If your current planting goals involve plants that need good soil drainage, I am sure you know how frustrating it is to have a garden that just won’t cooperate. Some plants can handle the excess water that comes about from being in a spot that doesn’t drain too well. In fact, it might just cause them to bloom more lushly. However, other plants don’t cope as well. You have to always find out about the drainage required for each 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 about ten inches deep. Fill it with water, and come back in a day when all the water has 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 stay around for a long time before dissipating. This is undesirable for almost any plant, and you are going to have to do something to rectify it if you want your plants to thrive.

The usual method for improving drainage in your garden is to install 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 garden by at least 5 inches. You’ll be surprised at how much your water drainage will be improved by this small modification. If you’re planning to create 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 build a raised garden in a non grassy area, you won’t have much trouble. Just find some sort of border to retain the soil 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 made 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 grass already exists, you will have a slightly more difficult time. You will need to cut the grass around the perimeter of the proposed raised bed, and flip it over. This may sound simple, but you will need something with a very sharp edge to slice the edges of the grass 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 raised bed would need.

Planting your plants in your new raised bed shouldn’t pose much difficulty. It is fundamentally 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 installing the raised bed is to keep the roots out of the soil which saturates easily. Having long roots that extend that far down completely destroys the point of having a raised bed.

Once you have plants in your new bed, you’ll see an almost immediate improvement. The added soil help better root development. And, 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 frightened by the thought of adjusting the very topography of your garden. It is a simple process as I’m sure you’ve realized, and the long term results are worth the effort.

Of course indoor gardening is a great hobby too. How about growing orchids? Discover more
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