Into each life some rain must fall, but this is ridiculous
It seems that as soon as I complain about the current weather conditions, those conditions change by the time this column gets printed in your local paper.
Well, in this case, that has not happened, as it has rained on 16 of the past 18 days with no end in sight. To declare that this has put a damper on gardening is a bit of an understatement, sort of like Noah saying that “It looks like rain.”
At my house in the hills of Conesville, an elevation of about 1,300 feet, a couple of inches of wet snow accumulated even, adding insult to wet feet. The upside to the rainfall is that we don’t need to water any newly planted trees, shrubs, grass, annuals or perennials once the soil is saturated. Our forest, in particular, benefits from ample water for a change, following almost a decade of drought. Part of the reason for this spring’s beautiful flower display is due to last season’s wet weather.
The downside is that too much rain is almost as bad as no rain at all. After all, we can apply water or irrigate with water that we have stored during rainy periods like this, but we cannot make it stop raining. Your soil texture has a big influence on this problem too. Sandy soils will drain standing water much faster than soils with a high clay content. Right now, it would be a very bad idea to try to work in your garden if the soil texture is mostly clay, since the clay will compact into a brick-like consistency if walked on. Trying to till wet clay soil is even worse!
A quick and easy way to determine the clay content of your soil is to half fill a one quart Mason-type jar with soil and then fill it up with water and shake. The large sand particles will soon form a distinct layer on the bottom while the clay particles will usually dissolve and eventually form a layer on top of the sand. If the clay layer is thicker than the sand, your soil is mostly clay.
This is a good time to evaluate your home landscape to learn if you have any sites that may prove problematic for future plantings. There are many ornamental plants, trees, shrubs and even perennials that can tolerate wet feet (roots) for a brief period of time, but plant roots do need to breathe oxygen more than most people realize. Plants, like animals, can suffocate from lack of oxygen caused by waterlogged soil. Trees and shrubs in wet, forested areas often develop an extensive network of roots that are close to the surface of the ground. I trip over these on a regular basis when out hunting.
Even landscape trees, like maples, may have their roots very close to the surface where they sometimes present a problem with lawn mowing. Covering these surface roots with soil or mulch does not solve the problem, becuase the roots will either resurface in a brief period or the tree will die. Adding a foot or more of soil on top will almost always kill the tree, in time.
Some tree species, such as bald cypress, have evolved aerial roots known as pneumatophores that rise as much as 3 feet above the ground in the mostly flooded habitat they inhabit. Some local tree species like willows, red maple, sycamore, eastern cottonwood, river birch, black gum (also known as black tupelo), swamp white oak, pin oak, American larch and even Northern catalpa are also far more tolerant than even closely related species such as sugar maple, paper birch and red oak.
Fruit trees are almost all intolerant of wet feet, as are most garden vegetables and other fruit crops. Since 90 percent or so of all tree roots are found in the upper 12 inches of soil, prolonged flooding of this area is all it takes to seriously harm or even kill these trees. Most of the time, the damage does not show up right away. It may take years for a tree to die from a single prolonged flooding event.
Building raised beds for garden vegetables can overcome drainage problems, but plopping a fruit tree on a 3-foot wide mound that is one foot above ground level will not work once the roots extend beyond the raised area. Once again, the net result is a dead tree, perhaps years later.
Hopefully by the time you read this, the rains will have ceased and you can wonder what the heck I am complaining about this week!
Bob Beyfuss lives and gardens in Schoharie County. Garden Tips appears Sunday in the Freeman Life section. Send him an e-mail to rlb14@ cornell.edu.