First heavy June rain, now hot temperatures. How to revive your Kansas garden
If you’re a gardener in Wichita, odds are you probably wished for rain at the beginning of spring.
While Wichita isn’t considered in a drought, persistent dry weather and low levels at Cheney Reservoir led to watering restrictions — limiting Wichita water customers to outdoor watering only once a week. For gardeners, the restrictions may seem daunting in the spring and summer months.
But this month, gardeners may have the opposite problem. That’s because the heavy rainfall, and flash flooding, across the city in June could lead to the overwatering of your plants.
Wichita has had 10.72 inches of rain since June 1, according to the National Weather Service.
Is your garden seemingly “drowned”? Is it hopeless for the rest of the year? We spoke with Matthew McKernan, a horticultural agent for the Sedgwick County Extension Office, and got his take on the rainfall damage to Wichita gardens this year.
What to know about your garden after heavy rainfall
One aspect of flooding oftentimes not thought of when it comes to veggie gardens is contamination, McKernan said.
“We want to make sure that our vegetables in [flooded] areas aren’t contaminated by things that might be in that water, including like sewage, manure from animals or other river water,” McKernan said.
This is especially a concern for leafy plants, like lettuce and kale. The horticulturalist recommends throwing out possibly contaminated veggies and not eating them.
Veggies higher off the ground, like tomatoes, are less likely to be contaminated.
“Even if the garden floods, the likelihood of the tomato coming in contact with that flood water is probably pretty minimal,” McKernan said.
Something you should avoid when trying to revive your garden is not to work with the wet soil, McKernan said. Instead, give the soil time to dry before you try to work with it.
“We want to really try to avoid any kind of tilling, digging or heavy traffic in wet soils, because that wet soils can easily compact,” he said. “That’s going to destroy the soil structure and make it more difficult for oxygen to be able to get down on the soil.”
The same is true for your lawn.
Once the garden’s soil dries, a crust sometimes forms on the top of the soil, which makes it difficult for oxygen to make its way to the roots. If this happens, McKernan recommends breaking it down.
“It might be necessary, after the soil begins to dry out, to do a little bit of light tillage, or break up that crust with a hope to be able to allow that air flow and oxygen to penetrate the soil a little bit more easily,” McKernan said.
To keep your vegetable gardens healthy, McKernan recommends manually aerating them.
“You can take something like a pitch fork ... and punch holes down deeper into the soil around the plants,” McKernan said. “Again, just trying to help oxygen move deeper into the soil.”
Here are some other tips for reviving your garden after heavy rainfall, from Garden Design:
- Drain excess water.
- Use different tools for different parts of the garden to avoid cross contamination.
- Avoid pruning until after gardens are dry.
- Delay planting new plants.
This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
