GrowMoore
Full Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:25 pm
Location: USDA Zone 5 Illinois

flooded vegetable garden

This past Monday with all the rain and living next to a creek I lost my back veggie garden to flooding.
It was under 3 feet of water. Most of the water is gone now but the beds are filled with dead worms...gag.
All the plants growing in it were direct seeded and were small. The only thing I was able to save was my garlic.
Some have said that they thought it might recover but I don't have any hope. Has anyone ever experienced a come back after their garden was flooded? Anything that I can do?

On the bright side I do have the most wonderful soil, rich and loamy and I think living by the creek is the reason.
Reminds me of the fertile crescent. My tomatoes, peppers and strawberries survived since they are on higher ground.

erins327
Senior Member
Posts: 209
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2012 10:21 am
Location: Houston, TX

Hey GrowMoore!

I was in the exact predicament as you on Memorial Day when we got 6" in just a few hours with having the ground already saturation from so much rain here in Austin, TX.

Luckily for me, I'm alot further into my growing season, so I didnt lose much. I had about 2' of water, (some of it swift moving because of the creek behind the house) but for the most part my plants hung on the soil. I have one raised bed where the wood has split over time, and alot of the soil washed out, but luckily not much was planted in that bed this season.

Yes, your seeds are probably gone. Is it too late to start again?

GrowMoore
Full Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:25 pm
Location: USDA Zone 5 Illinois

Hi, I'm sorry it happened to you too. Love the creek any other time!

I had thought about going and buying some plants that are a good size already.

I will wait until it dries out a little more and the bad smell goes away. I'm assuming that it would be better for the garden to let it be for a little while to recover?

At least I now know that my garden had a lot of good worms!
More storms predicted tomorrow so maybe this will be the year I support the local farmers market.

greenstubbs
Senior Member
Posts: 274
Joined: Thu Sep 09, 2010 6:41 pm
Location: Far Upper Alabama

Growing up in the Chicago area I can tell you that Il. has some of the best growing soil in the nation. That whole corn belt has great soil. I wish I had all the water y'all complaining about, I don't do a garden this year due to the drought. I feel it part of me doing my part using brown shower water for my orange tree. This really sucks!

Igotworms
Cool Member
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:14 am

what if you re-plant everything and it rains a lot and floods again? do you have another spot you could put the garden?

GrowMoore
Full Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:25 pm
Location: USDA Zone 5 Illinois

If I put in more plants this year it would Not be in the back garden. I don't trust the weather this year.

The garden on the south side is on higher ground so I was thinking of putting the new plants over there. However there isn't much room so I could only add a few things. That area right now has 22 tomatoes, 7 peppers, all my herbs, sunflowers, and a bed of strawberries. All of my favorites which is why they are planted over there.

The garden in the back, that I lost had -Cucumbers (was hoping to learn to make pickles this year), Squash (2 types), onions, beets, turnips, beans, peas, swiss chard and parsley. All of these were grown from seeds.

I have a question for all of you - I had 3 big pots in the back that I had just planted carrot seeds in the week before the flood and they were completely under water so I thought for sure that the seeds would be washed away. However they have all sprouted in the pots just recently. My question is about the fact that they were under the flood water which could have contained any number of questionable things. Will they be safe to eat? Or should I just dump out that dirt and refill the pots with fresh soil? Thank you.

Igotworms
Cool Member
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2015 1:14 am

maybe give them a good watering with compost tea. water until you get about 10% runoff from the pots. basically just replace any possible bad microbes with good ones. At least that's what I would do.

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I hesitate only because you said these are carrots. When there are soil contaminants, the two types of crops that are top of the list to avoid are root crops and leafy greens that are eaten raw....

Compost tea, AACT (Actively Aerated compost tea), bokashi, beneficial microbes, EWC (earthworm castings, etc. are all good ideas for re-populating the soil with good microbes and out competing or killing the bad to remediate the soil. Look up bio-remediation techniques -- phytoremediation and mycoremediation as possible processes to consider.

GrowMoore
Full Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:25 pm
Location: USDA Zone 5 Illinois

I had a thought that because they were a root crop that it wouldn't be safe to eat. To be safe I am just going to start over on those pots.
For the back garden I am thinking that I will just let it be this year. We have had a lot more gentle rains since the flood that I'm thinking will help to cleanse the soil. Maybe I should plant a certain type of cover crop that will also help?
Thanks for all your help.

Rairdog
Green Thumb
Posts: 373
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 4:46 pm
Location: Noblesville, IN Zone 5

Maybe this will make you feel better. I am used to it....but not this bad during garden season. I can get most to pull through if the are under water for 2 days and it drains off and the water table goes back down. I have tons of nightcrawlers to help to aerate/drain. If the water table is up it will rot the roots. After 3 or 4 days swamped they really struggle if the root zone is still under water. It's the standing/stagnate water that will get them.....when it's lost the oxygen. Just as an experiment I will inject an airhose probably tomorrow. After all, I have grown aquaponic plants underwater for 3 or 4 years.

Image
Image
Image
Image

User avatar
applestar
Mod
Posts: 30514
Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

Oh my goodness @rairdog, this is terrible! I'm so sorry to see it. I really hope the water will go down and they pull through.

I was going to say your Haybale lasagna bed looks pretty decent... Then realized there's a patch of wet. But it might be something to experiment with some more, eh? 8)

...you need ...what's that shallow boat they use for the Florida Everglades with a big fan called? Pontoon? Definitely a canoe or a kayak... To get around and tend your bees. (Are they OK?)

GrowMoore
Full Member
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Feb 03, 2015 11:25 pm
Location: USDA Zone 5 Illinois

@rairdog I feel for you ! Thanks for sharing and I hope it goes down quick. I'm thinking we need to build raised beds on legs that are at least 5 feet off the ground! Either that or start growing rice!



Return to “Vegetable Garden Progress + Photos & Videos”