Top Tips for Wet Weather Gardening

Don’t you love it when it rains?

… and hate it when it rains TOO MUCH!

All gardens need adequate moisture but periods of heavy rainfall, storms and runoff can bring you a truckload of challenges. These include:

• waterlogged plants;
• leaching of soil nutrients;
• erosion; and
• pest and disease problems.

11 Wet Weather Gardening Tips

Want to minimise these common issues? Dig into these wet weather gardening tips to learn how.

I’m into ‘designing out’ problems whenever I can – both in my own garden and for my clients.

Good observation, a bit of thought and planning can help reduce the impact of water-based problems.  These are some of the strategies I use to help avoid these issues.

Garden Design and Water Management

1. Good Drainage

• Elevate your garden by planting in raised beds or mounds. This can help prevent waterlogged plant roots and anaerobic soil.
• Grow in containers and use vertical systems. Examples include: window boxes, wall mounted or railing planters, pots on ladders and plant stands which all drain well.
• Another alternative is to use pots on wheels or castors so you can move them around to a more sheltered position.

Hanging baskets also provide good drainage.

2. Dig a Trench or Swale

It’s unsustainable to waste valuable rainwater in heavy downpours and pay for water when it’s dry. Instead, passively harvest it by redirecting water to where you need it most.  Swales are a useful Permaculture design feature and are especially useful if your garden is on a slope.

You build a swale (raised mound) on contour to passively soak up water as it flows down the slope. A swale slows rainwater down and allows it to sit in a shallow trench to soak into the soil.

Swales are also useful for harvesting water for thirsty food plants like bananas and fruit trees which can be planted on top of the mounds.

3. Add Organic Matter to your Soil

Adequate soil humus holds moisture like a sponge, where your plants need it most. Humus is the completely decomposed rich black soil and provides a buffer to plants under stress.

A good soil structure helps the excess moisture drain away. If you have a sandy soil, it will drain well but not hold moisture or nutrients. Whereas a clay soil holds moisture but has poor drainage so roots can rot if it becomes waterlogged. In dry weather, it can crack!

If you have soil with poor structure, it’s even more important to add organic matter. For example, manures, leaf mould, grass clippings, compost, lucerne and other mulches.

A soil rich in humus and worms is well aerated, allowing tiny pockets of oxygen around the root zone.

4. All Tied Up

To reduce the risk of common diseases during wet weather, support plants with stakes and ties or other vertical structures so the foliage is not lying on wet soil.  Growing vertically increases airflow around the plant and avoids overcrowding.

5. Give Pests a Hard Time

• Slugs and snails thrive in wet weather and I’m not going to make it easy for them to feast on my plants! So using tepees and growing vertically makes it an uphill climb deterrent!
• If slugs and snails have to climb a high rise stake or ladder for breakfast, they’re exposed. So it’s much easier for birds to see their next meal!
• I also sprinkle crushed eggshells around the base of delicate seedlings. Why? The sharp edges are like a ‘bed of nails’ for their soft slimy tummies and extremely effective at keeping them away until young plants are established.  Baked on a tray in a slow oven for 10 minutes, the eggshells become very hard and crunch perfectly into large shards in your hand. I keep a container of these handy for all new seedlings – wet weather or not!  I know there are beer traps you can make but heck – why waste a good ale when you can use eggshells instead?!

These crushed eggshells were added as a ‘bed of nails’ to deter slugs after they attacked these nasturtium seedlings. There was no sight of any further damage after this remedy and they fully recovered!

6. The Magic of Mulch

A layer of mulch helps you take advantage of free rainwater as it helps retain vital moisture in the soil.  Other benefits are that it also reduces splashing which encourages plant diseases and prevents soil erosion by providing a buffer.

Mulch slows water down so it can permeate gently through to the root zone and drain more freely throughout the soil.

7. Slow Release Fertiliser

Feeding your soil with trace rock minerals and slow-release granules, pellets or powdered organic fertilisers can help retain nutrients in your soil. Remember to replenish nutrients lost to leaching during heavy rain.

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The more humus you have in your soil, the less leaching will occur as it helps bind minerals.

Plants will quickly become nutrient deficient if their food source in the soil is depleted and you’ll often notice a change in their leaf colour. If plants look a bit sickly after a week of solid rain the minerals may have leached out. The leaves will give you a clue when to feed!

8. Apply a foliar spray

A quick spray of liquid kelp/seaweed or fish emulsion to plant leaves is a good standby tonic to help plants bounce back fast.

Plants can ‘drink’ the trace elements through their leaves much faster than they can suck up nutrients from the soil.

9. Harvest Your Food Crops Regularly

Pick edible plants promptly in humid wet weather. Why? Because the longer produce stays on the vine or stalk, the higher the likelihood of spoilage, pest attack or disease.

10. Water Management Practices

As a general rule particularly in humid weather, avoid watering plant leaves.  Splashing creates a breeding ground for fungal spores (which cause mildews and mould diseases) and can transfer them from one plant to another.

Drip irrigation, a soaker hose or a watering can may be safer alternatives.

11. Design IN a water feature

If you have a natural low-lying area in your garden, collect the run-off and harvest water rather than letting it escape!  Add a simple pond and plant or move water-loving plants into that zone so their roots soak up the moisture and leave plants that like dry feet alone!

Create habitat for beneficial insects like dragonflies who dine out on mosquitoes (no accounting for taste!) and other small birds, lizards and creatures that help you with pest management in your garden. Think ‘win-win’!

What sort of water issues do you have in your garden?  How have you resolved your problems?

Related Articles:

• Learn how to restore a waterlogged garden
• Helpful garden maintenance tips
• Check out some clever design ideas

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