Building A Raised Bed
If your current planting objectives involve plants that need good water drainage, I am sure you are aware how disheartening it is to have a yard that just won’t cooperate. Some plants can handle the excess water that materializes from being in an area that doesn’t drain properly. In fact, it may 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. Invariably you should ascertain about the drainage needed for every plant you purchase, and ensure that it will not conflict with any of the areas you are thinking about planting it in. You can keep from over watering by using water timers or a garden hose soaker.
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 return within 24 hours when all the water had vanished. Fill it back up again. If the 2nd hole filled with water isn’t gone in 10 hours, your soil has a low saturation point. This suggests that when water soaks into it, it will stick around for a long time before dissipating. This is unacceptable for virtually any plant, and you are going to have to do something to treat it if you want your plants to survive.
The usual method for improving drainage in your garden is to build a raised bed. This calls for creating a border for a tiny bed, and adding enough soil and compost to it to raise it above the rest of the yard by at least 5 inches. You will be flabbergasted at how much your drainage will be improved by this small modification. If you are intending to develop a raised bed, your prospective area is either on grass or on dirt. For every one of these situations, you ought to 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 type of border to retain the dirt you may be adding. I’ve found that there’s little that works quite as well as a couple of two by fours. After you’ve made the wall, you should put in the correct amount soil and steer manure. Depending on how long you plan to wait before planting, you will need to adjust the ratio to permit any deteriorating that may occur.
If you are trying to fit a raised bed where sod already exists, you should have a slightly more tough 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. As soon as you have become it all upside down, it is better 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 an ordinary garden would need.
Planting your plants in your new area should not pose much trouble. It is essentially the same process as your usual planting session. Just be sure that the roots don’t level 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.
As soon as you have plants in your new bed, you’ll notice an nearly immediate improvement. The added soil facilitates better root development. Simultaneously, 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 straightforward process as I’m sure you’ve realized, and the long term results are valuable every bit of work.
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