SUMMER LANDSCAPE TIPS

With the 100 degree weather approaching this weekend, we want to make sure you understand that landscape projects can still continue but proceeding with caution.  Most people think that the planting season will end once the weather is consistently this hot.  That is not true.  That being said, there are a few things that you can plan for to make year round gardening successful.

Irrigation is going to be the number one factor.  Weather you have an existing landscape or a brand new landscape, watering properly will be the key to having a thriving garden in the hot months.  Please visit the Texas A&M Extension link for proper watering tips http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/lawn_garden/landscape.html. 

As a subtitle in the irrigation heading are a few suggestions to help conserve some water during the heat of the season.  Installing some rain barrels will help.  They can hold a great amount of water and be stored to use to water the garden.  You can buy these in many styles and sizes.  Also, you can ask your irrigation professional on converting your existing irrigation system over to an automatic drip system that will be all subterranean.  This will eliminate spray evaporation and get the water directly to the root system of the plant.

Irrigation is the most obvious choice but we can also choose some drought tolerant plants that won't require much more watering than usual.  Some choices here in the North Texas landscape are yucca, sage, wax myrtle, vitex, sumac, natal plum and a variety of ornamental grasses.  You will need to water plants initially to get them rooted and once rooted, they will require minimal watering.

Lastly, we do not recommend using rock in the landscape beds in Texas.  Yes, I'm mainly speaking to our friends from the North.  This is a common look in the Northern and Eastern part of the country, but in Texas it is not widely used for a good reason.  Rock in the beds on an extremely hot day have the possibility of burning surface roots of some of the plants.  This will cause immediate stress to the plant and cause it to die.  Also, that rock will radiate the heat and make your house around that area even hotter and your air conditioner system will work overtime to cool off the inside.  The last reason is that you definitely want the mulch to hold precious water around the plants so you don't have to water as much.

We can all enjoy gardening, even in the hot months, we just need to be smart about it.  Please visit us at www.absoluteoutdoorspaces.com or contact us at 817-600-0201 for any questions or to have us come out for a consultation.