Beginner Gardening: Another "Too Much Water" Question..., 1 by RickCorey_WA

RickCorey_WA wrote:

1.
One way to improve drainage is to turn some coarse pine bark under. It doesn't last as long as grit (just 2-4 years) but bark shreds can be long and thin, whhcih I think is better for drainage and aeration than round grit.

2.
It also helps to locate your raised beds on high sp[ots in the yard, not low spots. Wherever the water table is after a rain or watering, the soil above grade recovers air long before the soil that's below grade.

My RBs sit on top of impervious clay, so I sloped the floors and dug drainage trenchs so the RB soil was all above water level even during rain.

3.
I use concrete paving stones as RB wall, and som ed are only 3/4" thick. So my beds' c orners and edges dried out first. So I tilted the pavers out and slipped in plastic cut from bags of pine bark mulch. "Lining" the walls with plastic made the edges dry slower, so the whole needed watering less often.