Nitrogen is an essential nutrient for plant growth. Most of our atmosphere is composed of nitrogen but in a form that plants cannot suck directly from air. Scientist have reported that rainfalls directly following thunderstorms can be particularly nutritious for plants because lighting generates huge amounts of energy that allows atmospheric nitrogen to mix with water and oxygen into forms that plants can use. Water from other sources, such as your town supply, would not have this nitrogen boost.
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But not all storms have positive impacts on soil nutrients available to plants. Many studies have examined the consequences of sudden surges of storm water on flushing nutrients, including nitrogen, out off suddenly flooded soils into waterways (which they pollute, allowing algae to grow, which in turn can lead to the depletion of oxygen in water and subsequent fish deaths). In some locations, rain can bring other problems.
When local air is highly polluted, rain may become too acidic and harm your plants and your soil. Then you would be better off with tap water.
You might be right that there is something about rainwater composition that your garden likes more than your town water but scientists always like to think about alternative explanations for what they observe.
The sudden reinvigoration of your garden might have been also related to water quantity. It's possible that the soil water content at the base of the plants' root zone was so low during the prolonged drought that although it seemed to you like you have watered your plants sufficiently on the surface, not enough moisture has percolated to the base of the root zone.
In other words, the soil was too thirsty to let the water soak deep enough. The extremely heavy rains that some parts of the country received at the end of the drought would have fixed that. Moreover, plants generally do look much livelier after their leaves have been washed off after a good downpour.
Who knows - the sad-looking plants could have been caused by a water quantity rather than a water quality problem. You could test your hunch about your plants craving nitrogen by enriching the water with a bit of urine and see how your garden reacts to that. If your plants like it, you might have found the problem as well as the solution. Mother Nature can sometimes have a strange sense of humour but it's always good to stop and check whether she's really joking or trying to tell us something deeper.
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