It’s an easy mistake to make, (particularly if you let your children loose with the watering can!) but watering plants at the wrong time of day or in the wrong way can mean that their lovely green leaves get a bit sunburnt. This scorching most often occurs when water droplets sit on the leaves – when the sun then comes out and heats up the water droplets the leaves get a bit of a burning. Here’s how to avoid it:
- When you’re watering, whether you use a hose or a watering can, be very careful to water the base of the plants rather than sprinkling water over the top of them. This helps to minimise the number of droplets that land on the leaves. It’s a lesson that is often tricky to teach children as they do have a tendency to want to water the leaves!
- Try and water in the evenings, well after the sun has lost its heat for the day. This way the leaves have time to dry off before the sun rises the next day.
- For plants that are tricky to water, try this: Drill a couple of small holes in the lid of a plastic bottle, cut the base off and plant it, lid side down, in the soil as close to the base of the plant as you can. Pour water into this and it will push the water nice and deep into the soil.
- Add a mulch – this really helps to keep the moisture in rather than it evaporating again, which means you can get away with watering a little less frequently!
- Use a drip hose which will allow you to slowly trickle water into the soil directly – they are easily bought at the garden centre and fairly simple to install.