The title is slightly misleading because there’s not a heck of a lot you can do, especially if you are on water restrictions. Mitchell Mote, the Rutherford County Extension Agent I wrote about yesterday, told me what home gardeners can do to try to save what plants they can.

Mitchell said homeowners have to make a decision on where to use their water resources- newer plants don’t have an established root system to be able to get what moisture is available in the ground, so newer plants should take some precedence when deciding what to water.

Also, any prize specimens or plants that would be extremely expensive to replace should take precedence when deciding what to water. Older trees are extremely expensive to replace, however, they require a ton of water. Trees require approximately one inch of water per 1000 square feet of root area, weekly. This doesn’t sound like much, but when you realize that a tree that has a canopy spread of 30-40 feet has a root system that is 2-3 times that amount, you could be looking at 600 gallons of water per week. During times of drought we need to conserve water, so watering one tree with that much water is probably not a great idea. However, giving the trees some water may help them limp along until we hopefully get more rain.

To sum up, focus on less well established plants, focal points, plants or trees with historic or sentimental value.

Make sure you are reducing evaporative losses by watering between the hours of 1 AM and 7 AM. If you have a sprinkler system on a timer, this makes the watering easier on you. It is important to make sure you are putting out water at a rate that the soil will accept it to further reduce evaporative losses. Watch the soil, if the water is puddling up or running off, stop watering and water at a lower flow rate.

Mulch helps conserve water by regulating temps and holding water in, but make sure the mulch doesn’t get overly dry or it has to get thoroughly wet before water can get down to the soil.

Using a soaker hose on the ground level is more efficient than overhead sprinklers, especially if you must water during daylight hours. If you need to use an overhead sprinkler, use these during nighttime hours.

Both Terri Hogan, the National Battlefield ecologist and Mitchell Mote, the Extension Agent agree that we probably won’t know until next year what plants will survive and what plants will die off completely. There may be mass tree devastation, but if rain comes in over time and we have a wet winter, there still may be hope.