Brian Minter: Allow plants to initially shelter, adapt as hot weather hits

27.06.2023 - 10:43 / theprovince.com

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It’s the new normal. Climatic extremes are the reality of today’s gardening, and our sudden early heat is a prime example.

We must now deal accordingly with what we are experiencing and adapt. The result has made changes to our overall plant choices and garden maintenance practices, so I thought a few points would be worthy of mention.

This is the traditional weekend, especially in the Lower Mainland, to set out our heat-loving bedding plants, but we need to be a little more mindful of all our plantings, including our existing perennials, trees, shrubs, and tender outdoor summer tropical plants.

So many of the plants we set out now have come from warm greenhouses, and they must be acclimatized, or “hardened off,” before going directly out into hot sun and those still-cool evenings.

This process is simple; it just means leaving them outdoors in a protected area, out of the sun and wind, for at least a couple of days and nights. You would be surprised how this toughens them up to better withstand our more extreme weather.

We must be far more diligent in proper soil preparation. The addition of good quality compost and organic matter to our gardens is essential to create more open, porous soil. The key to successful transplanting, and ultimately your plants’ tolerance to varied weather conditions, especially heat, depends upon soil with good moisture retention, but which drains well, too.

Nutrient is more important than ever. Whether you use organic or more traditional fertilizers, your plants need access to not only nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium,