A quick neighborhood walk, the first thing that becomes apparent is how many of our trees are stressed by the dry conditions. While brown grass will recover in few weeks or months, a stressed or dead tree will take years to recover or replace. And, trees are not cheap to replace. A few gallons of strategically placed water can make the difference.

Slow watering is best for young trees. A bucket with a small drilled hole or a watering bag with few gallons 2 or 3 times a week can make all the difference. While watering bags can cost $20 or more and drilling a hole in your favorite bucket seems like a waste of a bucket, there are alternatives. A hole drilled in bottom a empty bucket used to package kitty litter is great solution. A string on the handle can be used to wrap around trunk to keep bucket from falling off the tree mulch. Improper shaped tree mulch can actually cause beneficial rain to run off. With tree mulch, it is important to have a small trench around the mulch edge to catch the runoff during short duration thunderstorms. If you don't have a cat, recycling day is good time to find empty litter buckets at curb waiting to be recycled or reused. Another alternative is to create a spiral pattern with a soaker hose around a tree. Our common area trees, maintained and replaced with HOA dues, are starting to look really stressed. If we lose our trees, we may need to change our name to Sahara Meadows.