Rainy Weather Tips
By Bob Chapman
1. Slugs and snails love the wetter weather. Foil the slimy rascals by spreading Easy Gone Slug and Snail Killer pellets over likely flowerbeds and the vegetable garden. The moisture makes the pellets attractive to them. Be sure to apply AFTER the rain, though, and not during or right before as this could lead to killing unintentional victims in your local creeks.
Note: Outdoor chemical application should never occur within 24-hours of a predicted storm event. Chemical application should not occur within 50 feet of any down gradient waterway (ditch, channel, creek, river or lake) if there is no vegetative buffer (natural or established) between the application area and the waterway.
2. Planting your summer bulbs in soggy soils can be done now using a bulb planter. This device lifts out a cylinder of soil, you drop the bulb into the hole, then put the soil back over it and no harm is done to the soil.
3. Prune shrubs in between rain squalls. They may be growing vigorously because of the extra moisture Mama Nature is providing.
4. Rain makes the grass grow and lawns need mowing. Mow the lawn crosswise to your normal pattern to avoid causing ruts and compacting soggy soil.
5. Deadhead spent blooms of bulbs and flowers, composting them for use later in the garden.
6. Place a wide board over an area of the garden that you frequently walk over. The board distributes the weight over a wider area, thus help preventing compaction of heavy soils.
7. During those times that it is not raining use your cutting shears and bring in a nice bunch of flowers for a bouquet. A bouquet helps cheer you up when the drizzly skies darken a room.
8. Weeds LOVE the rains. Keep ahead of them. Pull them by hand now before they get too large and the roots go deep into the soil.
9. Make a list now of the tasks you will want to do when it dries out a little. Rank them in order of importance. Then when you are able to get out into the garden you will know what needs to be done first. You'll feel better about the weather just knowing what you will do when you can get out.
10. Be sure and check the hanging baskets and plants growing under the eaves. Very often they don't get the water they need during the wetter periods.
Rainy Weather Tips
By Owen Whetzel
1. A small roof leak can often be patched, using roof repair caulk or patching compound. However, when a roof is damp or wet, use extreme caution climbing onto the roof. If you can't solve the leaky problem, don't delay in calling in a licensed, qualified roofing contractor, who routinely does repair work on the type of roof you have.
2. Make certain that rainwater is flowing away from the foundation. A simple way to do this is to use a plastic cable tie to attach three or more feet of 6- or 7-inch wide plastic tubing to each downspout elbow. Rather than having water pool on a lawn or in a planter area, punch holes in the plastic (beginning about two-feet from the downspout) and create a sprinkler. Cable ties are sold in OSH's Electrical department. Plastic tubing for downspouts is sold in the Industrial section of the Hardware department.
3. Keep gutters and downspouts clean and water flowing. To loosen and scoop debris from gutters, use a plastic gutter scoop or child's sand shovel. Don't use any tool that you wouldn't use in a Teflon coated cooking pan, as you don't want to scratch the gutter's surface or any trim paint.
4. Downspouts can often be flushed by running a garden hose up the inside of the downspout; however, there may be a blast of water coming out of the gutter above your head.
5. Rain can be a contributor to mold growth. A good source of information is "A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture, and Your Home," which is on the EPA's Web Site. The guide includes an excellent list of resources and Web site links.
6. Although spring is a good time for painting projects, don't paint, when rain is predicted or while it is raining. Instead choose a time, when the humidity is lowest, it isn't raining and temperatures are moderate.
7. After a rainstorm is a good time to Inspect a crawlspace or basement for water accumulation or excessive moisture. It's also a good time to look for any signs of water damage on the subfloor and joists beneath bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry. Water damage can be expensive to repair. Find the source of the leak and plug it.
8. If rainwater is entering the garage beneath the garage door, it may be time to replace the bottom seal on the door. The seal not only helps to reduce air and water penetration, but helps to keep a wooden door from coming into direct contact with damp or wet concrete or asphalt.
9. Always be alert for safety hazards around a home, such as leaves and other debris on walkways. Wet or damp walkways with moss, algae or other slippery growth on them are also dangerous. You will find products to kill the growth available from OSH and sold in the Garden department. During a dry spell, mildew can be removed by scrubbing the walkway with a solution of one-cup liquid chlorine laundry bleach added to one gallon of water.
10. Condensation trapped between multiple panes of glass windows is an indication of a leak in the window's seal, not that too much rain has blown against the glass. If you have this problem, contact the contractor, who installed the windows or the window manufacturer. The window most likely needs to be replaced.
11. Rainy weather can cause wood doors to swell and stick. Before shaving away wood, try applying clear wood paste wax to door edges that slightly rub.
Bob Chapman is a well-known professional gardener and landscape contractor. Currently retired, Bob now spends his time contributing many free-lance garden articles and columns, and is a much sought after lecturer and horticultural consultant.
Since 1987, Bob has appeared as a regular columnist for the San Jose Mercury News. Besides the Mercury, his writings have appeared in the San Diego Tribune, Sacramento Bee, Fresno Bee and the Times Newspaper Group. He is the 1991 winner of the Quill and Trowel Award of the Garden Writers Association of America for the best newspaper gardening article in North America.
Bob majored in Ornamental Horticulture at Cal-Poly, San Luis Obispo. He also served as a member of the Professional Gardeners Association.
Owen Whetzel has earned an outstanding reputation as an expert among both professionals and do-it-yourselfers, in his writing and lecturing about building, remodeling, home improvement, woodworking and do-it-yourself projects.
Owen has collaborated on books and magazine articles, was a regular guest on The Discovery Channel's highly successful home repair show, "Fix-It Line," and from 1991- 2000 he hosted "Wednesday How-To Night" on San Jose's PBS-TV affiliate, KTEH. Throughout the year he gives informative and entertaining home repair seminars at various home and garden shows.
For the past 12 years he has written columns on home repair for the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News. In 1990, he was honored to have contributed to the newspaper winning the Pulitzer Prize (General News Reporting), for its detailed coverage of the October 17, 1989 Bay Area earthquake and its aftermath.