The garden center where I bought my plants said that I should water tomatoes and bell peppers 2x a week in the morning. I would water at 8 AM for 40 min with a super soaker hose turned on all the way, and I would discover some of my plants wilting in the sun by noon the following day. So I would water the plants again even though I was told not to water in the middle of the day. Also, my bell pepperÂs leaves were curling which I read is a sign of under watering. It developed 3 little bell peppers, but they were badly twisted and one fell off today. I just went back to the garden center today and they sold me a neat little gadget called a "Moisture meter" for $8. My bell pepper was an 8 out of 10 in terms of moisture or borderline "wet". My potted plants were 10+ or "wet". My avocado tree was 5 out of 10 or "moist". I had been watering my avocado tree and blueberry bush every 4 days and they were due for watering today. My blueberry bush was an 8 and I decided to water it according to schedule too. The man I talked to at the garden center said that it would be ok to water my plants every day if they are dry because it is very hot and dry right now. But I wonder if I should bump up the time from 40 min to say 60 min with the soaker hose. By the way, I donÂt have a lot of run off or any standing water after using the soaker hose. And my garden is heavily mulched. I am in Orange County California. Any advice?

Actually, I have an old tent - 20' x 20' x 8' I think. Large screened top, 3 large screened "windows," and a screened door. I still have the rain cover for it also. I was thinking of putting my tropicals in there with pine straw on the floor. I would use heat lamps and the rain cover in the very cold weather. If they weren't getting enough light, I could add some fluorescent lights. I really, REALLY want a greenhouse. I don't need a permanent one, just one of the temporary ones. Essentially a tent with translucent sides and top. BTW, I hate hurricanes. I had to move almost 300 potted plants into protected areas. Filled my sunroom; put some along the walls of the carport; put the others along the walls where the house forms an "L" on the southwest side. Didn't lose many plants but it was a lot of work. Still moving plants. Actually, we're back on cleaning up limbs and trees today. I'm getting a lot of good advice. It's great to have someone familiar with the area/climate chiming in. Thanks, Amelia

First of all, thank you all. Now more info...They are under the maple tree, because I have axactly two areas of full shade, one is under a crabapple and the other under a red maple (that, to spite the fact that it has surface roots and is a pain to plant near, I love) I do not think that moisture is an issue, I am well irrigated and the ligularias and astilbes are quite happy (both are well known floppers when deprived of water in the least)... The soil is interesting, we live on a river and I have areas of clay, clay loam and damn near 100% sand, the area that the hostas are in is quite loamy, and I have been adding compost as long as I have gardened that spot. The roots, I know are an issue, I did not have a good time getting the plants in there, but it is super irrigated to compensate...maybe too well irrigated, I will have to check it out. I am pretty sure they are planted properly, I am a HOSTA newbie (because of lack of shade) but not a garden newbie, I have too many perennials and roses to count right now, as well as a well developed prairie along the river. I am well informed on how to install plants. I looked up the variety of hosta in my files, and it is "White Christmas" ...Unfortunate as it seems... I did pull on one of the brown leaves, and it did fall right into my hand. I have been looking up Hosta crown rot on the web, and it has moved into our neck of the woods, it is not common, but it is here. Not surprising with all the travel that plants do now days. The U of M web site has clues as to how to diagnose it, I will dig one up and see what I can find out. Apparently if it is crown rot, I have things to take care of so as not to create more problems for myself. Bottom line, I obviously choose the WRONG kind of hosta. But the tag did not say that it was difficult to grow, it said shade to part shade, well drained moist soil...blah blah blah, as they all do, even on catalogue web sites, you don't get detailed plant info...and it was pretty...and it was on sale, any gardener with a bad plant habit and a somewhat limited budget can understand the draw in that. So there we are, I think I will take the advice of the majority and dig em up and put in easier hostas...anyone with advice on which ones those are? Thank you all again...Helen.

Deep snow cover as in pile a lot of snow on top of them to insulate them from even colder air? Just wanted to confirm since I am a complete novice and hadn't heard of that method. Probably doesn't help I grew up in Mississippi and moved north not too many years ago. Luckily my current Endless Summer in a pot seems to have done well through this last winter (no polar vortex, but still cold) with new leaves forming on the old growth. And that pot was left foolishly uncovered all winter. I'm only this year starting to put a lot of time, effort, and thought into the yard now that other big projects with the house are done. Good to know the importance of old growth on Endless Summer. I had planned to protect them, but this shows it is even more important. Luckily I like the look of them even without the blooms (although blue blooms are a huge huge plus), so absolutely worst case I will at least have that. Many of my neighbors seem to be very successful with their Macrophyllas (not certain what they do in winter) so hopefully I can learn how to protect them.