Expanding Crystals? Sounds like some kind of voodoo, right? Well, If this weekend was any indication of how hot it's going to be this summer, it's time to hook your plants up with some self watering technology, otherwise they're gonna fry when you leave town for the weekend. And crystals are part of our plan. Far from voodoo, they make a lot of sense:
Expanding Water Crystals for the Garden, Seriously
It's called polymer gel and it's great for containers and window boxes. Each crystal of this stuff looks like raw sugar but can expand to the size of a small marble when water is added. When you mix a handful into your container garden soil (let it expand with water first before you add it to the soil), it helps the soil retain moisture, thus saving your plants from near fatal injury from the overwhelming heat. It can also free you up to do other things this summer, rather than worry if your plants are gonna make it through.
Buy them at your local nursery or order them from crystals.us.
[image from the hot potato]
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This is probably better for LA than it is on the east coast. When these things get very wet, they expand ... A LOT. Last year, I mixed some into all of my pots outside, as they tend to dry out on my hot patio. Well, one good rainstorm later, the crystals had grown tremendously, pushing the soil and plants right out of the pots. If I recall correctly, the directions were to mix the crystals directly into damp potting soil -- so the instruction above to get them to expland prior to filling your pots is a good one.
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