The City Gardener: Can you have too much rain?

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It’s been a record year for rainfall. Here’s how to help your garden cope

It’s been a record summer for rainfall across southern Ontario. As early as May, both Toronto and Ottawa started setting rainfall records and then repeatedly, or so it seems, breaking them – and we’ve still got still several weeks of summer showers to go.

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Usually, by late June the weather is turning from warm to hot, your garden is thriving, and your biggest problem is to keep it from drying out.

This year, of course, we’ve had the opposite problem! But with a little good garden housekeeping, you can help your garden weather the storm.

After a hard rain, don your Wellies and go take a garden tour. Along with gently shaking the water off any drooping plants and branches, check for plants whose roots have gotten exposed by the rain.

These can dry out and die quickly, especially with newly planted specimens. As soon as you can work in the garden again, replace the washed-away dirt with new soil, just to the same level as it was before.

Never try to dig waterlogged soil, and don’t walk on it! There’s a sweet spot when the soil is moist, but not wet. The way to tell is to take a handful and squeeze it in your hand; if it turns into a wet clump, back away and wait till it’s just crumbly and moist.

The force of heavy rain pounding down on bare earth can cause compaction, squeezing out air and turning the soil to cement.

Air is just as important as water in the soil, and without it, plant roots will literally suffocate. Too much water can also drown them (as anyone who’s ever killed a houseplant with kindness can attest).

Once compacted, the soil is unable to absorb further moisture, and rain just runs off it, causing pooling and flooding. And when it does finally dry out, the composition of the soil is rock-hard, yet fragile; if you try to dig it – assuming you can get a fork or a trowel into it – it can break down and turn to dust.

Excess rain also washes away needed nutrients. Yellowing leaves are a sure sign of nutrient deficiency. Continue to topdress with compost or apply fertilizer to give the plants the vitamins they’re lacking.

Slugs and snails love a wet garden; and we’ve had a bumper crop of both this year! I used to feel bad about killing them – they’re just living their slimy little lives – but after having more than one favourite hosta destroyed, I’m not so sentimental.

Drop them in a bucket of soapy water or spray them with Safer’s Soap to dispatch them.

Keep up with your weeding, and avoid having plants growing too close together, which can reduce air circulation and spread both mould and disease, which thrive in wet conditions. Remove any dead, rotted or damaged leaves. If overcrowding is a problem, consider dividing or moving mature plants that have outgrown their space.

One of your biggest heroes in the fight against both too much and too little rain turns out to be good old mulch. A nice thick blanket of mulch protects the soil surface from compaction by acting as a shock absorber.

It also prevents pooling and runoff by absorbing and distributing moisture, returning it to the soil gradually at just the right rate to keep plants happy.

Mind you, if it’s right under a downspout or a rivulet forms in the flowerbed, it can get washed away. After the rain stops, gently smooth it back into place.

Also check to make sure mulch hasn’t been washed directly under your plants; you should maintain about an inch or so of bare soil between mulch and plant stems, so tidy this up if needed.

Please feel free to write in with questions (if I can’t answer you, I’ll find someone who can), to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures. Write to me at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.