My house in Chicago abuts the North Branch of the Chicago River. Generally, the water depth is less than one foot and I would characterize it as a creek rather than a river. Last week, though, we had a flood and the water went up about 11 feet in a few hours. This is only the second time that this has happened in 17 years. All of my plants were submerged for a few hours. For those interested in what a flood looks like in your backyard, I've attached a picture.
After the water receded, I was left with a dilemma. About one week prior to the flood, I was working on preparing my beds and I had applied soy bean meal as I had heard it was a good, inexpensive, organic source of nitrogen. After the flood, I had a dilemma and didn't have a clue as to whether to reapply soy bean meal as a top dress to my plants. Did it wash away? I decided today to re-apply it. If it did wash away, at least it was organic. Maybe fish and ducks like soy beans? I was surprised that more plants don't die after being under water.
I bought two Phlox stolenifera 'Sherwood Purple' the other day. What a great looking plant. I dug two holes and put them in the ground. I didn't amend the soil with any organic matter or even water them in. What heresy, right? There isn't a garden book out there that doesn't talk about amending the soil . . . . . blah, blah, blah. I don't have great soil here in Chicago. It is mostly clay. At the end of the day, though, I didn't feel like getting out the compost, lugging it to the backyard, digging, and then planting.
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| Flooded Backyard |
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