Heavy Rain After Planting Seeds? Follow These Steps

As home gardeners, we plant the seeds anticipating the rains to come water them in, but sometimes those rains come as a downpour. Here’s what you can do when you experience heavy rain after planting seeds.

Why A Heavy Rain After Planting Seeds is a Problem

A torrential downpour after planting seeds is a problem for a few reasons:

1. Seed Problems:
   • Heavy rainfall can dislodge seeds.
   • Excess water can drown seeds.
   • Seeds can be washed away by running water near the soil surface.
2. Soil Problems:
   • Nutrients are washed out.
   • Flooding runoff causes soil erosion.
   • Soggy soil becomes compacted.

Dislodged Seeds

When you get heavy rain storms after planting seeds, your seeds may shift from that original perfect planting position that you placed them in. Seeds that are pushed down too deeply will run out of energy before the plant emerges to see the light of day. Seeds that float closer to the surface will likely not root well.

Additionally, your seed spacing may become compromised by heavy rains moving them around.

​Drown Seeds

Seeds need to breathe to properly germinate. If they become waterlogged, without air pockets around them, they will essentially drown. This happens more with heavy clay soil over sandy soil, but it can happen anywhere there may be standing water.

Seedling diseases like mold and fungus might become a problem as well with a lack of air in the soil.

Wash Away

​A super heavy rain after planting seeds might cause your seeds to completely wash away. You’ll keep checking to see if they’ve sprouted only to be repeatedly disappointed by missing seeds.

Leaching Nutrients

Your fertile soil will become depleted of its nutrients with too much rain. Your seeds should be fine to germinate, (as long as the above issues haven’t happened), but your seedlings won’t thrive. You will need to add more organic fertilizer, such as compost, to grow healthy plants.

Soil Erosion

​Heavy soil erosion is a huge headache for the home gardener. Water runoff can ruin your built up beds as well as wash away your seeds. Rebuilding beds or mounds for planting costs time and money.

Compacting Soil

​Heavy, water-logged soil can become compacted. Less air in the soil means less soil life. Microbial life is needed to maintain a healthy ecosystem in your garden. 

Follow These Steps When You’ve Had Heavy Rain After Planting Seeds

Don’t worry. All of these problems can be solved by following these steps when you’ve had heavy rain after planting seeds.

Step 1: Aerate Your Soil

Aerating soil after heavy rains is important to prevent compaction and improve drainage, ensuring that roots get the oxygen they need.

First, wait for soil to dry slightly. 

Insert a garden fork, or a pitchfork, about 4-6 inches into the soil and gently rock it back and forth to create air channels. Repeat this process every few inches throughout the area you want to aerate.

Step 2: Amend Your Soil

If your soil has the propensity to stay wet during the wet weather season, consider adding some sand so that the soil drains better.

​Also, make sure to re-level your soil with rakes or shovels as needed after adding necessary amendments.

Step 3: Add Organic Material

Next, adding compost, leaf mold, or well-rotted manure can help improve soil structure, especially if your soil has a high clay content, which is prone to compaction. Organic matter will also be a long term, slow release fertilizer for your plants.

Continue to Build Soil

Most importantly, keep adding to a healthy soil structure season after season with additional organic amendments. Continuous soil building will create more ideal conditions to combat future seasons of excessive rain.

Step 4: Replant Your Seeds

Take the time to replant your seeds as soon as possible so that all is not lost. We almost always keep additional seed on hand for second plantings.

You may have a few rogue seeds that come up sooner. If they aren’t in the spaces that you want them in for a successful crop, make sure that you pluck them out.

If you have a bunch of seeds that all washed into one general area, you will need to thin the seedlings as they come up.

Step 5: Add Mulch

A light layer of mulch can help prevent future soil erosion and soil compaction associated with excess rainfall. Spread a thin layer of straw, shredded leaves, or compost over the soil. Make sure it’s not too thick to prevent light and air from reaching the seeds, especially small seeds.

However, realize that wood chips hold onto moisture and may retain too much water in a flooded space. You may need to rake back some of your wood chips to allow for a little water loss by evaporation.

Step 6: Use a Liquid Fertilizer

It’s a good idea to use a liquid fertilizer that will give your soil a quick boost in nutrients. This tip is especially important for young seedlings.

Choosing a fish or seaweed solution is your best option. If soil conditions are still too wet, then wait for it to dry just a little longer before doing this.

Step 7: Provide Temporary Cover if More Rain is Expected

Finally, if more heavy rain is in the forecast, a temporary cover can protect seeds and seedlings from further damage.

​Use a lightweight row cover, plastic sheet, or tarp, supported by stakes or hoops, to shield the garden. Ensure the cover is elevated to avoid crushing the seedlings and remove it once the rain has passed.

Other Tips in Wet Conditions

New Beds

Consider building larger mounds for your in-ground garden. Alternatively, you may want to build some raised beds if you need to plant in areas with poor drainage.

Create Runoff Spaces

​If your land naturally carries running water through your garden area, you might reconsider your growing location. If that’s impossible, create runoffs with trenches to direct water where you want it to go.

You could even create a small area for a water feature in your garden, allowing water to drain into such a feature and create a rain garden.

Landscaping or growing some moisture-loving food, for example rice, is a great way to work with what you have instead of fighting it. I highly recommend choosing native plants to your locality.

Avoid Walking on Wet Soil

Walking on wet soil can cause compaction, making aeration less effective. Try to keep traffic to a minimum and use stepping stones or boards if necessary to distribute weight more evenly.

Utilize walkways or paths between food crops instead of stepping into your growing spaces.

​Beware Weed Seeds

You’ve heard it said that weeds are only unwanted plants in unwanted spaces. Weeds and grass seed tend to enjoy the wet ground that torrential rain brings. Be sure to get out there regularly to cultivate them while they’re still small seedlings.

Summary on What to do When There’s a Heavy Rain After Planting Seeds

Following these steps when you have a heavy rain after planting seeds will help you quickly recover from the unavoidable harsh weather. Also remember that water is not necessarily a bad thing. In my humble opinion, it’s better to grow in well-drained, wet soil than dry soil that needs constant watering.

Happy Growing!

Donna and her family have been homesteading for most of their 20+  years together in some shape or fashion. She currently lives on their 20 acre farm where they grow as much food as possible. What started as a just a few laying hens, has grown into large gardens, pastured poultry, pork, and lamb. They are continuously evolving their small farm to not suit their family’s needs, but also providing to their local community. Donna’s favorite part of the family farm is her self-built micro-dairy, where she gets to love on dairy cows while serving her local community. Milking, cheesemaking, and processing dairy have become the soul of their homestead and the center of their farm.