Throughout the fall months, the big eye was on the developing El Niño and what it’s impact might be for our Southwest Colorado area throughout the winter.

El Niño years occur about once every three to seven years when the Pacific Ocean is warmer than normal. Wetter winters hit the bottom third of the U.S.

But this year’s El Niño has been a little different because waters in the Pacific have been the warmest ever, surpassing even those in 1997 and possibly making this the strongest El Niño in at least 50 years. One NASA scientist has compared this year’s El Niño to Godzilla because of its strength, and a NOAA meteorologist compared it to martial arts star Bruce Lee.

This El Niño – “little boy” in Spanish – could result in monster snow events for our area. The Christmas and January storms have produced snowpack that is about 130 percent deeper than normal. The summer irrigation season should be a good one.

I’ll leave the details of this weather phenomenon to meteorologists, but you should know that this El Niño may have real and lasting impacts for your garden next summer.

For many years, snow has been called the “poor man’s fertilizer.” As the snow travels through the air, it picks up nitrogen particles. Once it lands and melts, that nitrogen is distributed into the soil. Think about the N-P-K formula on every container of fertilizer you have ever purchased. What does the “N” stand for? Nitrogen! The snow carries trace amounts of free fertilizer in the form of free nitrogen. Add in the moisturizing properties as it melts, and you have a double bonus. So the heavy snowpack is a great thing for your garden in that respect.

During this winter when things are frozen, the snow acts as a fabulous insulator for your garden plants, protecting them from extremely cold nighttime temperatures like we’ve been having. It will also help to preserve the moisture that is already in the ground by shielding it from wind, which can draw those molecules up and out of the ground, drying it out quickly.

But as fabulous as the snow can be, there are downsides to it for the gardener. That fabulously insulating cover will also provide cover for moles, voles, and other burrowing, tunneling critters that can wreak havoc in your garden while looking for food sources, so be vigilant if you see anything that resembles tunneling activity.

The biggest concern for gardeners from this El Niño winter may not even show itself until next spring. As odd as it sounds now, an overabundance of water could become a real problem upon snow melt. Gardens that previously were adequately drained may now become soggy and become one of the biggest challenges that gardeners face. Since good drainage is imperative for the good health of most plants, it’s going to be important to keep garden areas as well drained as possible.

You can do this to established gardens in one of several ways. Take a shovel or trowel and create diversion channels to reroute water flow away from your garden or planted areas. Prune overhanging plants so that they don’t continually drip water onto your desirable plants. Pruning also will improve the air circulation beneath overhanging plants and allow sunlight to help to dry out the garden. Make a gravel channel to carry water to other garden areas or to your driveway or lawn. Use perforated PVC pipe or a French drain if you can easily install it along the border of your beds.

When heavy clay soils such as those we have here become saturated, it’s difficult for the roots of plants to survive, which is why gardeners often times have difficulty. Deep roots are often the first to rot, and you may not notice the damage until later in the summer, especially with your trees or shrubs. Be vigilant for symptoms of root rot, which include the slowing of growth compared with other similar plants around them, yellowing leaves and brown or black roots. Healthy roots should be white or at least white-tipped. If your roots are brown or black, it’s likely that the plant has received too much water and might have rot.

And, if all else fails, consider it an opportunity to try something new and convert part of your garden into a water garden or bog garden!

Keep a watch for insects and fungus. Insects are attracted to weak specimens, and fungus, slugs and snails may appear in places you’ve never seen them before because all that moisture.

This winter may pack the punch of Bruce Lee or the wallop of Godzilla, but you might not notice its quieter impact till spring. As someone who survived our drought in 2002, I am happy to see every flake, but I’ll be on the lookout for Bruce’s and Godzilla’s calling cards once the snow begins to melt.

Gail Vanik can be reached at 970-565-8274 or by email at fourseasons@animas.net.