7 Ways to Protect Your Garden During a Heat Wave

When summer temperatures sizzle, our plants feel the heat as much as we do. Here in the Rocky Mountain West where I live, the dry climate and scorching summer temperatures can wipe out a garden in a single afternoon.

For gardeners, beating the heat means staying properly hydrated and limiting your time in the garden to just a few hours in the early morning or late evening. Plants will also benefit with a little extra TLC during a heat wave using these seven simple tips.

Add mulch.
Mulch provides shade to plant roots, slows down the growth of weeds, and helps lower ground water evaporation. Bark mulch is one of the more common types of mulch, but grass clippings or straw will also work.

Leave grass long.
Mowing the grass at a higher setting encourages deeper root growth and helps retain soil moisture. During the dog days of summer, we scale back the mowing to every other week and set the blade height to six inches.

Change your watering patterns.
Searing temperatures can evaporate up to 90% of sprinkler water before it even hits the ground. To reduce water loss and prevent heat scorch, it's best to water in the early morning while the dew is still heavy on the ground. For watering flower and shrub beds, consider using a soaker hose to deliver water directly to the roots.

Avoid transplanting.
Digging up existing plants & trees for transplanting damages the fine network of roots that keep a plant hydrated. Without those roots, a transplant has little chance of surviving a summer heat wave. If you must move a plant or tree, it's best to wait until late summer when temperatures drop.

Skip the herbicides.
Avoid treating your lawn with herbicides when the summer temps are higher than 85 degrees. Herbicides will amplify the stress on the lawn and may cause damage. If your lawn is overrun with weeds, it's best to hand pull them for now or wait until daytime temperatures dip below 80 degrees.

Cut back the fertilizer.
When temperatures rise, plants go into a state of semi-dormancy which results in slower root absorption of nutrients. While it's perfectly fine to continue fertilizing your garden plants through the dog days of summer, it's recommended to dilute the fertilizer by 50% until the temps cool down. As far as the lawn, avoid applying any type of fertilizer at all until temperatures drop below 80 degrees.

Shade tender transplants.
Triple digit weather doesn't mean the end of summer planting. As long as your store bought garden plants have an established root system, they can go into the empty spaces of your garden beds without any danger of root shock. To minimize scorching, plant new seedlings alongside taller plants or in areas of partial shade.

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