Growing Gardens

with Julia Hancock

Dew Processes

We've had some superb windless and cloudless nights recently, which means we've woken up to gardens saturated by heavy dew the next morning.

Dew is formed on plants and other outdoor surfaces by water vapour that is released from the night air as it cools. Grasses and other plants release water vapour themselves during the night, which is why they often seem to be wetter in the morning than are rocks and roads.

In the Tweed Valley where I live dew is often accompanied by morning mists, ensuring that even the tallest trees growing on the valley floor receive a morning drink. On these days, everything green and growing looks and smells deliciously fresh and new.

In areas such as the desert where rainfall is limited or non-existent, dew is often the only way in which plants receive their water. Certain cacti and succulents have funnel-shaped or spout-like leaves which direct the water down into the stem. Some collect and store this moisture in their trunks.

Carnivorous plants such as sundews utilise the dew that forms on their leaf surfaces in a more sinister way, mixing it with a sticky honey-like substance which attracts, then traps, the insects upon which the plants feed.

Insects, butterflies and birds sip from reservoirs of dew formed in certain plants, such as those members of the bromeliads family whose central rosette of leaves develop a natural well, from which the flowers burst.

Dew is essential to the reproduction process of certain mosses that need both male and female components to form a new plant. The male sperm reaches the female egg by swimming through the dew which has condensed on the moss's surface.

Some natural health practitioners advocate walking barefoot in dewy grass as a health-giving start to the day, and I must admit it does feel good.

Lismore Garden Club News

Don't forget next Thursday (3rd June) at 1.30pm we have the monthly meeting of the club at the Lismore Workers Club. All welcome.

Before long we can expect to see the odd frost in our frost prone, low lying areas.

It's best to water in the mornings to allow for the soil to warm up again during the day. Protect frost tender young trees with tomato stakes and hessian.

Indoor plants need less water in cool weather. Water when soil is dry to touch, in the morning, using tepid water. Be sure to keep them in a location with strong light, ideally where they can get mild/filtered morning sunlight.

Avoid using heaters in the same room as indoor plants, as heaters dry out the air and are detrimental to plants.

Autumn/Winter is citrus fruit time. I firmly believe that's it's no coincidence that they ripen in the cool weather when we are in need of that natural Vitamin C boost to ward off winter ills. So don't let your oranges and mandarins just drop off the tree and go to waste. Make a plan to eat two or three every day and beat the winter coughs and colds.

Happy gardening
Ron Burns