10 Monsoon Gardening Tips

The monsoons are a boon for the plants but it can be a terror for gardeners, especially home gardeners. If you are someone who is experienced and confident in their craft of gardening then rains are nothing to worry about, but if you like most of us get on the edge every time a leaf turns yellow then these monsoon gardening tips are for you.

Monsoon is the cool respite that the plants need after a hot sweltering summer. The first showers infuse life into the leaves and everything seems so much brighter and livelier post the showers. This alone tells us how much plants enjoy the rain and then it falls upon us to ensure that the plants can enjoy the monsoon season to its fullest by taking care of the garden.

Here are some tips to help your garden during the monsoons like a pro

Drainage is key: If you have kept your plants in balconies and window boxes then they will get watered with every shower, ensuring that the water is not logged up is paramount. Check your pots for unblocked drainage holes before the monsoon starts. Change your potting mix to a well-aerated potting mix with drainage if need be.
Succulents: Move your succulents away from direct rain. Succulents are desert plants and hate being overwatered, shit them to areas where they can get the maximum light possible but don’t get affected by rains.
Pruning: Prune away dead flowers and branches that get broken in the rain and wind on a regular basis to allow the plant to focus on sprouting new growth.
Watering: Reduce your watering frequency for both indoor and outdoor plants. In monsoon, the air is saturated with humidity and the rate of evaporation also drops down, making your plants’ requirement of a water drop. Water only when the top 2 inches of the potting media are dry to touch.
Seed gardening: Start seeds indoors. If you are growing vegetables or flowers from seeds, start germinating your seeds indoors. The young saplings and germinating seeds will get drowned and damaged outside in direct rains. You can buy seeds online(high germination rate) from Ugaoo.
Provide protection: For the plants outside that cannot be moved indoors provide physical shelter from the rain. Provide screens to break wind force and water affecting your plants, group plants together with the smaller more delicate plants sheltered behind stronger and taller plants.
Keep snails and slugs away: Snails and slugs come in with the monsoon and they are detrimental to the plant health. Keep snails and slugs away by sprinkling your topsoil with pest control measures like neem leaves and cloves around the plant stem.
Stake: Provide support to taller plants so that the main stem does not break under wind pressure and force of the rainwater.
Weeding: Monsoon causes a growth spurt not only in plants you love but also in the weeds that grow around the plant, remove them regularly. The weeds use up a majority of the nutrition meant for your plants, so weed them regularly before they get rooted deeply.
Pest control: Whenever you find a spot of a dry spell in between rainy days, spray your plant with neem oil solution as a preventive measure against pests that monsoon brings with it, case in point mealy bugs.
Plant seasonally: If you are growing vegetables in your terrace or balcony garden, plant vegetables that love the rains and thrive in them. Vegetables like cucumber, beans and gourds love the extra moisture and do extremely well in this season,
Fertilisation: applying any liquid fertilisation in the monsoon months to your outdoor plants is of little help as the showers will drain them out of your planter in no time. Either use vermicompost for steady nutrition to your plants or add a slow-release fertilizer for healthy growth in your plants through the monsoon season.
Harvest rainwater: Use buckets or other containers to catch rainwater from your rain gutters and direct rains on your balconies or terraces and use it to water your indoor plants. Rainwater is rich in natural nutrients that are great for plants and make the best of it for your indoor plants as well.
Routine checks: Check your plants routinely for damages, waterlogging, pests, and weeds. Regular checks are essential to any healthy garden and especially more so during monsoon. Take a screwdriver and poke holes through the soil to facilitate faster drainage of water and also to get some air to the roots, rest the base of your planter on a pebble to tilt it such that the water drains quicker form the planter. Check under leafs and leaf axles for pests and also do weeding regularly.