Planting in the Summer

Nurseries are open all year round to tempt us to buy in the heat of the summer, but is it wise???

I was at the supermarket last week and they had a bunch of little citrus trees for sale on the sidewalk. Being a gardener I bought some. New plants need water though and we are in a drought situation. On reflection this was not a good move! The pots contained two different plants, so instead of 4 little citrus, I now have 8 - four lemon and four lime. They were planted on Saturday and watered in with the watering can rather than a hose. I put newspaper over them to retain some moisture and reduce the heat of the sun, but they still looked rather sorry on the evening of Saturday. I watered again on Saturday evening, Sunday (twice) and finally by Monday they were perking up sufficiently do get just one watering each day.

Babying plants in the summer heat is way too time consuming for those who, like me, want to relax a dip in the pool! Alas, I doubt that I will remember this next time a plant beckons me in the heat of the summer.