Informative Gardening Article

I thought this article from this morning's paper was well written with simple explanations of basic plant care.

Saturday, October 23, 2004
Why rain gives our plants that look of happiness


CINDY McNATT
GARDENING
Register columnist
cmcnatt@ocregister.com

There are so few weather conditions in Southern California that a gardener can get excited about. Wind takes it toll, heat shares in the destruction, but rain, when it finally arrives, washes away the ravages of summer.

The avid gardener will notice subtle differences in his landscape following a storm. Leaves look significantly greener and the structural parts of the plants perk up. As much we like to tiptoe through the raindropped landscape and get at one with the precipitation gods, know that there are scientific explanations for the improvement.

Plants look greener for the simple reason that they've been washed. If you don't wash your plants once in a while, you should. Dirt and pollution accumulate on plant leaves, clog the pores and interfere with photosynthesis.

A good rinse from a rainstorm cleans the visible parts of our plants. Rainwater also scrubs the soil. Remember that rainwater is soft and acidic. Soft water, and lots of it, carries harmful salts left behind from a year's worth of municipal watering and chemical feeding to below the root zones of our plants. After a long summer of tolerating metropolitan water, our plants finally get a boost from a salt-free terrain.

Rainwater also adjusts the soil pH. Southern California soils are alkaline for two reasons. First, there is little rainfall here, and therefore, sparse natural vegetation. Rain plus leaf drop equals acidic soil (think Seattle).

When we water our alkaline soil with alkaline water, we make things worse. Rainwater, with its pH of 5-6, helps lower alkalinity and brings the pH down to a level that plants like.

While salt and pH problems are improved during the rainy season, we also notice that our plants are visibly perky. It is not our imagination.

Abundant water makes plants turgid. How to explain turgid? Think of it as water pressure. Plants get nutrients to the very top by pulling water up. When a plant is thoroughly hydrated, it stands tall because water pressure increases.

Turgid is the best possible circumstance for a plant. When a plant pulls enough water, the increased water pressure pops open the little stomata (leaf cells) and pulls in carbon dioxide. The plant photosynthesizes like crazy and grows in a gung-ho fashion.

There is a secret ingredient that also contributes to perkiness. Rainwater, especially if it falls from thunderclouds, is electrically charged. Electricity supplies nitrates to the soil, and nitrates really make our plants pay attention.

Cool article... it really applies to all of us in some fashion, not just California gardeners.