With temperatures reaching highs of 35C in some parts of the UK, it's crucial that we take care of our gardens.
While watering your plants when it's hot might seem like the right thing to do, it could be doing more harm than good, expert gardener Peter Dowdall explains.
According to Peter, there is in fact a right and wrong time to get the hose out, reports RSVP Live.
He told the publication: "When you water plants the water seeps down through the soil and the plant takes in the water through its roots, which travels up through the stem of the plant and out through the leaves.
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"You don’t want that to happen in the middle of the day, when the sun is at its hottest, because the plant loses the water through the leaf straight away. It could lead to the plant losing water too quickly and it will just dry it out."
So, it's best to water your plants either early in the morning or after the sun goes down when it's not too hot.
"My advice would be to do it early in the morning, because if you water plants in the evening, when temperatures have dropped, water will naturally collect all around the plant and that area then stays damp overnight, which creates the perfect environment for the development of fungal diseases and infections. So we don’t want that to happen.
"If you water in the morning, that excess water is dried up quite quickly."
And don't make the mistake of underwatering your plants - a slight sprinkle is not enough, and could actually do more damage than good.
Peter explains: "If you just water for 5 seconds it’s not even penetrating the top surface. If there are any weeds in the area they’ll just soak up that water before it even gets to the plant.
"Believe it or not, the roots of a plant are intelligent enough to grow in the direction of wherever the water is. So if you only water the soil surface, the roots will start to grow upwards. And you don’t want that.
"You need to make sure you’re watering enough that it penetrates down to the root."
Follow Peter, ‘ The Irish Gardener ’, online for more great tips and tricks of the trade on Facebook and PeterDowdall.com
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