Garden Oddities

Spring Showers Bring Flooded Gardens

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By Amelia Martin, UConn Plant Science Graduate Student 

Rain gauge showing half an inch of rain on a cloudy day
Photo by H. Zidack, UConn HGEC

You may have noticed the heavy rains and chilly temperatures last week’s nor ’easter brought to Connecticut. Maybe you were one of many who checked their back window to see their gardens had flooded and their plants are looking worse for the wear. If this sounds familiar and you are curious what garden flooding means for your plants and want to know how to protect them- you found the right article! 

A flooded garden is not a unique problem, especially during periods of heavy rainfall, but there are some factors that may contribute to the severity of flooding. Having minimal or poor drainage can amplify the problem, especially if planting in garden boxes with closed bottoms. Soil compaction can contribute to flooding if you are planting directly in the ground. Compacted soil can happen if there has been too much tillage, if wheels or machinery have been over the area, or even from excess foot traffic. Lastly, the layout and landscaping of a yard can contribute to flooding as well. If you placed your garden at the bottom of a hill or there are minimal drainage angles surrounding your garden, water may be pooling up faster than it can drain.  

To prevent flooding, check your gutters and make sure they are free from debris and directed to a drain or storm barrel. Put down gravel and mulch to help prevent surface flooding. Avoid cutting your grass too short to maintain strong roots which help to absorb water. Maintain healthy soil to allow for the best water absorption. Dig out a shallow drainage channel if you have the space for it. Consider switching to raised beds with drainage rather than in-ground gardens in easily flooded areas. Try adding native plants to your garden. Native plants have deep roots which helps them absorb excess water and prevent runoff. While handling these issues would be preventative measures, let’s talk about what to do if your garden has already flooded.  

Assess the drainage situation and take note of where the water is pooling the most. If flooding is unusual in your garden- there may be something blocking the normal drainage route, which may be a quick fix. If not, knowing where water is likely to pool may help in future garden planning, or help you determine where to make improvements.  

Stay off your garden beds.  If you step on your soil while it is saturated, it will compact it, ruining the soil’s tilth. Instead, if you need to access your garden beds consider putting a wooden board down to walk on to distribute your weight better. 

Re-fertilize your plants. Heavy rain can wash away nutrients out of the soil through a process called leaching. Check the forecast to make sure no more extreme weather is immediately approaching before fertilizing- or you may have to do it again. 

Add supports to your plants. The wind and rain may have led to plants falling over. Add in some additional supports to get them upright again and give them a better chance for the next time heavy rain comes.  

While having a flooded garden may be a bummer, there are some gardening activities that are actually easier to do in saturated soil! Once the rain stops and the ground is still wet, use this time to weed. The soft ground will make weeds especially easy to pull up- just try not to step on the garden beds. After a rain or a flood, re-mulching is always a good idea. The rain might wash away some previously placed mulch, use this as an opportunity to locate any spots barren of mulch and in need of a re-fill. After a couple days when the soil is soft but not sodden, the ground will be the perfect consistency to dig and put stakes.  

Lastly, check for any young plants that didn’t survive the water or any seeds that haven’t come up. Take this as an opportunity to plant new seeds, as seeds do better in already moist soil where they have less chance of being displaced when watered.  

At the end of the day, while having a flooded garden may not be the best for your plants, it is not the end of the world. There are a handful of preventative measures that can be taken ranging from backyard renovations to quick fixes- it is about finding what works best for you and your garden.  

The UConn Home & Garden Education Center supports UConn Extension’s mission by providing answers you can trust with research-based information and resources. For gardening questions, contact us toll-free at (877) 486-6271, visit our website at homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or reach out to your local UConn Extension center at cahnr.uconn.edu/extension/locations. 

This article was published in the Hartford Courant May 31, 2025

Why Are Seeds Sprouting in My Tomato?!

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Nick Goltz, DPM, UConn Home & Garden Education Center, UConn Plant Diagnostic Lab

A tomato sliced in half with seedlings sprouting up
Seed germination within an overripe tomato. Photo credit: J. Copes.

UConn Home and Garden Education Center alum Carol Quish wrote a short blog post about vivipary in 2014 that, over a decade later, is still one of our most-read pieces. Why are folks still interested to read this post after so much time? Because seeing seed vivipary in a tomato you’re about to eat is just so darn weird. To better discuss and understand vivipary however, we should start with a little refresher on seed biology.

Reflecting back on 4th period science class with Mr. So-and-so, you’ll recall that producing  a seed is both a distribution and reproduction strategy for plants. Generally, a seed is composed of a developing young plant called an embryo and a nutritious tissue to support the embryo called an endosperm, both of which are encapsulated within a hard seed coat. When an embryo is triggered to begin growing and breaks through the seed coat, many people consider this the stage of germination.

A seed will typically be in a state of dormancy while within the fruit and for a period after fruit harvest and dispersal. This strategy of undergoing dormancy is usually advantageous to the seed so it does not germinate and begin growing under adverse conditions, such as the beginning of winter or before being eaten by a hungry critter. A delicate combination of environmental cues and plant hormones maintain – and break – seed dormancy. When temperature, light, moisture, and other environmental conditions are right for that seed, hormones like gibberellin (GA) and abscisic acid (ABA) will shift in balance and germination will occur. Dormancy is typically maintained when levels of ABA are higher than levels of GA, and is broken when levels of GA are higher than levels of ABA.

When germination occurs while the seed is still within or attached to tissue of the parent plant, this is considered vivipary. Appropriately, the word “vivipary” is Latin for “live birth”. Vivipary is an essential strategy for some plants, such as mangrove trees, to increase likelihood of reaching a safe place to grow. For most plants however, vivipary is considered a physiological disorder or otherwise undesirable outcome as it decreases likelihood for successful establishment and growth, post-germination. Some highly-domesticated plants, like tomatoes, peppers, strawberries, wheat, and corn, are more prone to vivipary than others.

Seed germination within an overripe tomato. Photo credit: J. Copes.

While there isn’t uniform consensus on what combination of factors trigger vivipary, promoting high ABA levels in seeds while they’re still in the parent plant will certainly lower the odds. While there is nothing that can be done to change the genetics of the tomato on your counter, you can take steps to minimize the environmental triggers that would decrease ABA levels. Minimizing free moisture, preventing excessively cool temperatures, and drying, consuming, or processing the seed before the fruit bearing it become overripe are important strategies.

For tomatoes specifically, be sure to harvest them before they are fully ripe! Overripe tomatoes are much more likely to experience vivipary. For the same reason, whether buying or growing your own vine-ripened tomatoes, it’s important to consume them quickly. Furthermore, be sure to store your tomatoes at room temperature and not in the fridge. Not only will they be more likely to have a mealy texture when you eat them, but low temperatures may also increase the likelihood of vivipary.

The next time you happen to take a bite of a tomato filled with seeds that have experienced vivipary, don’t fret! The taste and texture may not be what you were expecting, but they’re perfectly harmless. That said, a better destination for a viviparous tomato may be your garden bed rather than your caprese salad! Seeds that have germinated within the fruit will still grow and eventually produce fruit like any other tomato seedling.

If you have questions about growing tomatoes, or any other gardening topic, call the UConn Home & Garden Education Center (toll-free) at (877) 486-6271. You can also email us at ladybug@uconn.edu, visit our website, www.homegarden.cahnr.uconn.edu, or visit your local UConn Cooperative Extension center.

This article was published in the Hartford Courant May 24, 2025