Prepare your Gardens for Seasonal Heavy Rains: a Quick Checklist

How to prep your garden for our usual seasonal heavy rains, and what to do after:

BEFORE

🌧 Drainage: clear ditches and rain-prone runoff areas (consider digging ditches deeper) to ensure water is being funneled away from low areas and to avoid wash-out of gardens or driveways 

🌧 This is a good time to make sure all of your containers, planters, and outdoor pots have good drainage holes. Move or cover any that could flood and damage the plants' roots.

🌧 Manage your rain barrel or position buckets to collect any of this precious commodity for future watering.

🌧 Support tall plants, as heavy rains and wind can cause breakage or flopping that may be hard for them to recover from.

🌧 Cover delicate & rot-prone plants with plastic sheeting/pots to prevent damage/excess saturation, but be sure to uncover on occasion to allow for air flow to prevent mildew (lavender is a great example)

🌧 Harvest any ripe fruits or flowers that could be damaged by debris, wind, or rain. Enjoy your cut blooms and unblemished foods!

🌧 Bring in any hanging baskets or containers (if a manageable size) or move them to a more sheltered location to keep them from being battered by wind and rain. Specifically petunias!

🌧 Plant those plants you haven't gotten to yet - the best time for them to get established is with days of rain ahead!

AFTER

🌦 Uncover all covered containers/plants immediately to allow for air flow and sun to hit them.

🌦 Check containers and beds for washed out soil and exposed roots, re-cover any exposed areas with compost/soil before they get burnt and damage the plant.

🌦 Cut back any broken stems/plants & deadhead spent blooms, retie and support plants that have fallen over.

🌦 Trim the lower leaves off of tomatoes and peppers so the leaves aren't trailing in the wet soil (helps to prevent disease)

🌦 If there was really intense wind, torrential rain, or hail (☹), examine your really tender plants' foliage for damage--items like hostas can really be susceptible. In the spring, you can remove the worst of the battered leaves (a third to one half of the total leaves if early enough). In the summer, remove less and leave more--removing half the leaves could stress plants to the point of death.

🌦 Deadheading blooms that turned to 'mush' will reduce mildew

🌦 Revamp soils, as nutrients may be leached (specifically raised beds and container gardens): top with compost or mix in organic plant food.

🌦 Watch for slugs, snails and mildews (and treat organically if found).

🌦 Check drainage ditches again and clear built up sediment/detritus.  

🌦 Take advantage of wet soils and catch up on weeding--they won't break off at the root and will pop right out! Plus, you get to play in the mud!

🌦 Dig any holes you need for future planting projects. The ground will be pliable and easier to work with.

🌦 Assess your garden. If there are naturally dry spots, make sure your plantings match this feedback. If you end up with consistently wet areas--like that area where the rain runs off the driveway or the downspout drainage plain--consider installing a rain garden to help manage and filter the water. Read more in our blog here: