OK, we all acknowledge it isn’t always as sunny here as it may be in Philadelphia. After all, who hasn’t laughed — and then silently wept — upon seeing that Weather Map of Alaska which appears on T-shirts, sweatshirts and the occasional postcard. It’s “wet,” “wetter,” “even wetter” and “wettest” is the smoke. The rainy days we have is the fire.
And now we have experienced record rainfall. All those pictures of creeks overflowing and more. That is some saturated ground out there. Well, it is August, after all, so what is an Alaska gardener to do?
There is only one thing to do and that is to make sure your soils provide really good drainage. Seems pretty obvious. In fact, most Alaska gardeners have already set things up to deal with too much precipitation.
The best way to build soils with drainage is to ensure they are full of organic matter, i.e., compost, leaves, ground wood chips, food scraps and the like. Oh sure, you can add sand and expanded rock materials as these will help with drainage, but organic material will also add and hold microbes that build soil structure and release nutrients for plants.
Organic materials also absorb and hold water for use later. I know, it is hard to believe you may ever need more water. And, it is not just the microbes. Organic material is the home of worms and arthropods that move it around, tunnel and burrow in it, making natural reservoirs to hold excess water. If you read and follow the advice in this column, my books and the Teaming With Microbes podcasts, you should have lots of organics in your soils already.
We completely avoid water problems and ensure great drainage by growing plants in containers or raised beds. Of course, this only makes sense when these containers are filled with soils full of organics as noted above.
Pots and containers have to have enough drainage holes to be able to deal with floods like we have had. It helps to raise your containers up a bit, off the surface of the deck so there is “air” under them. This allows them to freely drain. Of course, you also have to watch those trays you may have under your containers to prevent staining the porch.
In the right area, you may have to create drainage. You can make a depression and let it fill, a la a rain garden. This is quite the craze. Or, literally dig a ditch as drainage out of the area.
Some plants can survive in wet soil. For shrubs try Goatsbeard or red and yellow-twigged dogwood. For flowers try monarda, Siberian irises, primroses and my favorit,e ligularia. Hosta can take some water, too.
On the vegetable side, peas and beans do pretty well in really wet soils. So does celery. And, of course there is the aptly named watercress.
Is rhubarb a vegetable or a fruit? It does well in wet soils, either way. So do raspberries and strawberries.
And, finally, too much rain is one of the reasons so many of use use outdoor greenhouses. You can also employ homemade cloches or buy them and woven garden cloth to help with too much rain.
As I inferred, most Alaska gardeners already have soils that drain. Just remember, having adequate drainage doesn’t mean you should walk around in your gardens when soils are really wet.
Jeff’s Alaska Garden Calendar
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Potatoes: Keep hilling. You can reach down to the bottom of a hill and pull “new” potatoes.
Peas: Keep harvesting to keep harvesting. Do not let the pods mature if you want more flowers and thus peas.