Raised bed soil drains TOO easily
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Raised bed soil drains TOO easily

by JoAnn M
(Saint Louis, Missouri, USA)

I'm in a community garden and the raised beds that I have are draining too quickly. What can I add to slow the rate down. They were apparently filled with compost when first started and it looks like there was sand mixed in as well...thanks.

Doug says the only thing that will slow down the water from a raised bed is to add organic matter such as peat moss to the bed. Drainage is always faster in a raised bed than in ground-level beds but that's the best thing you can do to slow it down.

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Raised bed soil drains TOO easily

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An Advantage
by: english-gardener

I have had nine 4ft x 8ft raised beds for the last 32 years and for me one of their great advantages is that they DO drain just as I would like them to. The beds are 8in deep and sitting on a soil that has a high clay content. Currently they are on a timer and receive 5 mins early every morning using a series of emitters tailored to the plants in each bed. During the day they dry out gradually and the plants aren't sitting in soggy soil. Many of my tomato plants, planted in early March are already 5-6ft tall and loaded with lots of green tomatoes ready to start picking by early July here in the Santa Clara Valley of Northern California. Once I start picking fruit and vegetables I will start cutting back on the watering. You want a nice rich soil containing lots of humus but you also don't want the water hanging around in the top few inches for too long. T

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