If your current planting goals involve plants that require good
water drainage, I am sure you know how frustrating it is to have
a yard that just won’t cooperate. Some plants can handle the
excess water that comes about from being in an area that doesn’t
drain properly. In fact, it might just cause them to bloom more
lushly. However, other plants don’t cope as well, and it will
cause them to die a gruesome, bloated death. You should always
find out about the drainage required for every plant you buy,
and make sure that it won’t conflict with any of the areas you
are considering planting it in.
In order to test how much water your designated patch of soil
will retain, dig a hole approximately ten inches deep. Fill it
with water, and come back in a day when all the water had
disappeared. Fill it back up again. If the 2nd hole full of
water isn’t gone in 10 hours, your soil has a low saturation
point. This means that when water soaks into it, it will stick
around for a long time before dissipating. This is unacceptable
for almost any plant, and you are going to have to do something
to remedy it if you want your plants to survive.
The usual method for improving drainage in your garden is to
create a raised bed. This involves creating a border for a small
bed, and adding enough soil and compost to it to raise it above
the rest of the yard by at least 5 inches. You’ll be amazed at
how much your water drainage will be improved by this small
modification. If you’re planning to build a raised bed, your
prospective area is either on grass or on dirt. For each of
these situations, you should build it slightly differently.
If you want to start a raised garden in a non grassy area, you
won’t have much trouble. Just find some sort of border to retain
the dirt you will be adding. I’ve found that there is nothing
that works quite as well as a few two by fours. After you’ve
created the wall, you must put in the proper amount soil and
steer manure. Depending on how long you plan to wait before
planting, you will want to adjust the ratio to allow for any
deteriorating that may occur.
If you’re trying to install a raised bed where sod already
exists, you will have a slightly more difficult time. You will
need to cut the sod around the perimeter of the garden, and flip
it over. This may sound simple, but you will need something with
a very sharp edge to slice the edges of the sod and get under
it. Once you have turned it all upside down, it is best to add a
layer of straw to discourage the grass from growing back up.
After the layer of straw, simply add all the soil and steer
manure that a normal garden would need.
Planting your plants in your new area shouldn’t pose much
difficulty. It is essentially the same process as your usual
planting session. Just be sure that the roots don’t extent too
far into the original ground level. The whole point of creating
the raised bed is to keep the roots out of the soil which
saturates easily. Having long roots that extend that far
completely destroys the point.
Once you have plants in your new bed, you’ll notice an almost
immediate improvement. The added soil facilitates better root
development. At the same time, evaporation is prevented and
decomposition is discouraged. All of these things added together
makes for an ideal environment for almost any plant to grow in.
So don’t be intimidated by
the thought of adjusting the very
topography of your yard. It is a simple process as I’m sure
you’ve realized, and the long term results are worth every bit
of work.
