SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Here at ABC10, We Stand for You, but I can't say that and mean it, unless I also acknowledge some headaches I've caused my fellow co-workers recently.
More precisely, here is what I mean:
A couple of weeks ago, I was watering the plants in the Gilmore Backyard, and well...I did it entirely the wrong way.
I watered them too high, with too much water, on the wrong water setting, and the list of my gardening transgressions unfortunately goes on and on.
But as they say, when you know better, you do better! So after apologizing to my co-worker who passionately takes care of our backyard, I asked Cheyenne Azevedo for some tips on watering plants, in case some other folks are struggling with gardening too.
Q: Should plants be watered at the root or the top of the plant?
A: "Always from the bottom. When you water from the bottom, you actually make contact with the dirt. I always water for ten seconds, then stop and then go back and do it again. You really want to soak the root base as much as you can so it will last all day."
Q: What time of day should we water our plants?
A: "Typically for Sacramento, when it gets hotter than 85 degrees, you'll need to water twice a day. When it's not as hot, all you have to do is soak really good in the morning at the base, but if you get water on the leaves later in the day, the sun can't dry it off, and you're prone to fungal that you don't want in your plants."
Q: What's the best secret to keeping our plants looking beautiful?
A: "Constant trimming. Especially in July, you should do a cutback and then once again in November/December, because it encourages growth and everything will come back."
If you're looking for more reasons to start gardening, there also big mental benefits as well, according to Psychology Today. Gardening may provide a connection to meet other people as well as another connection to our world. It's also a great hobby to help you develop a growth mindset as you learn more about Mother Nature and her plants.
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