Many
gardeners regard sustainability as an honorable,
but often hard-to-reach goal. In terms of landscape
maintenance, the term generally refers to practices
that are viable, both environmentally and economically,
over long periods of time. Often however, wellintentioned
gardeners fall into the trap of making the process
more complicated than necessary, tempted by the
belief that ultimately perhaps more is better; whether
it be watering, fertilizing or planting. But achieving
sustainability need not take that much effort. It’s
not hard to make your landscape sustainable if you
understand that we are all the land’s caretakers,
not its masters; and that we best serve the plants
in our gardens by eliminating threats to their natural
life patterns; threats like over-fertilizing or
even more often, the threat of over irrigating.
Water, water and more water- that is what many
gardeners feel is the key to successful gardening.
In some environments, and with many plants, that
may be true, but often blanket practices are applied,
regardless of climate, soil moisture or plant material;
a costly mistake. The result is excessive watering
which can threaten the life of many plants. Unfortunately,
to the untrained eye, the symptoms of underwatering
and over-watering appear to be the same. When a
plant looks wilted we automatically apply more water,
even though the wilting might be a symptom of saturation.
I’ve coined a term that I use when trying
to communicate to residents the serious threat caused
by over-watering, “oxygen deficiencies,”
meaning that the plant’s root system cannot
breathe.
Gardeners that pay attention only to that part
of a plant showing above ground, while ignoring
a plant’s root system, are making a costly
mistake. Think of the roots as the “lungs”
of a plant; how the plant breathes. If the plant
is over-watered, the result can be the “drowning”
of the plant. So be careful before increasing irrigation
to plants showing signs of wilting. One handy garden
tool that can help prevent root drowning is a moisture
meter, available at most garden and home improvement
stores for under $12.00. The meter takes all the
guesswork out of the decision to irrigate, as it
measures the moisture in the soil down near the
roots, and indicates when the area is truly in need
of water. The result of watering only when plants
can benefit from it (usually deeply but infrequently),
reduces their vulnerability to root rot and disease,
thereby improving or protecting the health of the
plants in your landscape.
