Water Drainage For Plants

When a planting area does not drain properly, some plants may handle excess water and bloom lushly. However, almost all plants do not cope well with excessive water. These plants would die a gruesome, bloated death when water drainage is poor. It is therefore important to study the drainage requirements of every plant in the planting area and make sure that all the plants are adequately provided with proper water drainage.


To test the drainage capability, dig into the soil a hole approximately ten inches deep. Fill it fully with water check if all the water is drained after a day. If yes, fill the hole fully and check again after 10 hours. If the water is not fully drained, it is an indication that the soil is of low drainage. Water is soaking the soil and staying inside for a long time before dissipating. This is unacceptable for most plants and remedial improvement is necessary to provide proper water drainage for plants.

Raised Bed For Plants

Most farms deploy the common method for improving drainage by developing a set of drainage contours for water collection and drainage. Raised beds are then created for the plantings. This involves creating a border for a small bed and heaps it with soil and compost to raise the bed above soil level by at least 5 inches. Raised bed for plants will improve water drainage drastically as excess water will overflow outside the raised bed instead of soaking the plants.


If the area is not grassy, two by four walls can be used as raised bed border. Add into the wall proper amount of soil and steer manure according to planting requirements.

Raised Bed On Grassy Area

Whereas if sod is already growing, the task would be more challenging to build a raise bed. First the grass around the perimeter of the bed will have to be cut. This requires a tool with very sharp edge to slice the edges of the sod and get under it. Once the sod is cut, flip it over and turn it upside down to discourage the grass from growing back up. It would be better if a layer of straw can be added before adding all the soil and steer manure to raise the bed.


The whole point of creating a raised bed for plants is to keep their roots out of the soil which saturates easily. When planting into the raised bed, just ensure that plant roots do not extent too far into the original soil level. Plants with long roots would not be suitable as it would be destroyed once the root soak into the poorly drained soil.


With proper water drainage, plants in the raised bed will develop better roots and the healthy growth is immediately noticeable. With added advantage of slow evaporation and low decomposition, raised bed is an ideal environment for almost any plant to grow in.