Tips & Tactics: Summer Gardening

Hey, I'm J.D. boone with Dothan Nurseries, and wanted to talk to you guys a little bit about what to do in the different seasons of the year. Right now we're going to talk about summer when it's warm outside, people this warm, people are always like, man, y' all must be busy. We're really a lot busier in the spring. March, April, May. That time of year when it gets hot in the summer, you know, everybody wants to kind of. Kind of chill out and not be out in the yard quite as much. And I get it. So. But when it's real hot, there's some things you got to do. We have a lot of people that will buy plants. They'll buy shrubs during the spring by trees, buy flowers, and you can kind of be on autopilot in the spring. You don't have to water as much because it's not too hot. You don't have to think about it as much. And then summer comes, and you can't be in that same mode. If you have a tree or shrub that you planted in March, April or May and hadn't had to water it a whole lot because of the rain and kind of the mild temperature. When we get to 100 degrees and it doesn't rain for two weeks, you're going to have to be watering at least every other day. And when I say watering, I'm not talking about watering with a sprinkler system. A sprinkler system will keep your grass alive in the summer. It won't keep a newly planted tree or shrub. If you got a crepe myrtle or a hydrangea or a gardenia or rose, you're gonna have to water with a water hose. That is, to get that water hose, sit it on the plant, let it sit there for 10 or 15 minutes, and then take it off and do that every probably three days a week for the best results. And, you know, if you don't want to do a water hose, if you want to make it a little more automated, people will put out drip systems in their yard where it'll kind of drip the water directly to it. So, biggest problem I see in the summer is people don't water enough. I've had a lot of plants brought back dead. 99.9% of them were brought back because they didn't get enough water. So always err on the side of more water than less in the summer, and you'll be doing a lot better. And then people have flowers they put in pots as well. Same kind of thing. They're going to need water almost every day during this time of the year. So if it's in the ground, it's a little more forgiving. If you have flowers in a pot, they're going to dry out a lot quicker. So you're probably going to need to water about every day. We sell plants this time of year, people buy them. Once we kind of get to this time of year, we're kind of trying to push people. Hey, if you want to wait until fall, might be a little bit better. Time to plant, it starts cooling off and not as much stress on the plant. But water is the key in the summertime.