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The Good Earth

Gardening After Heavy Rain

Talking with Margaret Mossakowska from www.mosshouse.com.au

So your ground’s all soggy and damp in your backyard. Should you wait until it dries or get out there and do a bit of gardening?

photo M Cannon

The very least you should be doing is finding out “Where does water sit? What gets washed away? How are your drains working or failing? All things you can repair and get working for the future success of your garden.

For the lawn, a bit of aeration with a garden fork will help improve the drainage of wet soil.

Mix some gypsum with some river sand and rake it into the holes in the lawn.

Apart from making some holes to allow air in and for the water to fill and again evaporate, check out those snails and slugs.

Snails and slugs are opportunists and thrive and reproduce when times are good – they love the rain and the wet conditions afterwards.

There’s plenty of ways to control them,

photo M. Cannon

from the whimsical container with a splash of beer in it, to snail traps placed level with the garden bed the snails go in and never leave.

Also look out for mould, moss and mildew that might grow on shady, damp paths over the winter months.

A weak solution of vinegar and water will kill mould and mildew.

If you have any questions about problems with your waterlogged garden, why not write in to realworldgardener@gmail.com or write in to 2RRR P.O. Box 644 Gladesville NSW 1675.