7 Tips For a Resilient Garden in Our Changing Climate

There are many things to consider when gardening in our changing climate. It’s now crucial to understand how climate change and weather affects the landscape and the way we manage pests. After over 25 years as a gardening professional, I also want to share practices that help my clients grow resilient gardens and tools that protect your plants from extreme conditions that are becoming our norm.

Normal Conditions for Gardening in California

Those of us in California can expect both months of little precipitation and extreme weather events like Super El Niño’s as regular occurrences. Living in a dry, desert climate, you can also expect to deal with droughts or times of water stress. You want to understand what’s normal so that you can best prepare your garden for the anticipated conditions.

Plants and the Heat

Drought or water-stressed plants can have symptoms that resemble diseases caused by plant pathogens. You will often see:

  • Sunburn

  • Leaf problems

  • Leaf drop

  • Tip die back

  • Split bark

  • Wilt

  • Discoloration

  • Dull appearance

  • Stunted growth

  • Flower bud drop

  • Pause in blossom growth

Common landscape pests that love hot, dry conditions include spider mites, whiteflies, powdery mildew, bark beetles, and tree borers. What about the opposite end of the weather spectrum?

How Landscapes React During Excessive Rains

During periods of excessive rain, you want to avoid compacting soil and pruning. Disturbing wet soil squeezes out vital air pockets that plant roots need to survive. It’s also not helpful to fertilize or apply pesticides since rain will wash it away. Hold off on fertilizing until the soil has dried out a bit and don’t apply pesticides if rain, frost, snow, wind, or a heat event is in the forecast for 24 hours.

Pests you might see searching for a dry area like your home during wet conditions include snails, slugs, earwigs, ants, and cockroaches. I find that snail boards work better than iron phosphate and that sealing your house with caulk, weather stripping, and door sweeps help keep the bugs outside. If mushrooms pop up, you can remove them by hand once the soil dries. For weeds, I recommend using a mower and line trimmer as soon as the area is dry enough to walk on. Also, make sure potted plants have good drainage and are not sitting in a saucer full of water – this is where mosquitoes breed. You will want to note any areas of standing water so you can correct it when conditions dry up.

How to Grow A Climate-Resilient Garden

The weather in California will continue to surprise us all. But you can prepare yourself and your plants, building a strong foundation for your garden so it’s adaptable and resilient. Let’s dig into 7 tips for growing a resilient garden in our changing climate.

1. Build healthy soil

The key to a resilient, sustainable garden is healthy soil. Healthy soil:

  • Has high levels of organic matter (5% quadruples the water-holding capacity)

  • Is alive with fungus, bacteria, and invertebrates

  • Has good water infiltration

  • Has high water-holding capacity

  • Filters toxins

  • Delivers nutrients and water to plants when they need it

  • Doesn’t require chemical fertilizers or pesticides

You can improve the quality of your soil with compost. Compost is organic matter that has been eaten by bacteria, fungus, microbes, worms, and other decomposers. Adding this to your soil will:

  • Improve soil structure

  • Increase water retention in soil

  • Increase the microbiology in soil

  • Balance pH levels

  • Recycle nutrients

  • Reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides

  • Fight pathogens and bad bacteria in the soil

Good soil structure = good water infiltration (not too fast, not too slow). This means that water soaks into the soil easily instead of washing off or pooling. Healthy soil holds water like a sponge, making it available to plants longer. This is all beneficial to the longevity of your plants.

PRO TIP: Mix compost into existing soil, top dress around the drip line of your plants, or make a compost tea to apply as a soil drench

2. Support life in the soil

The compost in your soil is what helps your plants thrive. Bacteria and fungi break down organic material, store nutrients in the soil, break down toxins and pollutants, and hold soil together.

Nurture your soil and plants with organic fertilizers. They’re derived from organic matter such as mushrooms, manure, compost, kelp, bone, and blood meal, not fossil fuels. They contain micro nutrients and are released slowly to your plants. I always recommend choosing organic over synthetic when possible. 

3. Protect your soil

There are a few different ways to protect your soil from extreme weather. You can leave the leaves when possible, plant cover crops, or add mulch instead of leaving soil bare.

Cover crops are great for dormant veggie beds and beneficial insects. They protect soil from damage and erosion while feeding your soil microbes and replenish nitrogen in the soil. Most importantly in our changing climate, cover crops improve soil structure and water-holding capacity.

Another way to protect your soil is with mulch. Dry soil is hydrophobic, so if you add water too quickly it can run off. With periods of drought followed by excessive rain becoming the norm, mulch aids tremendously in water infiltration, reduces evaporation significantly, regulates soil temperatures, and reduces soil compaction and erosion.

Additional benefits from mulch: prevents weeds, feeds your soil, and provides a habitat for beneficial insects. What’s not to love?

PRO TIP: Keep soil away from plant stems, about 1 to 3 inches.

4. Water deeply and at the root zone

When it comes to sustainable gardening, water is at the center of it all. The goal is always watering to encourage deep roots. To do this, focus water at the drip line (not the crown or stem) and water deeply to encourage deep roots. Shallow watering grows shallow roots, which dry out quickly. This is not ideal in a climate where droughts come often and linger.

If you have the means and resources, I recommend drip irrigation systems – the best time to water is 4-6 AM. Also, check for Smart Controller and switch to drip rebates. Be sure to adjust your irrigation schedule as the roots grow. 

How do you know if you’re over watering or under watering? Moisture meters are great, but so are your own fingers! Stick your fingers down into the soil to check soil wetness.

PRO TIP: Adjust your irrigation system run times according to the season. Don’t just “set it and forget it.”

5. Choose appropriate plants to reduce pests

Do what you can from the start to prevent pests from becoming a problem by intentionally choosing plants for your garden. Opt for climate appropriate plants – for us in California, natives and Mediterranean plants that are adapted to our summer dry climate – as well as pest and disease-resistant varieties based on your environment. Invasive species are more responsive to changes in climate, so it’s key to create a nurturing environment for native plants to prevent inundation.

You should also:

  • Plant the right plant in the right place

  • Match plants to the conditions of the garden to keep them from being stressed and susceptible to pests

  • Match mature size of the plants to the space available

  • Avoid overcrowding

  • Group plants by their needs once established

6. Support the ecosystem

In our changing climate, inviting natural enemies and considering plants that support the complex food webs that surround us is how your garden will survive. Ladybugs, bees, and caterpillars are signs of a healthy, resilient ecosystem. 

If you want to attract more beneficial insects, the flowers they prefer look like daisies or sunflowers – echinacea, cosmos, helenium, aster – and flowers that grow in clusters of tiny flowers like yarrow, sweet alyssum and lavender. Plant and they will come.

7. Retain the rain

Droughts in California are nothing new. That’s why it’s important to keep any water that comes your way on site! The ways to do this are simple: slow it, spread it, sink it, store it.

Slow the rain water runoff by diverting it to a rain garden. Spread the runoff out into garden areas, or over other previous surfaces. Sink it back into the ground by disconnecting downspouts (using this helpful checklist unless otherwise instructed by your county). Store it for the future in rain barrels. The benefits are a healthier garden, replenished soil, reduced water needs, flood and pollution prevention.

Ways to Grow Together

The solution to adapting to our changing climate is to grow resilient plants that can weather the extremes. The way to do this is through sustainable gardening from the ground up. While you can’t control the weather, you can control how you prepare and give your plants the best chance to thrive no matter what comes.

If you want to learn more about climate resilient gardening, book me for your next garden club, business group, organization, or lunch and learn event!

Suzanne Bontempo