Beat the heat: Keeping your garden cool

The summer heat has arrived. In the south we are used to long, oppressive summers with the occasional afternoon thunderstorm. Many people who enjoy working in the garden spend the summers just trying to keep everything from drying out and overheating. We wake up every morning and rush outside to water everything before the heat of the day begins. What if it didn’t have to be this way? What if we could create a space that could withstand the heat of summer without drying out so much? The good news is, we can! It just takes a little forethought and hard work, but it is quite possible to create an ideal environment that holds water for much longer and helps keep plants a little bit cooler. Let’s take a few minute to talk about how.

The major difficulty with keeping the garden thriving in summer is long days of very high heat cause the soil to dry out quickly. When we think about how to work with this issue, there are two main things to consider. Can I cool the temperature around my plants and can I somehow make the soil hold more water? The answer is yes, but the latter is much more easily addressed so we will start there.

There are a number of factors that determine how much water your soil will hold and for how long. The type of soil plays a role with both clays and sandy soils have a hard time using and retaining water effectively. The ground cover also plays a large role. The more ground that is bare, the more water that will escape through evaporation. Ideally, we want to create a loamy soil with a high organic content and make sure as much of it as possible is covered. Don’t worry if your soil is clay or sand, we are going to start by building on top with a process called sheet mulching.

1. First we want to lay cardboard down wherever we want to have a garden (make sure the cardboard is wet first to keep it in place

2. Lay a 2” layer of quality topsoil on top of the cardboard

3. Lay a 2” layer of straw over the topsoil (it’s very important here to use straw and not hay, otherwise grasses will pop up everywhere in your garden)

4. Lay a 2” layer of compost over the straw

5. Alternate from here between 2” layers of straw and compost until you reach the height you want, ending with a layer of compost (the more the merrier and this will settle over time

6. Finally, lay a good thick layer of mulch on top to finish it off.

You can then plant directly into this sheet mulch and the straw and mulch will help hold in tons of water so won’t find yourself needing to water every day. Over time, this will break down into a rich soil that holds and efficiently uses large amounts of water. Make sure that you mulch and compost every winter to ensure that you keep replenishing the soil.

Once you begin to get the soil using water in your favor, you can begin to think about that temperature issue. This one is much trickier, but there is something you can do to help. Think about mountain streams. Even in the heat of summer they stay cold and during the depth of winter, they rarely freeze. Moving water is amazing at maintaining temperatures and we can use these principles in the garden as well. Moving water will help cool the area during the summer, and it can also help warm the area during winter. Water feature are one of the most effective ways that we have of moderating the temperatures in our garden and the more the water moves, the more effective it will be. Consider putting in that beautiful waterscape you’ve always wanted. Not only will help moderate the temperature, but it will also bring all kinds of beneficial critters to the garden.

Keeping your garden thriving in the summer is no easy chore and it does take a lot of work. Utilizing a little know how and the help of our natural elements can get you there and not only help to create a thriving summer landscape, but create a space where you too can seek refuge from that oppressive summer heat.