Larry Smith and the Riverside Gardens team talk all things pots, plants and pruning in their weekly gardening column.

Summer took it’s time getting here this year, but it let us know it has arrived this past week.

It has come in with vengeance after its ups, downs and false starts during December and hopefully you and your garden have not fared too poorly.

Our thoughts go out to all those that have been hit by the devastating fires that have swept through our region and we ask that you reach out if we can be any assistance to you with advice on how to help your gardens recover.

We can also offer suggestions on plant selection to help slow the spread of fire and reduce the risk around your house when you reach that stage in your recovery.

As for the rest of us, who have only to contend with sun-scorched foliage or the odd dead plant, there is plenty that you can do to help your garden along the way through this extreme type of weather.

Freshly planted trees, heat sensitive plants and precious plants can all be sprayed with a biodegradable polymer like ‘Envy’, which forms a semi-permeable film over the leaf and stems.

This acts like a sunscreen protecting them from sunburn and reduces water loss through the foliage.

This polymer will slowly break down, so it will need to be reapplied to continue its protection. Typically in the Garden Centre, we would respray sensitive plants every three to four weeks during the summer, depending on the weather.

On days of extreme weather, give your garden a supplementary water in the morning; don’t play catch up by waiting for the damage to be done.

Remember too, that on hot windy days, things will dry out much faster.

This is especially true with plants, as the moisture evaporates at a much higher rate from the foliage.

On extreme days in the Garden Centre, where everything is growing in containers, we run an extended summer morning watering program, followed up by spot watering with a handheld hose throughout the day, and then a supplementary watering that evening.

During the day, we will also run the overhead sprays when we can, just to put moisture in the air and help limit the evaporation.

There are also a lot of things that you can do before summer to prepare your garden for the expected heat and stress.

Improving your soil will help plants develop stronger healthy roots that will work down deeper into the ground, giving them access to a greater and more consistent supply of moisture.

This can involve breaking the soil open and incorporating compost and organic matter into it, digging it in where you can.

Adding gypsum or applying a liquid clay breaker if you have heavy clay-based soil will open it up and make it more friable.

This should be done on a regular basis until you see the results you are looking for down to a reasonable depth.

Mulching garden beds will help hold in moisture in the soil and keep the soil around the roots cooler.

Sugar cane mulch is great for this, as it will also slowly break down and improve the soil, but you will need to reapply a new layer each spring.

In fire-prone areas or gardens up close to the house you could consider using a good layer of a fine decorative gravel mulch.

This will not improve the soil much, but will hold in moisture and suppress weed growth.

Avoid using larger stone type mulches, as these can tend to hold heat and dry the soil quicker.

Groundcover plants do a great job of keeping the soil cooler and help hold moisture in as well.

Dence cover groundcovers such as myoporum, scaevola and carpobrotus are an ideal choice for this, as their foliage mats in tight and low on the ground and one plant can cover quite an area.

The correct positioning of the right types of shade trees in your garden will help create a much-improved microclimate for the rest of the plants to grow and can drop the temperature in the garden and surrounds.

Fertilising in early to mid-spring will avoid soft new growth having to contend with the extreme summer days, allowing time for it to harden off before the heat hits.

The obvious one is to check your irrigation systems are working correctly and programmed right.

Make sure drippers are not blocked, sprinklers spray correctly, are facing the right direction and give full cover to the area.

Check that pipes are not split and that hoses can reach the areas that might need that little bit of an extra drink.

In new gardens, the initial plant selection does not have to include everything that is going to eventually make up the garden.

Plant the main structural plants in the garden and then you can fill it in with hardy, quick growing short-term plants.

Once the main plants have established a bit and created a softer environment, you can do a secondary plant to incorporate the more delicate permanent feature shrubs.

So, next time you are suffering through an extremely hot day, don’t forget the plants in the garden.

Because once they are established and doing their job, your living environment will be so much more pleasant.

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Sunday, 9th April 2023

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