Food-Gardening Lessons From A Wartime Victory Garden

Give Roots Incentive to Grow Downward

Give Roots An Incentive to Grow Downward - Maureen Gilmer
Planting fruit trees, grape vines or blueberry shrubs? To make sure yours are really productive, give them an incentive. Sprinkle a measuring cup of organic fertilizer into the bottom of your planting hole, then cover it with a few inches of soil before you set the root ball on top. Then deep water often to send moisture down there to activate this fertilizer so its ready for roots when they arrive. Such incentives drive roots downward into the soil where they are far better able to find moisture under hot dry conditions later this summer.

About Maureen Gilmer

Maureen Gilmer is celebrating her 40th year in California horticulture and photojournalism as the most widely published professional in the state. She is the author of 21 books on gardening, design and the environment, is a widely published photographer, and syndicated with Tribune Content Agency. She is the weekly horticultural columnist for the Desert Sun newspaper in Palm Springs and contributes to Desert Magazine, specializing on arid zone plants and practices for a changing climate. She works and lives in the remote high desert for firsthand observations of native species. Her latest book is The Colorful Dry Garden published by Sasquatch Books. When not writing or photographing she is out exploring the desert on her Arabian horse. She lives in Morongo Valley with her husband Jim and two rescue pit bulls. When not writing or photographing she is usually out riding her quarter horse.

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