First it was too dry and now local garden experts advising UC residents to protect plants from the damaging effects of recent heavy rain.
Clay County Extension Agent Wyatt Montooth said the current frequency of heavy storms can lead to soil compaction and plant injury. Montooth said the repeated impact of raindrops reduces oxygen levels in the soil, which can eventually lead to root death and increased disease presence in local gardens.
“The rain is vital,” Montooth said. “It’s something that you have to have. We’d rather have a wet year (than) a dry year all the time. But with too much rain fall, like the heavy rains we’ve been seeing lately, can lead to some negatives for vegetable gardens.”
On top of plant damage, Montooth said soil erosion is one of the biggest threats to vegetable gardens this time of year.
“When you go out to your garden you see those little rills and the hills out in your soil where water’s carrying off your soil that you have your garden put in,” Montooth said. “The other biggie we see, too, is increased fungus, increased disease presence, where it’s so wet and then we’re also hot and humid, that’s a perfect ground for disease to come into these weakened plants and really start hurting our yields.”
Montooth said maintaining a healthy stand of grass around a garden serves as a primary defense against erosion. Montooth said keeping grass at a height of at least three inches helps slow down the flow of rainwater, allowing the soil to absorb the moisture rather than letting it run off and carry away topsoil. Montooth also suggested manually creating a drainage area for a homegrown veggie garden.
“If you see your garden’s in a spot where there’s not a whole lot of drainage opportunities, it might be in a depression or in a low area in your yard, you can actually dig a small drainage channel for your garden, just dig it out growing around with a shovel and get it to re-route that excess amount of water,” Montooth said.
Montooth said the top six inches of soil in Clay County are currently saturated, though the very top layer can sometimes form a dry crust that hides the moisture beneath. Montooth said that while the excess water can be beneficial during dry periods, it requires gardeners to be vigilant about plant health and soil structure.
“If you have a good soil that’s built up in your garden and you maintain a healthy living root system, it’s not compacted, and you have it worked and protected, and have a good cover, your soil can actually soak in a lot of that moisture and utilize it and have an actual kind of a reservoir for it,” Montooth said.
Montooth said proper mower maintenance is also a factor in yard health, as dull blades can shear the grass and leave open wounds that invite disease. Montooth said keeping the yard a bit longer, specifically between three and four inches, prevents sunlight from reaching weed seeds and promotes stronger root growth.
With water and sunshine in abundance, Montooth said he notices plants shooting up from the ground arround the area.
“With this increased amount of water, there’s exponential growth,” Montooth said. “And as I go through Clay County, I see a lot of people out there getting the mowers out, getting the weed eater and getting ready to get started. And we want to tame that yard and keep it looking good and healthy, but at the same time, we don’t want to overdo it.”
