How to: cope in this hot, hot, weather

“Phew, what a scorcher!”

Remember the summer of 76? It didn't rain between March and September, there were hosepipe bans, and water had to be collected from stand pipes in the streets. (of course, I'm far too young to remember that myself, ha ha, but my neighbours have told me stories about it...)

This year is nowhere near that bad - luckily for us, we had rain, rain, and more rain earlier in the year, which has left the soil in comparatively good condition: it may be like dust on top, but generally, when we water our plants, the water goes where it's needed, rather than disappearing down those enormous cracks that we all hate so much.

However, we've had sun, wind (which removes moisture almost faster than the sun will), and heat for a few weeks now: this particular week, we are having temperatures in the upper 20s, and no sign of it breaking for at least another ten days.

So what can we do to help our parched gardens?

First and obviously, watering: there's been no sign of a hosepipe ban so far, so make the most of it: but don't get the sprinkler out. Sprinklers are incredibly wasteful of water: they send a gentle curtain of it all over the place, whether it's needed or not, they soak the foliage long before they soak the soil - and people tend to turn them on and then go away, so they could easily be running for an hour or more, which is far more than they are needed.

Instead, use your hose with a hand-held nozzle, and don't turn the water on full: most houses have high mains pressure, so work out how little you need to turn the tap in order to get adequate water. You don't need to sand-blast the plants - in fact, the slower the water arrives, the better for them. Also, most taps will dribble and waste water if you turn them up too high, so experiment in using “just enough”. 

My own tap at home only needs to go one quarter turn, to give me a perfectly adequate flow.

Don't spray randomly over the top: aim the water at the base of each plant, you don't need to waste time soaking the foliage - the water needs to get down to the roots of the plants. And don't waste water on plants which don't need it: all that lavender, all those herbs, all the Mediterranean silver-leaved plants, they don't need watering every day as they are, by nature, drought-tolerant - so once a week is plenty for them.

Likewise, plants with fleshy leaves - Sedum, Bergenia, for example - are able to go without watering for long periods, so you don't need to water them every day. 

Instead, focus on the water-sensitive plants which tend to wilt early - Rudbeckia are particularly water-sensitive, as are Hydrangeas, Campanula, and Astrantia. 

And my much-loved Lysimachia punctata Atropurpureum - left!

Summer bedding plants tend to be really water-sensitive, unfortunately: they have shallow, thin roots which aren't designed for long-term water sourcing, so they will need special attention.

Shrubs and trees have good deep roots, so they won't need any special watering, but fruit and veg will need a daily soaking, especially in raised beds.

Forget the lawn: grass is an amazingly resilient plant, and even though it appears to be parched, brown and dead, it will spring back to life the minute we get some rain. So don't waste precious tap water on it! Let it go brown and crispy for now.

Pots are particularly vulnerable to drought, so take them down off their “feet” and stand them in large saucers. This allows the water that would otherwise run straight through to be gradually soaked back up: it's a double win, because you apply less water (as soon as it appears in the saucer, stop adding it at the top), and that water has a chance to be soaked up, and be of benefit, instead of being wasted.

If you don't have any saucers, line a box with plastic (old compost/bark bags are good, even a bin liner will do) and stand the pots inside the box. It may not look pretty, but it will save the plants: and if you're clever, you can make a tasteful arrangement of them. Perhaps you could cover the front of the box with trailing foliage. Just remember to keep checking it for snails....

The best time to water is first thing in the morning, while it's still cool from the night air: the “worst” time to water is last thing at night, because the plants are shutting down operations and are not fully able to absorb all that lovely water - and you are creating super-luxurious damp conditions for the slugs and snails overnight!

As for watering in the mid-day sun being a waste of time and water, that's an urban myth: it does not all immediately evaporate, it mostly goes where it is needed, ie down into the soil, and it's only the very top layer that dries out quickly. It is far better to water very early in the morning: but it's better to water at noon, than to not water at all.

And just think, in a couple of weeks it will all be over, we'll be glumly sitting indoors looking at the rain, and wondering if we dreamt it all!

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