Whether you are an amateur gardener or a professional one, the monsoon season can be both a blessing and a bane for your plants. With the first rain itself, you can see new sprouts and shoots coming up, the soil remains moist for a long period requiring less water and you see beautiful flowers and bountiful fruits and vegetables come up all around your garden.
However, when monsoon season unleashes all its fury, a heavy downpour can cause severe damage to your plants. The fragile plants may get uprooted, pots may fill up with water drowning the plants, fruits, and flowers may get dislocated and broken, leaving your garden a mess and disappointment. Not to mention, stagnant water may lead to rot and bacteria built up.
We are going to list out some simple tips you can use to protect your garden during heavy rains. You can do it days before the monsoon sets in so that you can be assured that your garden is monsoon-ready.
1) Drainage system
The simplest thing you can do first and foremost is to build a proper water draining system. Heavy rains can lead to water accumulation in your garden, which may slowly and steadily percolate into the soil. This may lead to root rot and thereby ruin your plants.
Building a canal or channel to direct away excess water from your garden to drainage or some collection system can work wonders. If you have a collection system set up, you can save your plants from drowning and save water in the process.
2) Wind protection
Sometimes, when heavy rains are lashing against your plants, they mostly bear the brunt of heavy wind. While rains may just drench your plants, strong winds can actually uproot plants or cause irreversible damage.
The best way to save your plants is to support them. Use strong string or twine to tie them to a support so that they stand upright and strong. You can also use a trellis to support a bunch of your weakest plants. For plants in pots or planters, you can either use a net contraption to cover them or simply bring them inside the house to protect them from strong winds.
3) Pruning and clearing
A step to be taken before the onset of monsoons is to prune away damaged bits of a plant and to weed out your garden. When a plant is heavily weighed down already, it may get damaged or uprooted even in a medium intensity rain. Pruning away damaged bits of a plant may help in lightening its load, thereby giving it more leverage to stand aground. Pruning the damage can also help in stopping it from spreading to other parts of the plant. Once the monsoon is over, you may see new growth from the pruned area.
Similarly, if your garden is filled with weeds, the soil may be too loose for your plants to hold on to. It is always a good idea to ensure that your garden is well weeded out before the monsoon. It gives traction to the plants to hold on during a heavy downpour.
4) Rain Cover
One of the best solutions to protect your garden from a heavy downpour is to use plastic or fabric rain cover over the plants. You can buy the same from the market or simply use a big sheet of plastic or tarpaulin or fabric propped up with beam support. Ensure that your beam support is strong so that the rains do not bring down the cover over the plants.
One important thing is that you have to remember to remove the rain cover from the plants once the rains are over otherwise they may not get enough air or sunlight leading to further damage.
We hope you can use these tips to protect your plants and garden from the severe rains. A beautiful garden with gorgeous blooms and strong standing plants is always a cynosure for the eyes. Do not let heavy rains ruin it for you.
Click on this link and learn to maintain your kitchen garden during monsoons.
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