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Bill Luedecke & Martelle Luedecke
Dogs are digging in the dirt deeper and deeper to reach cool layers.
You find and read instructions for your plants. The instructions say, “to water”. What does that mean? It could mean several different things.
Let’s start with our lawns. Lawns need to be watered of course. They need to be watered slowly so that the water can be absorbed by the ground. How do we know that we have watered enough? A good rule of thumb is to take a tuna fish can, which is about an inch deep, place it on the lawn while you are watering. When the can is full the lawn has reached its capacity. If you have a portable rain gauge that you can stake in the ground, that is an option also. Check with your area if you have water restrictions in place. The restrictions trump all. If possible, water every third day. If you have a large lawn you can water in sections.
You’ve heard us say that trees need 3-4 inches of rain a month. This is central Texas August, so it is no surprise that we haven’t received 3-4 inches of rain. We don’t want to drown the trees by giving them all 4 inches at once, it’s best to give them 1 inch at a time. Gently and slowly. If you just water the tree in this heat, the tree won’t get all the benefits, the surrounding soil will absorb most of the water. Therefore, grab your tuna can, and use a sprinkler. This way we can cover a larger portion of the drip line. They ought to call the drip line a drink line. Best times are early dawn or in the cooler evening.
“In the cool of the evening everything is copacetic.”
Plants can get tricky as opposed to lawns because of the diversity. Some plants like a lot of water, some a regular amount and some hardly any. Read the instructions that you received when you bought them or google. When you are looking up directions on the internet for individual plant watering here’s a few clues. First make sure that you put Zone 8. Secondly, if you are googling anything in central Texas, enter your question and put a comma then AgriLife. For instance, “watering fall perennials, AgriLife” When you enter your questions into your search engines as such you get to tap into the Aggie solutions for our area. Remember to water your plants accordingly.
Obviously leaves wilt and you’ll lose turgor pressure when your plants need watering. But unfortunately, in this heat a lot of plants do that in the afternoon when it’s 106 outside. So, make sure to check your plants. Keep an eye on your plants. We don’t want to inadvertently over or under water.
There’s a new game in town. Similar to leapfrog. The animals love their new game of “Leap Shade”. Shade of this tree…. run really fast…. to the shade of the next tree.
Till next time. Keep your souls and soles in your garden!
Remember the True Master Gardener: Jesus said, “I am the vine; my Father is the Gardener.” John 15:1 Have questions or comments? Contact Bill at The Luedecke Group Realtors (512) 577-1463 or email bill@ texasland.net. Or contact Martelle Luedecke (512) 769-3179 at luedeckephotography@gmail.com.
