Making A Raised Bed

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If your present planting ambitions involve plants that need good drainage, I am sure you are aware how disheartening it is to possess a yard that just won’t cooperate. Some plants can handle the excess water that takes place from being in an area that doesn’t drain properly. In point of fact, it could just cause them to bloom more lushly. Although, other plants don’t cope as well, and it will cause them to die a gruesome, bloated death. You should always ascertain about the drainage necessary for every plant you buy, and make certain that it will not conflict with any of the areas you are considering planting it in. You can keep from over watering by using water timers or a garden hose soaker.

In order to try how much water your designated patch of soil will retain, dig a hole approximately ten ins deep. Fill it with water, and come back within 24 hours when all the water had gone away. 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 signifies that when water soaks into it, it will stick around for quite a while 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 normal method for improving drainage in your garden is to create a raised bed. This implies making 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 ins. You’ll be astonished at how much your drainage will be improved by this small modification. If you’re planning to develop a raised bed, your prospective area is either on grass or on dirt. For every one of these circumstances, you should build it slightly differently.

If you want to start a raised garden in a non grassy area, you will not have much trouble. Just find some sort of border to retain the dirt you will probably be adding. I’ve learned that there’s little that works quite in addition to a couple of two by fours. After you’ve designed the wall, you must put in the right amount soil and steer manure. Dependent on how long you plan to wait before planting, you will need to adjust the ratio to provide any deteriorating that might occur.

If you are trying to fit a raised bed where sod already exists, you should have a somewhat more hard time. You will have 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 become it all upside down, it is better to include 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 should not pose much difficulty. It is critically 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.

Once 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 a healthy environment for virtually any plant to grow in. So don’t be intimidated by the thought of adjusting the very topography of your yard. It is an easy process as I’m sure you’ve realized, and the long term results are valuable every bit of work.