Can Rain Hurt the Garden?

Post date: Jun 23, 2020 12:39:17 AM

We all know the beautiful role of rain. For the soil, plants and all the life forms that live in our gardens, rain offers many benefits.

What harm can rain cause? I want to discuss two things I see in the gardens that I visit.

First, rain can erode top soil. It just washes off the fertile and useful top layer that is filled with microbes and other goodness. Consistent erosion can lead to desertification. The soil goes poor and nothing grows.

Second, rain can compact the soil. Even in the plant beds. When it falls in a pitter patter, it can exert enough force that closes air gaps in the soil, hardening it. Compact soil means soil that cannot hold water or air as it is too tightly battered down by the force of rain.

What can you do to prevent both kind of damages? Mulch!

When you mulch your soil, you enable rain to hit the mulch but flow gently into the layer below. That means no erosion or compacting.

Mulch also enables rain water to slowly spread through capillary action, to the soils all around the yard.

Wood chips do a great job of harvesting rain water for your garden. So does leaf litter and any mulch.

If you have a slope or a problem of gushing rain water, you have to make design changes. Swales, drains and streams help divert rain water. Those are more intense measures.

For now, do mulch! The soil below will be fluffy, moist and crumbly. Not hardened and eroded, compact and lifeless, as it happens when you leave it exposed to the rain.