Lack of water and gardening

WASHINGTON - Have you noticed the grass outside your home turning brown? Your flower beds wilting? Evergreens dying? You're not alone and we have Mother Nature to thank for this unsettling development in just the opening week into the Summer of 2010. The sweltering heat and lack of rain together spell doom for our lawns and gardens - unless we keep them properly irrigated. Experts in lawn care and gardening say potted plants and flowers should be watered daily. Trees should be given a slow soaking that feeds deep roots. Using a hose to spray water on trees doesn't work, according to nursery manager Bill Teel at American Plant Food in Bethesda. That just encourages roots to come to the surface to get their water where they will dry out faster.

Teel says water your lawn as long as there are no restrictions but don't worry if the grass dies. He says grass likes cooler weather and will come back to life as temperatures moderate. When you water, Teel and other lawn experts we spoke to, say do so in the early morning. He says that is better than during the day or at night. And don't over do it. Don't water your trees too much. Teel says that will create root rot - which could also kill. SOURCE: MY FOX