Seems like somebody flipped a switch on our summer. For most of May, June and July, we had too little water, now it seems like we’ve got too much.

For the most part, the rain is a good thing, as Martha would say. It’s helping to revive drought-stressed trees, wilting flowers and browned-out grass. But after the deluge, container plants may need a little TLC.

Be sure to empty the water out of the plates or trays under your container plants. Plants left sitting in water can rot. (If it continues to rain heavily and regularly, you might want to set the plates aside for while.)

Also, container plants probably could do with a little fertilizer right now. Heavy rain can leach the minerals out of the soil and leave plants hungry. So feed the annuals you have in pots or in beds, but hold off feeding perennials, trees and shrubs now. You don’t want to encourage new growth on perennials just when they should be slowing down.

Oh, and as long as you’re fussing with your containers, consider adding a few fall blooming beauties to your summer mix. Mums? Kale? Grasses? What are your fall favorites?

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 7:00 am and is filed under Container gardening. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.