Was your garden damaged during the floods?

Destruction of gardens from the recent KZN floods ranged from completely eroded and destroyed, to less severely damaged and those with some silt on the ground.

You may not know where to start with trying to get your garden back to its pre-flood state, but the  first thing to do is assess the damage and determine how severe it is. For severely damaged gardens call a professional for advice. Badly eroded gardens with sink holes, dongas and washed away banks will need to be repaired properly by professionals . Contact Landscaping professionals to ensure a proper repair and the correct use of sandbags.

For those with less severe damage, here are a few things we can recommend:

• Remove any soil and silt, that may have been deposited onto your lawn by the flood, as soon as possible. If it’s covering your grass, it will smother and kill it. When you remove it the blades might be yellow, but don’t despair, a little bit of sunshine will bring them back to life.
• Your grass is already dealing with a lot of stress, so don’t apply compost straight away. Wait until you see the first green sprout coming through, then feed it with a good nutrient-rich weed-free compost.
• Once the kids are done jumping in the muddy puddles, aerate the lawn and try to get it to dry out if it was under water. This is especially the case if you are in a lower lying area as the water level under-ground is so high already.
• If your soil is hard or clay based, try to spike the ground with a garden fork to help with drainage.
• If grass needs to be replaced on a bank, use pegs to hold the grass down and ensure it takes and doesn’t get washed down with the next rain. If you do need to replace your lawn, contact us and see how we can help.
• If you have or had a veggie garden, once you have assessed what needs to be replaced, you may need to till the soil and then add some compost to it to restore the nutrients in your soil. Be sure to use organic, weed-free compost, like our Living Earth Compost.
• You may have some fallen trees. Check to see if they can be replanted, see if there has been any damage to the roots and call in a professional to make sure the tree is replanted correctly. If the tree is damaged and can’t be saved, then get a tree feller to take it away.

It’s not going to happen overnight, but if you follow the above and apply some patience, you’ll have a beautiful garden again in no time!