Ouch! I'm sorry Carol, but I am very glad your home was OK. Compared to what might have been, what was is miniscule. Unfortunately, there really isn't any way to tell for sure what to expect from the garden. You just have to wait and see. If the salt water was sufficiently diluted by rain; your drainage sufficient and rains following the salt invasion sufficient, you may not see any damaging effects from the salt itself. Or, you might have some salt burn on particularly sensitive plants, or... At least it wasn't like the after effects of the New Orleans hurricanes where many feet of that water soaked into the ground for weeks. You may have very limited damage, which is what I'm praying. Good luck! Kim

Thanks, Kim. I appreciate your information. I guess time will tell and with winter coming, I will have to be patient and see what happens in the spring. Thanks again.

You might want to run down a book, 'Making Things Grow Outdoors' by Thalassa Cruso. She had a summer house on the Mass coast, and most of the book is about various gardening adventures there. At least one chapter deals with the salty after effects of a big, coastal storm.

Making Things Grow Outdoors is an old favorite of mine. Maybe I'll pull it off the shelf and re-read it.

If you do decide it track it down, be aware that Thalassa Cruso also wrote a book on indoor gardening called Making Things Grow. It was wildly popular once upon a time, and there are a lot more copies of that one available. A search on the various used books sites often pulls up both of them in the results.

Good luck with the salts. If your soil has decent drainage, and if you get more rain to wash the soil, you may be just fine.

Rosefolly

Hi Carol. Since there's no way to tell just how much salt was left in your soil, the first thing I would do is water well and long to flush as much salt possible. If your soil is sandy, without a compacted substrate, then a lot of salt will move to lower levels. If you have drip irrigation, use USE OVERHEAD SPRINKLERS for this. You want to makes sure the salt moves evenly, and deeply. You also need overhead sprinkling to remove salt from any leaves that were covered, especially evergreens.

NOW THE IMPORTANT PART:

Next, and this will cost a bit, you need to spread granulated GYPSUM throughout your garden, at about the rate of 20 to 40lbs per 100sq feet. If you fear severe damage, you need to find soluble gypsum that you can apply in liquid form; it goes to work immediately. I'm not sure of the rates for the soluble form, but I'm sure instructions would be on the packaging.

Gypsum is widely used to mitigate the effects of salt on plants from de-icers used in winter, which are all types of salts. It is also used in seaside golf courses, naturally salty soils, and compacted alkaline clays. It will not change the soil pH, or fertility. It does however, improve soil structure wherever there's the least bit of clay. It's marvelous for improving the tilth of compacted soils. I would at least rake it in, then water AGAIN to activate the gypsum. IF I remember my chemistry, the calcium in the gypsum exchanges with the sodium in the salt, making it inert, or at least much less dangerous to living cells. I've used it for years in my sticky red clay here. It works miracles, especially in addition to compost. MIRACLES, I say! lol. For all of you living with alkaline clay, I can't stress enough what a difference it makes. There are all kinds of articles on the web. As far as availability, I get mine at the local feed store, but I've seen it at Lowe's, as well. Feel free to email if you have more questions and I don't happen to see your post.

John

Looking over my previous post, I realized it looks like GYPSUM is more for clay soils. It's not. It does work wonders for clay soils, but it is used for salt mitigation just as often, if not more. The same chemical process that works to limit salt damage just happens to improve clay soil structure :)

I would suggest keeping everything watered very well all the way up until they go dormant and the ground freezes. That should help wash some of the salt through the soil. I have a bed along the street that gets road salted all winter and I haven't seen any greatly adverse effects from it but watering surely can not hurt anything.

Thanks for all of the information. We hope to get down there this weekend. Question - Is gypsum the same as lime for the soil? A friend of ours has a lawn that was under water and was told that adding lime was helpful. Thanks again!

Before you start pouring chemicals on your soil, it might be a good idea to consult your local agricultural extension if one if available. If not, check with your local master gardener program. It may be that all you need to do is flush the soil with water to leach out the salt.

Most of the time in a garden you should do the least invasive thing that will work.

Gypsum is not the same thing as lime. Gypsum is the common name for calcium sulfate and lime is calcium oxide (agricultural lime) or calcium hydroxide (quicklime).

Gypsum is used to reduce the presence of sodium in a soil that has too much (sodic soil) under some circumstances, that is, if the soil does not already contain gypsum, something that happens sometimes in the western US. It can also be used to improve texture in certain kinds of soil or to add calcium to soils that are deficient in it.

Agricultural lime is most commonly used to increase pH of a soil that is too acidic. I don't know if it has uses in soils with too much salts in them. Quicklime (also called slaked lime) is an ingredient in the fungicide Bordeaux mixture.

I took a college class on soils a few years back, but I am not by any means a soil scientist.

Rosefolly

Remember, we've had snow (I had 3 inches)/rain since Sandy, so the effects of the sea water is probably less than immediately after the storm. I agree, try flushing with water, and wait. I wouldn't put any chemicals on unless a soil test indicates the need. Good luck, and I am glad that your house wasn't damaged.

Just in case anyone has safety concerns about gypsum...if you've ever eaten tofu, used plaster of Paris, or drunk home- or micro-brew beer...you've been exposed to gypsum. It's used as a coagulant for tofu, and to add "crispness" to beers.

...and the food grade version is sold in health food stores and drugstores :)

I just wouldn't eat what's made for the garden, lol.

Thank you all for your help; I really appreciate your time and advice. We are going to take a good look at things this weekend. Unfortunately we had to turn off the water because there is no natural gas at this time and we don't want our pipes to freeze. At this point I am going to take a wait and see what happens view. I'll keep you posted. I sure hope I don't lose any of my magnolias due to saltwater, they were doing so well. Our house is still standing and we are fine - can't ask for more!

Do keep us posted, Carol. Best of luck with everything.