 |
| Gardening in the rain! Photo courtesy i.telegraph.co.uk |
Gardeners in the front range of Colorado often find themselves during the summer growing season with hot temperatures and little rainfall or watering restrictions. This month we experienced the opposite effect with monsoon effect storms. While the moisture is welcome, often these storms produce very heavy rain in short periods of time supersaturating the soils and can include high winds and hail.
Having good soil management practices help your garden plants cope with these often sudden and heavy amounts of rain. Proper drainage and soil quality is key - our native soil in this area is often compacted and heavy clay soils which can mean that any water can be slow to move and can even result in waterlogged areas that can be detrimental to plants.
Making adjustments to your garden, such as adding raised beds with well-balanced soil added allows for better drainage and can make a big difference in your plants being able to cope with sudden downpours.
This garden note publication from CSU Extension gives suggestions and guidelines so you can make changes or modifications to your garden which will help you achieve the ability to better handle changes in the weather such as our recent frequent rainfalls:
