The intense Texas summer heat is coming. Here’s how to help your landscape survive.

Looking ahead at 12 or 14 weeks of hot and likely dry weather here in North Central Texas, wise gardeners are planning toward protecting their plantings. Here are some of the ways that I’ve learned work best.

Water new trees and shrubs by hand. Use a water breaker or bubbler in the process. The potting soil in which nursery crops are grown is invariably lightweight. Your new plants will dry out much more quickly than the surrounding soil in your landscape, so they’ll require that individual attention for their first couple of years. The hose-end attachments make the job much quicker and easier.

Water deeply, then wait until the soil begins to dry out before you water again. Use a “smart” controller or learn to “read” your soils yourself. Your fingers make very good “water meters.” Feel the soil to see if it’s dry.

Do a sprinkler system audit. If you’re using an automatic sprinkler system, put it through its paces and watch it closely to be sure that all parts of your landscape and lawn are being covered uniformly. Watch for misaligned or plugged heads (both easily fixed) or valves that either don’t turn on or that dribble continuously because a valve isn’t shutting off completely. Those problems may involve finding and repairing or replacing the valve, and those may require skill levels just a bit more robust than the average gardener will possess.

Put mulches to work. Mulches retard germination of weed seeds, so that cuts down on competition. They reduce soil-to-air contact, so they slow drying, and they moderate the heating of the soil when the sun is out. I prefer organic mulches such as finely ground bark or compost.

Wrap the trunks of thin-barked new trees. That list includes red oaks, red maples, Chinese pistachios and others. You’ll never go wrong wrapping the trunk of a new tree, but you can certainly get in trouble if you don’t. The trees have shaded one another in the nursery, but when planted into the landscape they’re suddenly exposed to intense western sunlight. If left unwrapped they often scald on their west sides. A year or two later the bark starts peeling off and soon the tree can be lost. Apply paper or plastic tree wrap from the ground up to the lowest branches. It should be flexible so that it can expand as the trunk grows larger. It can be removed after two or three years.

Mow at the recommended height for your type of lawngrass. Mowing “high” does make a lawn more tolerant of drought. Fact is, tall grass often thins out and becomes weaker. That allows the sun to reach the soil, drying it out more rapidly. Weeds have an easier time getting started. None of that is good. By mowing at the recommended height you’ll keep the grass low and dense.

Mow more often so you’ll remove less blade length. Removing a smaller percentage of the blade length at each cutting makes for easier mowing, but it’s also better for the grass. And it helps prevent formation of thatch if you’re leaving clippings in place to decay.

Know your plants and their pests. Know which insects and diseases are likely to bother each of your plant species and how to recognize them just as they’re getting started. This is where veteran gardeners have an advantage. They’ve been down the road before. They’ve kept records of what problems arose, when they showed up and what worked to control them. If you’re in doubt, let a Texas Certified Nursery Professional help you.

Fertilize your plants carefully. Frequent watering will leach nutrients out of the soil, so you’ll probably need to replenish them. That’s critical for patio pots and hanging baskets. Use a water-soluble, complete-and-balanced food every couple of times that you water these plants.

Feed flowerbeds every three or four weeks with a high-nitrogen lawn food, and apply an all-nitrogen lawn fertilizer to bermudagrass turf every two months from now through early October. Upwards of 30 to 40% of that nitrogen should be in slow-release coated or encapsulated form. Follow all fertilizations with thorough waterings.

Fertilize St. Augustine by mid-June with the same type of lawn food, but then not again until early September. Nitrogen promotes development of the gray leaf spot fungus, particularly in summer. It’s best to avoid nitrogen fertilizers during that time.

Treat iron chlorosis. Watch for symptoms of iron deficiency on susceptible plants and take measures to correct it. Iron deficiency shows up when you garden in alkaline soils such as our black clay gumbos of the Metroplex.

You’ll see it on newest growth first (at the ends of the growing shoots). Leaves will be yellowed with dark green veins, later turning almost white, then brown and crisp.

Plants that are commonly affected: wisteria, azaleas, loropetalums, hollies, dogwoods, pines, pin oaks and water oaks. Apply chelated iron and a sulfur soil acidifier to the shrubs and vines, but frankly, you’re better off simply replacing the larger shrubs and trees with some other species. You’ll never get iron deficiency under control with them.

You can hear Neil Sperry on KLIF 570AM on Saturday afternoons 1-3 p.m. and on WBAP 820AM Sunday mornings 8-10 a.m. Join him at www.neilsperry.com and follow him on Facebook.