Too Much Rain??

Hello everyone, I'm in southeastern New York (Long Island) and we have been getting rain almost every day for a week now. It's raining again today, and the forecast calls for rain nearly every day for the rest of the week.

I'm concerned about my veggies. I have tomatoes, onions, peppers, and a few herbs planted in a raised bed. The tomato plants are starting to look a little over-watered (leaves are getting lighter green). The other day the rain was coming down so hard, my husband put a tarp over the garden to protect it, and we left it like that overnight to give the plants a break from all the water.

Should I continue to put the tarp over the garden overnight and/or during heavy downpours? Or do you think its wasted energy and effort? If my plants get too much water now, will it negatively effect my harvest later???

KarenB61 - I'm dealing with the same thing, torrential rain and thunderstorms every day and night. We're near Joplin, Missouri, and I'm sure you've heard what's going on here in the news.

Fortunately, my garden slopes from north to south so my drainage is good. The garden will dry out in a few days when it finally stops raining.

This happened last year, we had a real wet period in the spring and I was worried about my garden plants. They were turning light green and almost yellow from too much water. I've got a big garden and no way to cover it. But - last year my plants recovered just a short time after the rains stopped, and I raised a real good garden.

Since you're able to cover your garden with a tarp when the rain is heavy, I think I'd do it. It sure can't hurt anything. I think your plants will be fine shortly after the water stops, and it can't go on forever - can it?

hope your OK Ozark Joplin looks a mess from what ive seen on the news.

karenB- I would make sure the tarp is draining so you dont weight down the plants.

Thank you. I'll keep doing it. I was glad I did it last night when, again, we had a torrential downpour. Today the sun came out for a while, so the garden has been uncovered all day catching the rays. It's clouding up again now, and so I might cover it again tonight, just in case.

The garden is a small raised bed, (3 x 6) and it's fenced in with a wire fence. I have the tarp attached at the top of the fence in the back, and at the bottom of the fence in the front, so any water just runs off into the ground in front of the raised bed (not in it). So far it has been working very well. Thank goodness it's a small garden, though!

KB61,
You did the right thing....keep up what you're doing, and you'll be fine. Long as you have runoff, and the bed isn't pooling the water...