7 Ways To Boost Hydration In Your Garden
We officially welcome you to this season, the time of the year when lips get dry and cracked without permission and the slightest contact with water exposes your dry skin with a touch of white foundation. This unique weather also unleashes its dry breeze on our plants, causing dehydration among others. Welcome to harmattan as we all prefer to call it, in this part of West Africa, Ghana – our beloved country.
We hope you are keeping yourself hydrated and doing your best for the plants. Just like the saying, two heads are better than one, we bring you some tips to support your much-appreciated efforts (says your plants) in the garden.
Here are 7 Tips to keep your plants properly hydrated during the dry/ harmattan weather.
Note: these tips have been tried and tested in the Greenspace Garden and have been effective, so do apply them as needed. Leave a comment below or contact our customer care line should you need any assistance or clarity. Let us know if they were effective in your garden.
1. Practice mulching: begin with the little things, like using dried leaves, cocopeat, or mulching fabric, cover the top of the soil around the plant to reduce the level of dehydration.
2. Include good amounts of organic matter in your soil mix: when preparing your soil for planting include elements like chicken manure, dried leaves, compost, and/or cocopeat in your soil mix to increase the fiber content of the soil, thereby increasing the water holding capacity of the soil and decrease dehydration. In fact, it gives your plants the needed nutrient for development, which is an added benefit.
3. Invest in a shade: using shade cloth to make shades or coverings over the plant can help reduce the amount of sunlight interacting with your plants.
4. Keep the plant in a shaded area: vegetables that are not heat tolerant Like lettuce, arugula, walking stick kale, etc. Should be kept at places with some level of shade. Vegetables grown in containers can easily be moved to a shaded area to help hide from excess sun
5. Strategize your irrigation: harmattan means more sun, heat, and dehydration. And so, you might need to increase your watering cycles. You may have to water two times a day. But before that, check your soil to know how fast it dries up with a stick or soil meter.
6. Increase the amount of water given to plants: increase the amount of water you feed your plants. If your plants are in pots, water them thoroughly in intervals, so that the soil will be fully hydrated and excess water drain out. this will lower your chances of dehydration and wilting of vegetables.
7. Make use of trays: when practicing container gardening, use trays to hold excess water under your pots so that the plant can reabsorb them when needed
Hopefully, after applying one or more of these tips as needed in your home/ backyard garden, you will see some good results. Do share with us any tips we left out and feedback if you find this information helpful.
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Email: thegreenspacegh@gmail.com
Happy gardening!!!