How to Prep Garden for El Niño

El Niño is coming! Learn how to prep garden for El Niño right now with tips on drainage and real organic protocols. Just thinking about the possibility of another Super El Niño hitting the west coast takes me back to a time when I was literally caught in the flood.

EL NIÑO IS COMING! PREP NOW!

AN EL NIÑO RESCUE STORY

In February of 1998, I was living in Old Agoura. It’s a beautiful little slice of horseback riding, mountain biking and hiking trails in the Santa Mountains that makes that section of the Conejo Valley an outdoor paradise. That’s why we moved there in the fall of 1987. 

There had been non-stop reporting since summer of the impending El Niño event that was going to hit. November and December had a couple of rainstorms but nothing out of the ordinary. And then came the New Year. It was February 1998. My daughter Emma was 10. She was going to school in Malibu. On Monday, February 2nd the rains hit hard. By morning rush hour, Malibu and Topanga Canyons were closed to traffic due to rock slides crashing down onto the roads. We kept Emma home. 

The rain that day never stopped. In fact, I never saw it rain like that in all of my years growing upon in Los Angeles. By Tuesday, February 3rd our street in Old Agoura was flooding. We had horses that we kept at Jane Wiedlin’s Horse Ranch over on Cornell Road on the other side of the 101, up the street from Paramount Ranch where they filmed hundreds of movies and tv shows that we’ve all seen from “Gunsmoke" to “The Great Food Truck Race.” Jane of Go-Go’s fame, and her husband at the time, Ged, had set up a beautiful horse boarding facility on their property with barns, pipe corrals and a huge riding ring at the top of the property as you entered off of Cornell. 

I knew that Jane and Ged were traveling and a thought crossed my mind that I better go check on the horses. Emma wanted to go with me. Since she grew up with horses, I figured it would okay. Boy was I wrong! We were able to get down our street and over the freeway and out to Jane’s. As we were driving along Cornell Road we could see Medea Creek, which flows down below Cornell Road behind Jane’s place and through Paramount Ranch. The normally quiet, peacefully running drink of water for deer had become a roaring river, with raging rapids overcoming the land on both sides of the bank. As we turned onto Jane’s driveway, Emma cried out, “Dad… LOOK!” I looked down at the stream which was now into the horse property just in time to see a Porsche 911 bobbing up and down with flowing water that was racing towards Paramount Ranch and Malibu Canyon and ultimately the Pacific Ocean. 

I raced down the driveway to the barn area next to the riding ring. I could see that the river was hitting the pipe corrals where 20 horses, including two of mine, were in their stalls. I jumped out of the car and told Emma to wait there until I got back. I could hear the neighing, cries and screams of the panicked horses as I reached their stalls. The creek was so strong and so fast it was literally ripping the pipe corral out of the ground and twisting it like a pretzel. I opened the corral of our gelding Adam and threw his halter on. I was going to have him lead all of the horses to the ring out front. I quickly opened all of the gates to the corrals and something amazing happened- Horses who were freakin out a moment earlier suddenly calmed and followed Adam as I led them upon the hill to safety. I got all of the horses into the ring just as half of the corrals that I was just down at were ripped off the land and taken into the violent rushing water. 

I tell this story because I was there to witness the power of an El Niño super storm and how quickly volumes of water can change everything that was once dry land. Overnight, cars were washed off the streets from roads overrun by rain, gardens turned into pools, and mudslides buried houses and properties all over the town I was living in. 

EL NIÑO WEATHER STATS

In February of 1998, downtown L.A. saw 13.68 inches of rain. That is almost a full year’s worth of rainfall in one month. That same February had rain totals of 20.51” at UCLA, 18.91” in Ventura, 21.74” in Santa Barbara and 14.88” in San Francisco. 

Some of the coastal mountain areas got the worst of it. The rainy season of 1997-1998 rainfall percentages per region were as follows: Coastal Southern CA - 203% of normal, Central Coast - 207% of normal and the Northern CA Coast - 176% of normal. 

This is what I believe is coming this late fall and winter. The same types of weather patterns and conditions are setting up, and the oceanic temperatures being +0.5 degrees warmer overlapping three months, fall into the same levels of 1982-1983, 1997-1998 and 2015-2016 where we saw the Super El Niño’s hit the globe. 

El Niño means little boy in Spanish. The weather pattern got it’s name from Peruvian fisherman who noticed the warm water changes around Christmas and affectionately named the weather pattern in reverence to Baby Jesus. In recent history we have had the three El Niño’s that I mentioned that were all in the VERY STRONG category of this famous weather pattern. According to a couple of different weather forecasting services- The European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts and the Climate Prediction Center, the probability for rain in California is at 70%-100% above average, possibly in the top 20% of wettest winters of all time, the chances are better than 90% that this event will be the biggest Super El Niño to ever hit the globe! 

STEPS ON HOW TO PREP GARDEN FOR EL NIÑO

What steps can we take as mere mortals to prepare our gardens for El Niño and protect them from this significant natural weather event? First off we have to realize that El Niño means different things to different people depending on where you live. In California and the Southwestern U.S. this means that we are going to most likely get pounded with rain and flooding that we have not seen possibly ever before. For those of us in the Pacific Northwest, this means we will probably have a much drier, warmer year than normal. In Oregon, where we have a farm, it means watching water consumption, different planting and pest cycles and looking into our soil management practices to create a healthy spring garden. 

For the purposes of this article, I am going to primarily focus on the wetter side and discuss some of the things that we suggest everyone do in their yard and garden to survive the upcoming onslaught of rain and prepare your garden for El niño.

As a landscape designer and builder I was trained to walk onto a site and ask this question - “Where is the water going to go?” That is the first question that I want all of you to ask yourselves. If you can figure that out, than you’ve got a great chance of helping your garden, your plants, your trees, your soil, your hardscape, your home and your property survive the Super El Niño or Godzilla El Niño as some of the more dramatic weather forecasters like to call it. 

Drainage

Water will always run to and pool at the lowest point of the yard or garden. Make sure that you’ve got drainage that is clear, open and able to move water out of the garden and to the streets and gutters as designed. Make sure that your drain caps are clear, you might even want to cut 1/16” or 1/8” wire mesh screens to fit inside the drain caps to keep large pieces of organic matter from going into the drain line and clogging it. 

During the rains, make sure to keep clearing the debris off of the drain caps to ensure free flow of water. If you don’t have any drainage in your yard or garden now would be a good time to get some drain lines into your property to move the water away for your garden beds, trees and most importantly your house. 

In the garden, this is a great time to look at other ways to move water along the surface by creating swales and berms in areas that are appropriate and in other areas, like hillsides, utilizing straw waddle to redirect water away from steep or dangerous potential flooding or slide zones. 

Swales

You can create swales in your garden by creating shallow, sloped ditches surrounded by mounding soil edges or berms along the swale. The swales will capture and slow down rainwater flow and even let some of it soak into the ground. This will also naturally decrease erosion from the pressure of moving water. 

Berms

On slopes, on contour, or areas with grade changes, you can create berms to move the water away from garden walls, planting beds and even the foundation of your home. 

Straw Waddle

Running staked lines of straw waddle along the top of slopes and along contour, will help keep water from pooling and creating runoff down your hills. This is really good cheap insurance to stop mud and water flows before they happen.  

Wells

Now is also a great time for you to put wells around your trees and roses. Doing this will help stop erosion around the surface or feeder roots of your trees. You don’t want water weight or water movement in your garden to expose and weaken the roots of your trees or roses. The wells will help keep the soil and compost in and around the roots of your trees and roses. It’s easier to remove water from wells than it is to cover roots in heavy rain events. If you do have to cover feeder and surface roots, find some Premium Organic Topsoil from Number 2 Organics to cover those roots and pack in any areas of erosion in your garden from the rain stripping your surface soil. 

Sandbags

The last thing that we suggest doing for hyper-rain events is have some sandbags that are filled and ready-to-use onsite for those quick water emergencies. I cannot tell you how many times on landscape jobs that this his been a lifesaver. 

Submersible Utility Pump

To work alongside the sandbags, if you are in an area prone to flooding it might be a good idea to get a submersible utility pump that you can use to pump out water in areas where either there is no drainage, or where the drains are overwhelmed or aren’t working. 

One of these pumps saved another rock stars home I was designing and building from flooding his sunken living room in the Hollywood Hills. If I didn’t have submersible pumps and a small portable generator, there would have been a whole new meaning given to sunken living room at his house!  

Compost

The other thing that I think is absolutely imperative this fall in your garden before El Niño strikes is to compost. I know that gardening wisdom says to compost every fall, but this fall it’s for additional measure. This is where you don’t want to go cheap. The bagged woody composts aren’t going to cut it, neither are the crummy bulk soil yard composts that are cheap for a reason. You need real, biologically-active compost that is loaded with beneficial bacteria and nutrient. 

You want Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost from Malibu Compost. It is farm made, REAL Organic and Non-GMO. Bu’s Blend is loaded with aerobic microbes, especially the bacteria that will break down clay soil so that water will drain below the surface into the aquifer! 

At the same time, Bu’s Blend will help build soil structure and proper tilth with the polysaccharides that are on the outer shell of the bacteria. These polysaccharides are a sticky, gummy substance that binds the aggregates in soil together so that the pressure of water cannot create erosion or topsoil loss. 

We generally say to put down a 1/2” to an 1” of Bu’s Blend, but this fall we are saying to go at least 1” to 1 1/2” in your planter beds, raised beds, containers, tree and rose wells. Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost helps the soil everywhere in your garden. 

And if you have lawns, put down a generous 1/4” to 1/2” layer over the lawn, water it in and let the microbes get below the surface and do their job. The great news here is that earthworms love to feed on bacteria, and composting your lawns with Bu’s Blend will also bring the worms that will naturally help to aerate your lawns. 

The sooner you add Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost to your gardens the better, so that the microbes can get to work NOW! Check out our Store Locator for a store near you and for those who don’t have a store near you yet, we will be selling our soil products online again this fall 2026! You will be notified when we’re up and running again. 

Potting Soil

For your raised beds and containers, you will also want to top dress anything that has had soil loss or shrinkage from the wood that is the primary ingredient of most potting soils and planting mixes. Literally put on a topper of Baby Bu’s Potting Soil from Malibu Compost over the surface of your composted old soil and leave about 1” to 1 1/2” of freeboard (space from the top edge of your container down to the level of the soil.) Baby Bu’s has 25% of Bu’s Blend Compost in it and a host of topnotch REAL Organic and natural fertilizers like kelp meal, shrimp meal, crab meal and fish bone meal. 

Baby Bu's Potting Soil will add a diversity of microbes, nutrients, and organic matter to feed your plants and soil, while keeping the soil in your raised beds and containers draining properly through the wet weather. 

Other Actions to Prep Garden for El Niño

Other things you’ll want to do this fall as you prep for El Niño are: 

1. Turn off your irrigation

2. Prune out dead wood in your plants, trees and roses to keep weight and wind damage to a minimum

3. Don’t plant root crops that will be in wet soil for potentially months

4. Clear out or cover your roof drains and gutters

5. Fill in any low soil spots or holes in your garden where water can collect with Premium Organic Topsoil from Number 2 Organics

6. Compost Tea as much of your garden as you are able to as often as you are able to, preferably after composting and thereafter. A good Compost tea will add aerobic microbes to your soil and feed the existing microbes so that within 60 to 90 days, beneficial mycorrhizal fungi will grow their thread-like hyphae through the soil. If you want a visual on how to make compost tea, you can access this link: https://www.malibucompost.com/compost-tea and remember that compost tea is only as good as the compost that you use, so use Bu’s Blend Biodynamic Compost from Malibu Compost. You can get more information about making aerated compost tea and how to make it for larger gardens from my book Real Organic Gardening

7. Grow a Living Mulch or Cover Crops by sowing a cold-hardy variety. You can use winter rye, crimson clover or vetch to fix nitrogen into the soil, provide a good mulch throughout the downpour, build soil structure, prevent erosion and build soil fertility.

8. I am not a huge fan of mulching. I think that we overmuch as gardeners in America. This is one time where mulching makes sense to help ease erosion, but with mulching also comes moisture retention and potential fungal disease. I suggest that you find a clean wood source or an organic hay or straw that you can shred into small pieces. You don’t want to use big chunks of wood, straw or hay as mulch because it won’t break down correctly and it causes other biological issues in your garden. If you have disease-free leaves in your garden, you can shred them down as well and use them as your mulch. I never mulch any deeper than 1/2” to 1”. We want mulch to protect but also to break down into the soil. Make sure to compost prior to mulching. We can then reapply the next round of mulch at an appropriate depth. I talk about this in detail in my book: REAL Organic Gardening. 

My takeaways from the impending El Niño, Super El Niño or Godzilla El Niño are to be prepared, do the best you can to create a safe space for you, your family and your garden. Remember that weather forecasters can be a little dramatic, but every once in a while they get it right. Err on the side of caution this time. 

Please reach out for any help preparing your garden for El Niño at growrealorganic.com and may God bless you and yours this fall and winter. Please stay safe out there.