No doubt, gardeners will be jumping for joy when the rain finally comes, whether it’s light showers or torrential downpours.
But it will take a while for things to return to normal and in the meantime you still need to look after your soil and your plants to try to alleviate problems like flash flooding, weakened plants toppling and slugs and snails reappearing.
“In an ideal world, which we don’t have, you would get some gentle rain, maybe a few light showers to begin with, so that the water can gently permeate down into the incredibly drought-ridden soil, and then you get heavier rain afterwards,” says Kim Stoddart, editor of Amateur Gardening magazine and author of The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden.
“That would better enable the soil to cope with the flip from extreme drought to rain and a lot of moisture. When you get very heavy rain immediately, the water just can’t slow its spread and unfortunately there’s the risk of flash flooding.”
Gardeners may face other problems, too.
“Container plants can become quickly sodden, especially if they’re not up off the ground,” Stoddart explains, “and when the lawn has been crisped dry, then you get a lot of rain, if you walk on it you can cause further damage.”
Airborne fungus can affect plants which have suddenly become sodden, while slugs and snails, which have been largely absent this summer, will suddenly reappear, Stoddart warns.
“Plants that have been weakened by the drought are also more susceptible to the next weather extreme and to pests and diseases ultimately,” she says.
So, how can we prepare for the rain?
1. Support taller plants
“Very heavy rain is going to flatten some plants potentially. Taller plants can be more at risk because they can become destabilised,” she observes. Plants such as heleniums might topple, so provide support for the more vulnerable, taller species.
2. Prepare water butts
“If there’s a risk of flash flooding in your area, try to put out anything you can use to collect water. It doesn’t just have to be water butts, it could be old bins, a wheelbarrow or buckets,” Stoddart suggests.
“If a row of houses at risk of flash flooding were all to collect rainwater, it massively reduces that risk.”
Also, clear gutters and make sure your drains are free of leaf litter so that water can flow away, she adds.
3. Mulch the soil
Once the rain starts, mulch the soil using compost, which will slow-release feed the soil, or you can use wood chip or leaf mould, she suggests.
“We’ve got a nutrient leach-away. Soil fertility is at risk of being washed away. Mulch to keep the soil nutrients in. It helps to protect the soil life down below, which in turn helps the plants.”
Wait until the ground is wet to apply the mulch, but avoid using fertiliser which may give plants a spurt into new growth, which is not what they need straight away, she says.
4. Avoid feeding plants
“Avoid feeding plants. In pots it’s a bit different because you don’t have as much soil life or natural resilience, but if you are looking at the soil, tap into its amazing capacity for resilience, the mycorrhizal fungi, the soil life, all these things that can help plants put on slower growth, to dig deeper with their roots and to have more resilience against weather extremes.
“If you keep feeding your plants, which is commonly advised, that creates plants that are really needy of your attention and not resilient in conditions like this. If plants are too pampered, they are vulnerable,” she says.
5. Go easy on deadheading
“There is this commonly given advice that you should deadhead all the time with, for example, the likes of roses.
“When you get a lot of rain, if you just keep deadheading a plant it can put a lot of stress on it. The key with this, once there’s a lot of rain, is to go very gently.
“You don’t want to put plants under too much pressure so they have to put on too much growth immediately (after deadheading), because they have been weakened (by the drought).”
6. Watch out for pests and diseases
Treat your beds and borders on a plant-by-plant basis, she advises. Roses, for instance, may have more blackspot, so may need more airflow.
“Look closely. If there are aphids on the plants, are there also ladybirds? Do you need to intervene if the aphids are potentially food for ladybirds?
“But do watch out for slugs, which are going to emerge. You might think there haven’t been many slugs around but they are very adaptable, resilient creatures.
“Put down a plank of wood or something they can hide underneath, which will enable you to pick them off after it’s rained, when it’s cooler in the evening and they start emerging.”
If the weather is still very hot, don’t remove lower foliage from plants because that is protecting the soil, she says. But look out for slugs and snails which may be hiding at the base of your plant.
If it’s wet and warm, you may see your prized tomato plants decimated by blight. Good airflow around the plant can help reduce the chances of blight getting hold.
“You can remove the foliage. I also leave a good metre between tomato plants. Tomatoes need plenty of air circulation,” she says. Try to keep your tomato plants apart, because it’s really easy for this airborne fungus to spread from leaf to leaf and plant to plant, she notes.
7. Leave the lawn
“For some people, getting the lawnmower out can be a habit, but try and leave the lawn. Let lawns gently recover and if you have to mow it, do it on a much higher setting.”
8. Save seeds now
“When plants get sodden they can rot, so if you are seed-saving, do it now before the seedheads become rotten,” she suggests.
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