5 answers to how to save your garden from drought
05/11/2016
From time to time we face extreme weather conditions, especially if we are talking about regions where hot and dry summers are issued year after year.
Drought and excessive rainfall are equally damaging to the vegetable garden, and saving the crop depends on the actions of the owners.
The weather is unpredictable. In summer, it can be hot for weeks, which dries everything out, or day after day, thanks to which there are puddles everywhere. Both create a lot of problems for gardeners and vegetable growers. Indeed, it is possible to pay for the unwashed nature of the harvest and remain in the autumn with nothing. To avoid this happening, experienced gardeners advise not to rush and save the crop as soon as the problem arises, but even better to take care of it in advance. This is especially true for a swampy area, where everything gets boring from year to year. It will not be superfluous to equip a drainage system in the spring.
Methods such as mulching, loosening the soil, watering and others will save the beds from heat and drought.
Mulching saves from drought and ensures crops
One fairly effective strategy for saving crops in a drought is mulching, which is laying grass clippings on cultivated plants. Under the grass, the soil does not get compacted, remains loose, and does not dry out or crack. Together with it, the grass gradually rolls away and fertilizes the plants. This option is suitable for absolutely all plants. Even young trees and grapes, as well as adult plants, are well mulched. You can use not only grass, but also seed coat, straw, hay.
Loosening the soil protects against drying out and the accumulation of moisture
The second very important detail that should not be forgotten – the soil must be constantly loose. Even after watering it is necessary to loosen the soil. This is important because watering creates capillaries that penetrate deep into the soil. Through these capillaries water rises and evaporates into the atmosphere, and if these capillaries are disturbed, this evaporation is disturbed – and the moisture stays in the soil longer.
It is not enough to loosen the soil deeply – up to eight centimeters. Another advantage of loosening is that the moisture in the air is brought down to the ground at night, penetrates it and condenses. If you consider that this happens every day, you could argue that a lot of moisture is getting into the soil, which is especially needed in a drought. When the soil is flooded, no moisture escapes.
Watering is best done in the evening, bypassing the garlic
Water the vegetable garden in the evening, as the moisture will immediately evaporate on a hot day. After watering the beds, it is a good idea to cover the soil from above with dry soil or mulch. If you water directly on the mulch, the moisture will not evaporate so quickly, and this is also good. Absolutely all plants should be watered. The only exception is garlic during the ripening period, because at this time it is very prone to rotting and then poorly stored. But water will not harm young garlic.
Airing will help greenhouse plants
In the heat, the greenhouse and greenhouse become a real bathroom for plants. To protect it from overheating, you need to remove the film and open the doors and windows. To cool the air in the greenhouse, containers of ice water should be installed. Watering the plants should be done only in the early morning.
Shade protects the garden from the sun
A good way to protect plants from the scorching sun is to create shade. This can be done by using small roofs over the vegetables. The beds are easy to decorate, with strips of fabric or cover with white fleece (agrospan). In stores, they sell a special shade net, which should be attached at a height of one meter above the floor.
How to save the harvest in the heat: experts shared tips
The dacha owners, who come to their garden only on weekends, complain about poor harvests. For the second year in a row, a summer of tropical heat has dashed the hopes of Moscow dacha owners who visit their plots to grow large fruits and vegetables. Hooked cucumbers, mini tomatoes, tiny berries, paltry peppers and yellow vegetables. Great crops! How do you save garden fruits now? And how to turn the tide later, when global warming brings us the breath of the Sahara?
The heat-hot country is not producing a bountiful harvest. And so new discussions have begun in forums in which gardeners want to anticipate the sad scenario and figure out how to save garden crops in the face of global warming.
It hasn’t rained normally for two months. Recently promised showers turned into light rain with 2 millimeters – enough to wet the lawn for a few days – Vitaly Smirnov, a dacha farmer from Serpukhov. – The other day I dug a hole, half a meter deep, and even at this depth everything is dry. And this means that large trees – apples, pears, plums – suffer from lack of moisture.
Those who live in Datshene have permanently switched to daily watering. While it used to be enough to water their beds every three or four days, people now have to water their plants more often.
“One of the most effective strategies for saving crops in a drought is mulch,” says Viktor Mikhailov, an agronomist from Dolgoprudny. – This is laying cut grass between the rows of plants. Under the grass the soil does not shrink, remains loose, does not dry out and does not tear. In addition, it gradually decomposes and fertilizes the plants.
The expert also found that you should loosen up the garden fruit as often as possible in the heat.
“This is important because irrigation produces capillaries that penetrate deep into the ground,” the agronomist continued. Through these capillaries, water rises up and evaporates into the atmosphere. And when they are damaged, it prevents evaporation and the moisture stays in the soil longer.
Drought in July and August in the Non-Black Soil zone has become a common occurrence, said climatologist Valentin Lavrushnikov. – Here is how climate change looks like in our belt right now. Very snowy winter (last winter I measured maximum 1,5 meters of snow on our side, this winter – 1,3 meters). A very wet and cool spring. The first half of June is also cool and wet. And then 2-2.5 months of drought. Then, in early September, there is a front of rains of a few days, and then comes 1.5 months of dry autumn.
The expert advises gardeners and vegetable growers to change their moisture strategy in connection with the changed climate. The fact is that wells are now dry everywhere. Many complain that they cannot use more than 1.5 cubic meters of well water per day. With a modest irrigation of 5 liters per 1 square meter of these 1.5 cubic meters is enough only for 300 square meters, 3 hectares. This is the summer minimum. And to plant the Berry bush well, you need 20 liters of water per 1 sq. m. at least once every 2 weeks. m
Agronomist Viktor Mikhailov advises the experience of southern European countries, which historically live with a deficit of summer moisture. Your way is to accumulate winter moisture. For example, in Castile, Spain, farmers collect water from winter runoff into a concrete basin on their hilly area. Its volume is 50 cubic meters. It is enough for the two hottest months of summer. The Russian version is a dug-out pond that accumulates moisture in the winter and spring.
“In hot weather, which sets in from midsummer, we advise to water the gardens until evening and do without garlic,” the Moscow Region Union told us. – This is the only crop that does not need moisture right now. And try to create shade on your plots. Do not cut fruit trees.
And we are left to agree with what meteorologists promise: in the medium term until the middle of the 21st century, these trends will only strengthen garden crops that tolerate the heat well:
