What to do with a wet garden

Conditions are now wet. Lawns and gardens received about 4 inches of rain since last Thursday, and that will be enough for a while.

Heavy rains have been good for spring vegetables, such as peas and onions. These crops are rapidly approaching maturity, and the moisture will help them reach maximum size.

Rain has thoroughly soaked the soil where tomatoes were recently planted. This encourages root growth, but soggy soil often causes a condition known as leaf roll. Certain varieties of tomato always show more leaf roll than others, and there is no cure for it.

Lawns love the plentiful moisture. They are bright green and growing rapidly, with new growth spreading into places killed by last year’s drought.

Mowing is a constant need during wet periods. The rule of thumb for mowing is to cut the grass often enough to remove no more than one-third of the lawn’s leafy growth in a single mowing operation. This could mean that your grass needs cutting twice a week at times like this.

Clumps and piles of grass clippings will remain on your lawn, if mowing is not done often enough. They harm the grass, if allowed to stay there very long, so rake them up and use them as mulch or compost.

Mushrooms proliferate in wet weather. They appear in lawns and beds of mulch, wherever there is organic matter and woody debris. You can remove them by hand or with a rake if you find them to be unsightly. No products from the store will prevent or eradicate mushrooms.

Spots of off-color growth are common in lawns as a result of wet weather. The majority of these are fungal in nature, and the most widespread lawn disease right now is called red thread. It will go away in a month, if you do nothing at all.

Dark blotches and spots are showing up on the leaves of shrubbery and trees. The afflicted plants include rose, crabapple and Japanese maple. Products like Daconil and Immunox are available to control these leaf spot diseases and others.

Rainy weather is ideal for slugs. These mollusks feed on various flowers and vegetables, usually at night. Among their favorite foods are marigold, hosta and lettuce.

The standard remedy for slugs is to apply a poison slug bait containing mesurol or metaldehyde. These work almost overnight.

Organic gardeners avoid such products and prefer to use diatomaceous earth and iron phosphate (sold as Sluggo). Shallow pans of stale beer placed at intervals around your garden are also effective on slugs. They get into the beer and never come out.

Heavy rain makes life easy for mosquitoes. There is plenty of standing water for females needing to lay eggs. Mosquito larvae and pupae live in water, and there are several generations of mosquitoes each year.

Bird baths and the saucers under potted plants are breeding sites for mosquitoes, so dump out the water at least once a week. Other likely places for mosquitoes to breed are clogged gutters, tin cans, old tires, tarps and beds of English ivy.