People often put a lot of thought and effort into their interior design. However, some fail to put the same level of effort into their garden. There will come a time when your garden gets swept away by floodwater. Will you be prepared for it if it does happen?
For sure, you spend a lot of time making sure that your garden complements the overall appearance of your home. Then again, a flood can lay waste to it in just a matter of minutes. Aside from the heavy downpour, a mix of mud and water can destroy your garden, leaving an unsightly landscape for you to fix. A flood can cause a tremendous amount of damage to your garden, but it doesn’t mean you won’t be able to revive it.
Let’s take a look at a few important tips for keeping your home garden looking extra special even after a deluge.
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Start with getting rid of the mud
When the water subsides, you’re basically left with a yard you can hardly recognize. Expect mounds of mud to rest in your flower patches and staining the once-lush grass a deep shade of brown. But there’s a way you can revive the lushness of your yard. Use a high-pressure hose nozzle to soften the clumps of mud before they harden. You may also need to rinse the surviving plants with water, especially vegetables and seedlings that are very vulnerable to stress. It’s important that you know the nutritional requirement of each plant. Also, shovel hard mud, but be careful not to harm fragile saplings.
Replant damaged flowers and shrubs
After you have cleared your garden of mud, you may want to start reviving the plants that took a heavy beating during the flood. Be sure to throw away rotting plants or create a compost pit that you can use later. Next, you will need to raise flower beds so you can start planting a new batch of healthy plants. Add a generous amount of compost and mulch the soil so your new plants can grow healthily. You may also need to improve your lawn by restoring missing patches of grass.
Avoid commercial fertilizers
In the case of saltwater flooding, it’s not advisable to add fertilizer as this would increase the amount of sodium in the soil. A better alternative is to use organic fertilizers which counteract the chemical effect of saltwater. You may want to add gypsum to the soil as this would reduce salinity. However, certain plants may not react well to gypsum, so it’s important to get advice from a professional gardener.
Repair broken fixtures
It’s not only your plants you should be worried about. You also need to repair certain fixtures that might have been damaged by the flood. Ponds, tables, and chairs should be washed down and repaired. You might as well replace these fixtures altogether if fixing them would prove to be more expensive. Nonetheless, at least you will have a clean slate to work with, so consider installing affordable custom steel sheds or changing the look of the landscape. Your garden will look even better compared to a time before the flood took place.
Giving new life to your garden after a flood is possible. You just have to consider the right approaches.
