What heavy rains do to your Texas kitchen garden (and 4 things you can do to help it!)

If you’re reading this at the end of July, you may be confused. The late summer drought can cause us to forget how irritating the spring heavy rains can be. If you’re reading this in May or June, you will know exactly what I mean!

Texas torrential rain events happen often in the spring time, days on end, sometimes inches at a time. But man, spring 2021 has been a doozy! Don’t get me wrong, rain water is extra special for your plants. It contains more nitrogen than tap water, which causes an explosion of stem and leave growth! It also does not include many of the biproducts of the water treatment process, which your plants also appreciate. Now that I’ve given rain it’s appropriate appreciation I’m free to complain. Just a little bit.

Not that rain in and of itself is an issue. The torrential rains with no drying out and no break can cause a host of other issues in the garden. If you can harvest a little rain water through a catchment system, all the better! But either way, this environment can really stress your edible plants out. Most vegetables and herbs really need consistent water, and that’s not always what we can give them. So with this situation comes issues with pests, stress, poor production, and disease.

Rolly pollies, snails and slugs explode in the regularly water drenched soil and cooler, overcast environments. There are many ways to control them without using toxic chemicals, and when the water reduces, you’ll notice them reduce as well. Fungus problems can develop in the form of powdery white spots or brown spots. Fruit that’s already set, such as tomatoes can split and crack. Roots can be damaged by too much water. The high nitrogen in the rain can cause an over abundance of leaf and branch growth at a time in a plant’s life (such as with tomatoes and peppers) when you need more flowers to produce fruit.

Here are 3 things you can do right now to make a better garden environment when you cannot control the weather:

Use mulch.

Mulch helps to maintain moisture in your garden so it does not face the feast-or-famine experience our weather will bring. It will keep your soil protected so the soil biology does not die as soon as the rains stop. The right type of mulch is very important, too. Wood chip mulches can have a lot of problems and you absolutely do not want to use something inorganic such as rubber. There are a lot of different ways to look at mulching; it doesn’t always require that you purchase something. If you’d like more information about mulch and soil in general, we offer a mini class on the topic you can get by booking here.

Grow in a raised bed.

I listed several benefits of growing in a raised bed in my post topic here, because their are so many! And enabling your garden to power through these spring rains with happy plants is another one. Texas native soil is some combo of heavy clay or caliche and limestone rock. None of which handles large amounts of water well. It either absorbs into the clay and stays there, or it will run off because the soil is so thick and compacted. Growing your kitchen garden in a raised bed is a great way to do it. By using good quality soil above the tricky native soil, you allow for more drainage. So not only does the rain reach across the entire surface, coming around all sections of the root ball pretty evenly, the drainage allows for the rain to pass through rather than sit in the soil harming your root systems. The materials of the raised beds are also important. From wood, to metal, to stone, each different material will manage rain and soil differently, so it’s important to understand these different options. The depth of the raised bed also matters. All of these details make a huge difference and getting it right can be so overwhelming! So if you are ready for a highly productive raised bed kitchen garden or your current one isn’t working for you, our simple process can set it up right. It all starts with a consult.

Install and maintain the right type of soil.

Speaking of drainage and soil, the health and tilth of your soil matters hugely when it comes to your garden’s ability to handle (and recover from) our torrential rains in Texas. Having the right combination of organic matter (compost) mixed with inorganic matter that promotes drainage (such as sand), it a crucial part of your garden’s resilience. Luckily for all our clients, the soil we provide in their gardens is of the highest quality, so it gives their plants the best chance of success.

Set up a drip irrigation system.

Does this sound counterintuitive? We are talking about managing too much water and now we are talking about adding irrigation! Part of the reason the heavy downpours hurt our garden soil is when the soil has been allowed to dry out too much before the rains. And also, intensely dry soil shortly after a rain can also mean damage to the soil and the soil food web within. It can cause contraction and compaction, causing the soil to have a difficult time absorbing water the next time it rains (or even the next time you water). The soil surface can crack and harm the plant roots and prohibit proper growth. You never want your soil to dry out completely and if it does, it’s not able to manage heavy rains quite as well. So we install drip irrigation systems in all the installations we do, and recommend they be set on timers to water every few days (except when it’s raining!)

While a combination of these things done correctly cannot completely undo the stress and damage caused by our torrential rains, it can mitigate the harm and give your garden the boost it needs to grow and thrive. Remember, your plants want to grow. They want to produce just as their DNA tells them to. They aren’t working against us. The best we can do it set up their environment up in a way that allows them to grow how they should.

Hopefully we don’t let a little rain ruin our fun in the garden. I’m here to make it more fun, so let me know how I can help you grow!