Is your garden monsoon-ready? Do you wish to know the trick to escape the gloomy ambiance of the monsoon? Yes, you guessed right! We can always add more flowers and plants to balance out the melancholic skies. Monsoons are a blessing for any green space. In a nation like India, where agriculture is the main occupation, regular and intense rainfalls guarantee a healthy harvest every year.
But what if you own a tiny flat with a small balcony or yard garden? The heavy Indian monsoon can potentially destroy your potted plants. Excessive watering, rodents, and insects can cause water retention, destroying the garden. Hence, the monsoon season is also the time when your garden requires extra attention and protection against these pests.
So, let us learn in brief about monsoon gardening tips.
13 Useful Monsoon Gardening Tips to Create a Charming Home Garden
We have curated a list of 13 monsoon gardening tips and home garden tips for beginners to help ensure your garden remains healthy during the downpours.
01. Protect the Seeds from Monsoon
Let us start right at the germination stage. You can gain a few valuable weeks of early growing time by planting seedlings indoors during the monsoon season. The severe weather might stunt the growth of your plants. One of the initial home garden tips is to protect the seeds from the monsoon.
You can control the levels of humidity and temperature in the interior spaces. Start your seeds indoors in trays or containers and place them on window sills or in another location where they will receive plenty of sunlight. Also, do your research before planting your seeds. Not all plants are suitable to grow in interior spaces or balconies.
02. Let the Water Flow: Avoid Stagnation
The secret to a healthy and thriving garden is a good drainage system and minimal water retention. After all, anything in excess is detrimental. Overwatering can reduce the soil’s fertility and shorten the lifespan of your plants.
Make provisions for drainage and ensure that all water flows from the area. For example, if you have potted plants in your garden, you can pull the pots inside during heavy downpours.
03. Store the Excess Water
Rain Water Harvesting can be an easy solution to avoid stagnation of rainwater. You can channel the excessive water and store it for future use. Harvesting rainwater may be enjoyable and contribute to the aesthetics of your landscape. Rainwater collection does not necessitate the use of sophisticated systems.
Divert the extra water to a dedicated spot in your garden, or use wooden drums or other water-retaining containers. You can also experiment with aesthetic elements like bamboo rain chains to create a drip irrigation system.
04. Keep your Plants in Shape
You don’t want your garden to grow wild. With fresh life, the summer bloomers produce new shoots and leaflets. Trim your plant as you see appropriate, using pruning and cutting equipment such as secateurs. Secateurs are especially useful for precisely cutting and shaping your plants, helping to remove the cut portions or dead leaves as soon as it starts to rain. It nourishes and boosts the healthy growth of plants during monsoons. To keep your plants in good shape, trimming is one of the best tips for a home garden.
This is the ideal time for new shoots to emerge, but they will require some room. Also, winter-blooming plants will prefer that you eliminate old growth, which will allow them to generate new branches that will carry the next year’s blossoms.
05. Make a Shed for Your Garden
The secret to having healthy plants is to keep them out of the rain. It becomes considerably easier if you have a balcony garden. You only need to build an extended sunshade. But what if you have a little backyard garden? You may always use novel solutions, such as a custom garden cloth.
Row covers, also known as garden fabric, are translucent, flexible, and light pieces of fabric used to shield plants from adverse weather. It usually contains polyester and doesn’t trap moisture. On the brighter side, it allows enough light and humidity to penetrate.
06. Drain till you Gain
Waterlogging is a common issue during the rainy season, and it can hinder the growth of your plants. In extreme cases, roots may not receive enough oxygen for respiration and may finally perish. What is the most logical way out of this crisis? You must ensure proper drainage to avoid stagnation.
Use containers with drainage holes to allow excess water to drain after watering. This keeps water from accumulating at the pot’s base and protects the roots from rotting, fungi, and infection.
07. Bring in the Sunshine
In the gloomy days of the monsoon, sunlight is your plant’s best friend! Shift the plants, especially succulents and cacti, to brighter places at least twice or three times every week. Every day, inspect the plant’s leaves and stems for deterioration.
Make sure your pots and containers are in the appropriate spot. Place the containers in a location where the torrential rain won’t batter the plants.
08. Prevent Soil Erosion
The soil will constantly be moist during the rainy season, since there is less sunshine and more rain. This might wash away the nutrients and cause the plants to die. Heavy rains frequently wash away the healthy layer of soil.
As a result, inspecting your soil is another important step in ensuring that your plants grow well. Also, make sure the soil is permeable enough to let rainwater get through without getting blocked in the root region.
09. Support your Delicate Green Friends
Your plants may turn droopy and fragile after occasionally facing the fury of heavy rains. What should you do in such situations?
You may avoid this by constructing a support system for them out of strong bamboo planks. If you have a balcony garden, place your planters adjacent to grills for support. Also, some plants might require external support from sticks or a makeshift structure to keep them from toppling over or breaking due to the strong winds.
10. Loosen the Top Soil
Rainwater will naturally water your plants, but you must ensure that the soil absorbs the water. Because of constant watering, soil frequently forms a little lump. Although it is necessary to loosen soil throughout the year, the monsoon season calls for routine soil loosening.
Otherwise, fresh rainwater would not reach the roots. Stagnant water near the stem’s base might induce stem rot or algae.
11. Earthworms are your Best Friends
You have probably heard the phrase ‘earthworms are a gardener’s best friend’. Plants occasionally risk losing nutrients due to prolonged periods of heavy rain. So, it makes sense to use organic, slowly-releasing fertilizers during this time.
During the monsoon, plants attract a lot of worms and bugs that you may need to manually remove. However, if you see earthworms, leave them alone because they aid in soil aeration and nitrification. These squirming organisms ensure that water percolates beneath the surface. Hence, if you find earthworms accumulated in one place, pick them up and spread them evenly around the ground to allow fertilization of the soil at all places.
12. Fight the Pests
Pests that are only an inconvenience the rest of the year become a disaster during the monsoons. With the arrival of the monsoon, slimy algae will start to grow.
You’ll need to get your hands filthy to remove it. In addition to fungus, you may face a variety of parasites and rodents. It is advisable to employ home treatments for pest control, such as neem oil and cow urine.
13. Mulching before Monsoons
Mulching before the onset of the monsoon protects the soil by forming a barrier between the rain and the ground. Heavy rains adversely affect your plants, and hence, adding mulch absorbs the excessive water. Once the mulch is full of water, it slowly releases water back into the soil. All you need to do is lay 2-3 inches of thick mulch before the monsoon arrives. Prepare your soil with organic material before mulching your garden.
Don’t let the Rains wash away your Precious Garden this Monsoon!
The monsoon is a boon and a bane, both rolled into one, for your garden. While it brings a new lease of life for all living beings on earth, including your home garden, excess rain can unleash havoc too. To keep your garden looking gorgeous, you must work laboriously on it.
You should put extra effort into making your green space look appealing during the monsoons. However, with the above-mentioned monsoon gardening tips, you will be able to care for your plants even during this gloomy season!
FAQs
01. Can we Fertilize Plants during the Monsoon?
During the monsoon, it is preferable to use natural fertilizers rather than chemicals on plants. Furthermore, the demand rises due to the growing season and heavy downpours that wash away nutrients from the soil.
02. What happens to Plants when it Rains Heavily?
When it rains too much, plants are more likely to develop diseases that manifest as stunting, spots on the foliage, rot on the leaves, stems, or fruit, wilting, and, in the worst cases, the loss of the entire plant. Extreme rain also deters pollinators, hurting flowering and maturity.
03. Is it a good idea to Plant during the Rainy Season?
Avoid planting during the wet season. Heavy rain might cause wet conditions even if the garden was first tilled while the soil was dry. Planting in the rain or while the soil is damp can also result in compression when the holes surrounding relocated seedlings get clogged up.
04. Why are my Plants dying in the Rainy Season?
Overwatering plants, especially during this time of year, can cause root rot and, finally, the death of the plant.
05. How can I Protect my Garden from Storms?
Make sure your garden is secure with supports and barriers. Use large bags of potting soil, rocks, or gravel to create wind barriers around your garden.
Image Courtesy: Image 10, Image 16
Author Bio
Saili Sawantt – She is an Architect and Interior Designer by profession. Writing is what she treats as her passion. She has worked as an Architectural Writer, Editor, and Journalist for various design as well as digital portals, both national and international. Formerly she has also worked with Godrej Properties Limited (GPL) Design Studio, Mumbai, due to her keen interested in learning about Sustainability and Green buildings. Apart from this, she runs her blog ‘The Reader’s Express’ and is a practicing Architect & Interior Designer.
