The prevailing drought doesn’t just worry Sweden’s farmers, garden owners around the country are also wondering what to do when the lawns start to turn yellow. And even though there are irrigation bans in some municipalities, there are actually things you can do to help the gardens on their way.
– Plants are a tough genus that struggles, but there are things you can do to make it easier for them, says gardener Lars-Johan Svanström.
According to Lars-Johan Svanström, the situation for the gardens around the country is sustainable so far. But even though plants have the ability to recover from most things, there are some measures you can take to make it easier for them during the drought.
When it comes to lawns, don’t be tempted to cut them down. And if you have a robotic lawnmower that rolls too smoothly, it should be set immediately, says Lars-Johan Svanström.
– When you cut the grass down to almost nothing, you remove all the water storage. Uncut grass is like water reservoirs, it collects water and dew during the night and preserves it as water tower which is sent down to the roots. An uncut lawn stays fresh much longer, and recovers much faster when there is a shower, he says.
– Let the lawns grow, and don’t mow them down to the Sahara desert.
Important to compensate
When it comes to other plants, compensation is important – if the plants cannot get as much water as they really need, it is good to remove part of the leaf mass.
– If you have plants with a lot of leaves and branches, it is an incredible strain on the root system, but here you can compensate by taking your secateurs and thinning out in the middle of the growing season.
– We usually prune our bushes and trees during the winter, but we are very careful in the summer. If you remove 20 percent of the leaf mass, you compensate a lot so that the plant can cope with the little water it has.
In the parts of the country where there is a ban on irrigation, it can also be good to collect rainwater when the opportunity arises.
– If there is a thunderstorm, as it can do during warm periods, many millimeters will fall at once and it is a shame that it just disappears on the way. Collecting has been a human activity since time immemorial – and it’s a good thing, he says.
Cover cropping also a trick
During drier periods, you can also cover crop under bushes and in flower beds, something that causes moisture and liquid to remain close to the roots.
“Straw, hay and leaf remains create a moist cover that means the soil retains moisture around the root system,” says Lars-Johan Svanström.
Although worried garden owners turn to Lars-Johan Svanström for tips and advice, there is no reason to stress.
– Even though a plant has completely lost its leaves, it will come back. It’s the same with our lawns, some patches may burn completely but 80 percent will come back when we get a more consistent rainy season. You don’t have to worry, even though it doesn’t look so fun when everything dies.