When you have a vegetable garden, it needs watering, but if it gets too much water, the plants may become waterlogged and die. If a lot of stormwater tends to pool in your garden, you should take steps to improve the drainage. Depending on your situation, there are several things you can do.
1. Add Hummus to the Soil
In some cases, stormwater may be sitting on your vegetable garden because the soil isn't absorbing the water. Typically, this happens when your soil has a lot of clay in it. You can remedy the situation by turning some hummus into your soil. The hummus aerates the garden, creating more room for the plants' roots and for stormwater to pass through.
2. Build a Creek Bed
If your garden is higher than some of the surrounding area, you may want to encourage stormwater to travel to the lower areas by building a creek bed. To do so, simply dig a slight trench along a slope that goes from the garden to a lower part of your yard.
Then, add interesting rocks to the trench to create the appearance of a creek bed. The next time it rains, any water that isn't absorbed by the garden should roll down the creek bed. This also creates a nice decorative touch next to your garden.
3. Consider Adding a Drain
If you don't have space for a creek bed, you may want to consider adding a drain to remove excess stormwater from your garden. To add a drain, you need to dig a trench. Again, it should go from the garden to a lower part of your yard.
Then, lay a piece of PVC pipe into the trench. You can leave one end of the pipe exposed to collect rain water, or you can drill holes throughout the pipe so that it absorbs stormwater from the ground. Then, cover the pipe with soil or turf as desired. You can also contact a professional company to install stormwater drainage.
4. Plant Strategically
If you still have a lot of stormwater, you may want to plant strategically. Plants such as lettuce, asparagus and celery all thrive with lots of water, and you may want to put plants such as that in the portions of your garden that tend to get the most water. However, even these plants can die with too much water — as a result, in most cases, you need to combine strategic planting with stormwater drainage techniques.
Share