How to ensure that you can still plant new plants when the weather and soil conditions are extremely dry.
When planting new plants when both the soil is extremely dry and the weather is continuously hot with little or no rain forecast is not easy. However, it is also frustrating when you have the time to plant and know what you want to plant but the conditions are not right. Make sure that you soak the rootball of your plant well by immersing
it in a container where the water level is higher than the top soil level. Hold the plant down if needed and wait until all the air bubbles have finished rising to the surface. This ensures that the whole of the plant roots are well watered. In dry weather it is difficult to keep plants fully watered in pots especially if there is a high peat level in the compost. We mix our own compost so that it is easier to keep our plants well watered.
When planting your new plant insert a small plastic bottle (water or drinks bottle) with the bottom cut off so that their is a hole in each end. Back fill the planting hole so that the bottle is held in place near the plant roots. Ensure that the wider end (bottle of the bottle) is uppermost and just level or slightly above the finished soil level. When watering your plant now you just need to fill up the bottle and all the water will go directly to the roots rather than into the surrounding soil surface where much of it just evaporates. You can also add holes down the side of the bottle, if you wish, or use a short piece of plastice piping but I find small bottles easier to come by. I always do this when planting Clematis but it is a technique that can be used with any plants, herbaceous perennials, shrubs, grasses or climbers and wall shrubs.
Happy planting.