HOT AND DRY WEATHER: WEED AND WATER

When it is hot and dry, you need to think about your plants. When it is hot and dry then you should take extra care to make sure that weeds are pulled up so that the weed roots do not soak up any water that can help you plants. Watering plants with weeds and grasses around the bottoms is silly. In fact it may harm your plants since the aggressive weed roots will soak up most if not all of the water and allow the weeds and grasses to just grow bigger plants and roots to soak up water and nutrients your plants need to mature and even survive. So, before you water your plants you should pull up the weeds around them. Perennials and annuals should have weeds pulled out a foot or more all the way around the plant. Shrubs and trees should have 2-4 feet of weed/grass free area from their base.

After the weeds and grasses are gone, water your plants heavily. Make sure the ground is well soaked with water so that the plant will be able to take in drinks of water until you water again. For some plants that produce fruits, a soaker hose is advisable for better fruits and yields.

Don't over fertilize when it is hot and dry. When it is hot and dry your plants might start to droop and look bad but, all they need is a good drink of water. Fertilizers, particularly those with high nitrogen numbers (the nitrogen number is the first number on a bag of fertilizer) your plants may be burned, stunted or even killed if you apply nitrogen when there is a drought.