Gardening in Monsoon Season
Updated: May 25
Plants behave differently in different seasons. Each season has its pros and cons for the growth of the plants. Monsoon is the perfect time for gardening! If you have a passion for gardening, then there is no better time to do it than in the monsoons! Monsoon season is also considered a kind of tonic for gardening.
Plants may grow well in the rainy season, but still, we need to take care of certain measures to keep our plants healthy and bushy. Though the rainy season is the most beautiful and pleasing season for us as well as for the plants, it is also true that even in this season the plants need full care.
In the rainy season, plants grow very fast as compared to other seasons. In India, the duration of the monsoon is 2 to 3 months. During rain, there are no such problems for plants but there might be some side effects after rain. There might be a problem with fungus in the trees, ants, and insects. Sometimes plants get damaged due to overwatering in the monsoon season and leave also turn yellow. If we take all the small precautions stated below then there would not be any harm to your plants after rain.
Must take precautions in Rainy Season
1. Shift your plants to a shaded area
If you have fewer plants say 5-6 only then you can shift them to a shaded area after showering 2-3 days of rain.
If you don't want to shift your plant then cover your plants with a green net. Air and water both keep on passing through this net and plants will get rainwater also.
2. Shift Succulents inside the home
Shift all the succulents inside the home because succulents already have the optimum level of water stored inside them. They do not need much water. Some succulents are Aloe Vera, Jade plant, Echeveria, etc.
3. Soil should be well-drained
If you are doing gardening in-ground then there would not be any problem of overwatering because the soil keeps on absorbing the water.
If you are doing container gardening, then the soil should be well-drained because pots do not have that much capable of holding water. So, what all things we can do, let's discuss.
To avoid overwatering, your pot and soil should be well-drained.
If water is entering from the top, then it should be able to drain out from the bottom.
Water should not remain inside the pot.
How to check, if the soil is well-drained or not?
Give water to the soil slowly, if the soil is absorbing the water immediately then the soil is well-drained soil.
If water is standing on the surface of the soil, then we need to make this soil well-drained.
The process to make well-drained soil
To make the soil well-drained, loosen the soil inside the pot as deep as possible without disturbing the plants and roots of plants.
Take out this loosened soil from the pot and add the sand to the soil.
After adding some sand try to bind the soil from your hand, if it is still binding then add more sand.
We have to keep adding sand till the soil is not bound by hand.
It should gain a slippery texture. In this way, we convert clay soil into well-drained soil.
4. Fill the pot completely with the soil
When we fill the soil in the pot, fill it completely.
Do not leave any space on the top, normally we leave 2-3 inches of space.
During heavy rain, water remains on the top of the soil and it might lead to fungus and green algae on the top of the soil.
5. Check the bottom hole of the pot
If water is not coming out from the bottom of the pot, then there are no benefits to well-drained soil.
Check the functionality of the bottom hole properly. Sometimes roots or any other things might get obstructed inside these holes due to which water would not be able to come out.
Keep watering your plant till water comes out from the bottom hole.
Some people give little water on a daily basis which is actually totally wrong. By this method, the outer soil of the pot would be moisturized but the bottom soil would become like a stone.
So, give water to the plant till the water comes out from the bottom hole.
6. Remove the plates from the bottom of the pots
Generally, we keep the pots on the plates so that our land surface does not get stained but in the rainy season, we need to remove them. They might get flooded with water.
7. Raise the level of plants
During the rainy season, keep the plants on some stands so that water comes out easily.
If your pots are flat from the bottom or you are gardening in gardening bags, then keep them on any brick or any object which can raise their level.
8. Give support to your plants
Sometimes the wind blows very fast during the rainy season. Due to heavy rain, the soil gets wet and with this plants are more likely to fall. So, it is very important to provide some support to our plants so that they can stand easily during heavy winds also.
9. Remove bottom leaves
Kindly, remove the bottom leaves of the plants while doing soft pruning or when you are filling the pot with soil. This is a necessary step to do because bottom leaves might get infected or have fungus when they continuously get in contact with the wet soil.
Also, bottom leaves do not play an important role in photosynthesis, so it is better to remove them.
10. Remove unwanted weeds
The temperature is moderate during the monsoon season and due to this all the unwanted weeds in the pots start growing very quickly.
These weeds extract all the nutrients from the plants. So, it is very important to remove all the unwanted weeds from the pots.
11. Germination of Seeds
During the monsoon, seeds get germinated very easily. Moisture, temperature, and humidity, all these factors are in favour of the germination of seeds.
Throughout the time of monsoon season, you can grow seeds of tomato, chilly, brinjal, capsicum, etc.
You will get flowering and fruiting in 2-3 months.
12. Planting with Cuttings
During monsoon, temperature, humidity and moisture everything is so perfect that you can grow plants with their cuttings also.
Cutting of the plants will grow properly and very easily in the monsoon season.
13. Use of Fertilizer
Give neem cake fertilizer to your plants before rain starts, it will act as a prevention for problems like fungus and insects.
Rainwater has a good level of nitrogen, so there is no need for any other fertilizer.
Plants will bloom on their own during the rainy season.
14. Use of Fungicides and Pesticides
You can use neem oil solution, neem soap solution, cinnamon powder and cinnamon liquid solution during the rainy season.
In the rainy season, try to spray neem liquid or neem oil on your plants on a weekly basis.
Neem spray will save your plants from fungus and pest attacks.
After the rain, there is also a possibility of ants coming off. For that, you can use Laxman Rekha beside the pots and on the walls.
15. Take care of your Indoor Plants
In this season, there is moisture in the air so take care of your indoor plants also. Due to moisture, the soil of indoor plants stays wet for a longer duration.
At this time, please be careful while watering indoor plants. Overwatering will cause white fungus on the top layer of the soil.
If you observe white fungus, simply remove it and add cinnamon powder to the soil.
Due to humidity, it is important to maintain ventilation for indoor plants. So, for some time open the gates and windows for your indoor plants.
Must watch the below video on - How to Care for Plants in the Rainy season.
It was all about monsoon season for plants!
Enjoy the Monsoon & gardening!