any kind of mulch. That's what it;s for (keep down weeds, keep in water). I just used some straw from a bale I had leftover from a halloween party from last year.

Maybe you could install a drip? In the short term lots and lots of compost type materials on the surface and dug into the soil if possible will help. There are lots of different brands try to find one that is either made of forest products (woody) or peat moss or something that was once alive instead of just top soil which will only be more sand and clay and stuff that is inorganic. Then on top of the compost or organics you can put something else like microbark. This is the full treatment. If I use the compost first thickly then top it with a thick layer of microbark, it never seems to dry out at all in my climate. I can check underneath days after watering and it is still damp.

I am under the impression in place like Illinois it often rains in the afternoon. In Ca it won't rain at all in the summer, so we have to water. But, if you are used to getting rain and it stops for a while you would have to readjust your watering schedule. If you can water early in the morning that is a good plan. If you have a drip on a timer, you still have to monitor it and adjust it, but if you find you are too busy to water, it's great to have the back up insurance of a drip system.

Other garden mulches...grass clippings if you haven't sprayed with herbicides; bark or wood mulch; compost, even half done, covered with whatever you like for a nice appearance; free wood chips from the power co. tree trimming crew; etc. etc.

To me dry days are often a blessing, and watering plants during dry season is a very enjoying thing. Dry weather more often than not means good sunlight, and you know what good sunlight will do to you plants.

Humus is a catchall phrase for garbage. Plus maneur that is probably not composted, in a voodoo mix, and all you gurs say, add more nebulous pieces of god knows what. She has pH problem maybe, drainage problem maybe, a trust problem now from the "organic" label on the product...easy, why is this so hard to diagnose?... I tell you why, belief in the superstition...soil test first from major university and organic lab...then...talk about all the garbage that can compost on to her soil fer her...I use Garrett juice whenever I have sick slow surly soured or, establishing plant...and...unadulterated vegetative finished compost will cure the ill...with time...sooner or later...

Mackel

Illinois is not the tropics and it does not rain often in the afternoon, around this area of the world we can go several days with no rain.
Humus is not a catchall phrase for garbage. Humus is the residual organic matter in soil, what is left that the Soil Food Web does not want to digest at this time.
How much of that Earthgro did you put in the garden and how large was that garden.
What kind of soil do you have? Sand? Clay? Loam?
Is the level of organic matter in your soil near 6 to 8 percent?
How well does that soil drain?
How well does that soil retain Moisture?
What is the tilth (workability) of the soil?
What does that soil smell like?
What kind of life is in that soil?

I found this entry from a poster here with a blog. It is basically saying that in certain areas that do get summer rain, if it stop raining they get discouraged rather than make adjustments.

I have to go out and take photos of my fern that has the double treatment. Compost on the bottom and microbark on top and a drip line. The fern is in almost full sun, but never dries out. This fern Woodwardia fimbriata can live with more sun due to the system. I am sure this system will work. You may even risk over wetting and rotting the roots of plants that are not ferns.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dad and the Drought

Lots of questions before any helpful answers can be given. That is except for MULCH. You never really want bare dirt, so always use mulch, grass clippings, straw, shredded leaf, etc... even plastic is better than nothing.

How deep are you checking when you say it is dry? just looking at the top? Digging down 6 inches? 12 inches?

kimmsr forgot one also, what does the soil taste like?

;)

*Ding Ding Ding*

Round 3-

1. Humus is a meaningless word when it's percentage is not listed, so it has become a catch word used by merchants to put a voodoo spell on the consumer.

2. Earthgro contains -peat moss and horse poop- I've used it, it dries out the soil. They sell it at Lowes.

3. Peatmoss is the worst amendment in a droughty soil bar none. Hydrophobic as the bed dries out.

4. Manure in a -droughty and *untested*- soil is a double bad idea, because salts can quickly exceed healthy levels when there's not enough rainfall to leach it down.

5. All you had to do was google it, Kimmsr...

Man Up

My recomendation to the OP is, from this point forward, use pure and unadulterated vegetative compost as an amendment or top dressing, and this will cure any ills. It's the only responsible recomendation to make at this point. Don't bother with all of these products with fertilizers in them. Now's not the time for that. Plus what the piano man said about proper irrigation. What you need right now, is no more hocus pocus. All of you fellers here come up with a lot of complex answers to a simple problem. Sheesh...

Complex answers? I said to add mulch. That's not complex ... and it's correct.

Right you are, Jrmckins, near the beginning of the thread. And it only took you two lines. Simple is the way to go almost always. I think mulch that breaks down fairly quickly is called for, and you mentioned straw, not too shabby of a call. I use compost when I'm having a problem, and the reason I reccomend it as a mulch right now is becuase it will break down the peat faster, and buffer some of the potentially excessive salts. Please accept my acknowlegement, and I'll be more careful to read what you have to say in the future. That's m-c-k-i-n-s, got it.

Mackel

Yeah, read what I post ... I'm a genius :-:

We forget that some people like the sound of their own voice or in this case the look of their typed words.

Mackel, just get a tape recorder and speak into it saying "Im right and everyone else is wrong". You can play that back to yourself constantly for self encouragement...lol