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Protect Your Landscape from Rain

If you live in the Greater Edmonton Area, you might know that you can never really plan for our weather, and that no two summer seasons are the same. Regardless of what’s happening with the weather from week to week, it’s always important to make sure your garden is protected from too much moisture. Salisbury Landscaping shares six tips on how to protect your landscaping from rain.

1. Improve soil drainage

In times of heavy rain the upper soil in garden beds gets soaked and drainage becomes virtually non-existent. When water hits high clay content soils, nutrients are washed away, making it difficult for any root system to flourish. Try these tips for improving soil drainage, Soggy, saturated soils will kill plants over time, so you need to recognize excess water as a serious problem.

2. Manipulating mulch

Mulch is a wonderful garden aid as it helps reduce the amount of water evaporated from the soil, but once the soil is saturated the mulch needs to be manipulated. Try these mulch manipulating tips:

  • Remove mulch – Removing mulched areas temporarily will help the sun and wind dry out the garden, but don’t forget to recover once the soil is back to normal moisture levels.
  • Cover gardens – Reduce the addition of more water. Try covering gardens with tarp during heavy rain falls and removing once the down pour is over.

3. Turn off irrigation

Don’t forget to turn off any automatic irrigation systems and do not turn back on till the garden has dried out.

4. Protect your plants

During times of heavy rain you need to physically protect your plants.

  • Stake plants – Staking up plants that are weak, newly planted, or leaning over will take stress off your plants.
  • Harvest fruit – Before a downpour you should always harvest any heavily laden fruit trees to prevent rain damage. It’s often best to harvest even the green fruits and try to ripen on a window sill.

5. Avoid walking

Walking near plants in saturated conditions can also cause soil impaction, which can limit root growth. This is generally not a concern if you have well designed garden beds or raised beds where you can reach each plant without stepping near them.

6. Eliminate pests

When there is loads of rain there will be load of pests and weeds to follow.

  • Eliminating slugs – Where possible eliminate slug and snail hiding places. These include; any damp places, under pieces of timber or stones, or under other items that are laying around the garden.
Posted in Landscaping Tips

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