Does your garden seem waterlogged or parched all the time?
Here’s what you better know to improve your soil’s drainage.
And how can you tell if your soil is well-draining?
Credit: Brie Passano
You want soil that supplies air and water to plant roots in about equal proportions.
When it rains or irrigatesyour garden, these pore spaces fill with water.
As the water moves downward through the soil, it’s replaced by air.
This movement is referred to as soil drainage, and how fast it happens is what’s important.
How to Tell If You Have Well-Drained Soil
Determining how well your soil drains is pretty easy.
Next, fill the hole with water.
In soil with good drainage, the level should drop about an inch per hour.
This simple fix works for almost any soil that drains too fast or slowly.
If you’d rather avoid lots of digging or want a quicker solution,raised beds are the answer.
The beds should be 6-8 inches above the existing soil level.
you could purchase orbuild raised bedsfrom different materials and size them to suit your needs.
Creating well-draining soil in pots is similar.
you might either buy bagged potting mix ormake your own blend.
It’s best not to use soil from your garden in containers, no matter how well-drained.
It tends to be too heavy and can contain weed seeds and pets that could cause problems later.
Note:This may be a project best done by a landscape professional.
