Typhoon Ian was an actually scary cyclone. Simply 100 miles further south and we would be Fort Myers Beach. We constantly hear about storm rise and how deadly it is however till you have experienced it, you can not fathom the water’s force.
This typhoon was moving extremely slowly which is why we suffered as much surge as we did. As my partner and I beinged in our kitchen enjoying the hurricane, we kept stating the water would not come much higher. Then it left the canal and began creeping up the garden, covering first our lanai and swimming pool and then flowing in between your homes out to the street up until our lawn and street had actually turned into one with the Gulf of Mexico.
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And after that it entered the living room, which thankfully sits lower than the rest of the house. And the garage was flooded. And we had waves lapping at our front door which held mainly but required towels to include it. As we watched the storm on our mobile phone, we knew it was leaving the location and we hoped it would leave previously coming high enough to harm the whole house. We were lucky. It stopped about an inch from that level.So now to our lawns! They are all brown along with many shrubs that were under water. St. Augustine is a relatively salt tolerant lawn and the water receded rapidly enough from many locations that the lawn need to recuperate. The good news is the weeds and crab grasses are not so salt tolerant, so we may see fewer weeds next month.After Cyclone Irma, when the south end of the island flooded, I anticipated to discover dead, brown yards and instead they were lush and green. My theory is that the yard endured the salt and in fact prospered on all that fantastic organic matter from the surrounding mangrove islands and bottom of the gulf. We have actually been really dry so run your sprinklers to clean off some salt and to keep the grass healthy. The shrubs need to also be washed off as quickly as possible. Some might survive and some more sensitive to salt might not. Flush, flush, and flush some more with water. I would likewise be sure to water and flush any locations where you plan to plant annuals next month. Maybe wait until we have had a few great rainstorms to do that.And if you are replanting trees and shrubs that were rooted out, make sure to use some mycorrhizal fungus products and use the end of the hose to wash the dirt back around the roots.
Air is not a buddy to a root zone.I will compose more later on, but I am still getting my home back in order so will close this in the meantime. My ideas are with all individuals who lost whatever, some their enjoyed ones. Let us remember this
storm and evacuate when they state a storm rise is coming!More: Gardening: Your August ‘to do ‘and’to enjoy ‘list More: SWFLA To Do List: Andrew Dice Clay at Off the Hook, more Peter and Eileen Ward have offered Greensward of Marco after 40 years in the yard and landscape service on Marco Island. You can reach Eileen with remarks or concernson her columns via e-mail at [email protected] or call 239-269-0192.
Source: https://www.marconews.com/story/life/2022/10/14/gardening-time-recover-our-gardens/10471531002/