For those of you who are short on time, we’ll get right to the point: We are in the early stages of a drought her in Mid-Michigan, and you need to get busy watering your plants and turf.
We don’t want to be alarmists, but it’s true. And, we do want to help you keep your yard looking as beautiful as possible this season.
Let’s recap what has transpired so far in Spring 2012 here in Mid-Michigan.
Things started about a month earlier than usual with the warmest March in recorded history. Several March days above 70 degrees set the tone by prematurely drying out the moisture in the soil. While April saw a return to somewhat normal conditions, May has brought us more crazy weather in terms of its extremes. Temperature-wise, these extremes have ranged from 8 hard freezes during the evenings to daytime high temperatures over 80 degrees on several occasions. As for precipitation, we’ve only had about 1½ inches of rain this May, and most of that was in the first week of the month.
As of this writing, we’ve had no appreciable rain here in Midland in over 2 weeks and the forecast for the next 10 days is for hotter temperatures and little chance of rain. That’s why we’re saying this is potentially the beginning of a drought and your plants and turf desperately need water.
Particularly at risk in these hot and dry conditions are “new” plants, which would be any plant that was planted within the past year.
What are some good watering guidelines?
Newly planted lawns, bedding plants, shrubs and trees need to be watered to the depth of the plant’s root system every week during the growing season of its first year. In other words, for new turf and bedding plants this means watering to a depth of 4-5”, for shrubs to a depth of 12-18”, and for trees 18-24” deep. These guidelines would also be good for established plants during dry times like these.
If you have any questions about proper care and watering for your landscape, you leave a comment below, email us, give us a call, or post your questions on Facebook. We’re happy to help out which ever way is most convenient for you!