Gardening after the flood

That’s not to say the rain was unwelcome or that plants didn’t soak it up and grow with a vigour that doesn’t happen after manual watering. But when the lawn squelches underfoot, the squashes start to rot and black spot appears on the roses, one realises that too much of a good thing isn’t always so good.

“Because of the lack of sun and so much water, lots of veggies are getting squishy,” says Kirchhoff’s Marlaen Straathof.

“And even if the peppers and chillies have survived, you’ll find that their fruit is not as hot or spicy because they needed sun while ripening.”

So what’s to be done?

Clean out

Straathof’s advice is to go systematically through the veggie garden and assess the state of the plants. Any plants that are rotting, mildewed, or yellowing and with unsatisfactory yields or undersized fruit, should be pulled out.

“Cut your losses,” she says, “because keeping such plants increases the diseases present in the garden and that will affect future crops.”

Cut down those that are worth cutting down, like Swiss chard, and feed to replace the nutrients that have leached out with the rain. In the flower garden, zinnias and petunias may be affected by rust or botrytis and other annuals planted in September are likely to be so weakened by the rain that it would be wiser to pull them out, rather than cut back.

Fertilise

Feeding is the next important job to be done. Use a nitrogen rich feed, like Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger or Nitrosol, for green leafy veggies, and a potassium rich feed, like Vigorosa 5:1:5, for flowers and especially roses that are developing towards that all important autumn flush.

It is also a good idea to fertilise the lawn with 5:1:5 granular fertiliser (Vigorosa will do). This boosts growth, gets rid of that yellowish tinge and strengthens it before winter. Even though the ground is wet it is still very important to water after fertilising, otherwise the plants will burn.

Keep on watering

It sounds crazy, but with all the rain the plants become spoilt and when the rain stops they suffer “withdrawal symptoms”. Because they haven’t needed to hunt for water deeper down, their roots are closer to the surface and dry out quickly on a hot sunny day. To keep the plants happy slowly wean them off their water guzzling habits by keeping on watering (if the rain stops) but gradually reduce the amount.

Spray the roses

After the continuous rain, black spot on the roses is as inevitable as income tax. Spray as soon as possible with Chronos or Rose Protector, with a sticker like Ludwig’s Spray Stay. Even if the rain continues, make the most of a break in the weather to spray.

Replace

After the clean up there will be space to plant winter and spring flowers and veggies that need a long growing season.

“The soil is beautifully moist and easy to work, especially for those plants, like sweet peas, that require deeply worked, well composted soil,” says Straathof.

Sweet peas sown now will flower later in spring. Other cool season flowers that can be started from seed are alyssum, flowering kale and primulas, which need a long growing season. For quick bedding colour, consider bacopa, dianthus, diascia, lobelia, mimulus and verbena as well as the bushy perennial, Plectranthus “Mona Lavender”. Cool season perennials that can be planted now include aquilegia, delphinium, foxgloves and lupins.