COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina has been experiencing some of the driest and hottest weather in recent weeks, and the rest of the state is no stranger to this. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources Drought Response Committee says all 46 counties in the state are under a drought advisory.
If you're a garden lover, your plants might be stressed by the lack of water.
“Well established plants, bushes, trees that are showing water stress because it has gotten so dry that the top 12 inches of soil has gone dry so those plants are showing a lot more stress than they would in your typical year,” Randall Isherwood said.
Isherwood, the owner of Gardener's Outpost, says the lack of rain and high temperatures have put a strain on the area's plants.
“We may enjoy the lower humidity, but the plants don't necessarily enjoy it as much. We've been seeing a lot of sun bleaching on plants that typically aren't harmed,” he said.
Isherwood has an important recommendation if your garden shows signs of stress from the lack of water.
“Put down a thin layer of some sort of soil conditioner like the Happy Frogs soil conditioner, re-soil the planting mix, just put down a layer of that along the possibly some mulch, just to add moisture retention into your soil,” he said.
News19 Meteorologist Brianna Mowery says this drought is a bit unusual.
“A lot of the Midlands are in a severe drought right now, and part of that is because of rainfall, but we've actually seen a decent amount of rain in the last few days. But the heat waves we've seen have also contributed to that drought; the warmer the temperature is and the more sunlight -- it causes water to evaporate,” she said.
Mowery says gardeners might not see some relief for quite some time
“A good soaking rain can give some relief, but it may take with the severity of the drought depending on how severe it is where you are; it could take multiple rounds of heavy rain to bring those amounts back to normal and those drought levels back to normal. It could take a few months for that to happen.”
While we don’t know what conditions will look like this time next, gardeners say you can plan for your garden.
"Preparing your plants for a drought, which we should always do, because these droughts seem to be coming more frequently. You want to make sure that they have a good layer of compost on top of the soil in order to protect the roots and then you also want to add a layer of mulch," Isherwood said. "This will help retain more moisture into the soil and thereby sort of prepping them for next year. Now your irrigation system, if you irrigate or even if you don't irrigate, you want your plants to be watered more deeply so that they can develop a deeper root structure so that when the next drought comes, which it will, they'll be able to reach deep into the soil for that moisture that they need."