Be Happy - Water Smart

Our Zinnias are in Bloom, Yeah!!

Thanks to my wonderful hubby, we have zinnias blooming

in all different brilliant colors in the garden.

Well, gardening in South Texas has its challenges

with the heat and lack of rain these days.

We all need to keep hydrated and so do our plants.

Following are some tips I've learned that you can do too

to keep you and your Zinnias happy.

Tips for Happy Gardener & Garden

 DO

• Add compost and other good stuff to enrich your soil when preparing your garden bed - this helps your soil retain water
• Build raised beds for better drainage
• After planting use 1-2" or more of mulch - spread around the plants after planting but don't bury your plants with mulch
• Use soaker hoses/drip irrigation when possible (with timers in case you forget to turn off the water) less water evaporation
• Water early morning slow and deeply. Over 90% of plant diseases are fungal related so watering early eliminates alot of problems that are caused by watering late in the day.

  

DON'T

• Let the weeds suck out all the water from your plant - eliminate them using mulch immediately after planting and weeding periodically.
• Water sidewalks, driveways, streets or curbs – concrete - no matter how much you water them, they still won't grow

Benefits of Mulch

• Mulch keeps soil cooler so the water doesn’t evaporate from the soil as fast so less loss of water
• As mulch breaks down it adds to the soil
• Keeps weed growth down
• When weeds do come up, they are a whole lot easier to pull out from the mulch - that means less weeds and easier removal

Placing bags of mulch around the zinnia bed in preperation for putting
around the plants. For the most benefit, you have to remove
the mulch from the bags (he he).



Mulched Zinnia Beds. Happy Zinnias!

Happy Zinnias, Happy Gardener!