plant and back-fill about three-quarters of the way up the plant, firming well with your fists (1st picture above)

  4. water well and wait for the water to be absorbed

  5. complete filling in the hole using the dry material you dug out or any other surface soil around

  6. firm again but not so hard that you bring the water from below up to the surface - its improtant to keep the surface layer dry (2nd picture)

This seems to work like a mulch and breaks the waters connection to the heat above. The plants should be ok for up to a week now although maybe only 3-4 days if its really hot or windy - adjust if they look wilted.

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