Drainage is important whether we plan a small vegetable garden or a large orchard, a new lawn or flower border, or simply potting a plant.
For aquatics and swamp-loving plants, wet conditions are desirable but most plants, including trees and shrubs, will die if their roots are in water too long, even in winter.
Adaptable Bald Cypress
Not all plants are as adaptable as the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum), which grows in swamps and under drier conditions. When it grows in swamps, it sends up modified roots sometimes, as high as 5’ feet called knees.
We are told that this is how the tree obtains air for its roots. Some water-loving irises will thrive in well-drained gardens. Iris pseudacorus and I. Versicolor appears happy whether its roots are wet or dry.
Correcting Drainage Problems
Beans and potatoes, petunias and zinnias, and many of the commonly grown garden plants. However, they do not adjust to conditions of really excessive or insufficient moisture. Therefore when drainage problems exist, we should try to correct them.
Dry And Aerate Soil
Some way must be found to dry and aerate soil that stays too wet. If the soil structure is such that water flows through too rapidly or cannot penetrate at all, the problem is retaining moisture or getting it into the soil.
Provide Adequate Oxygen
Roots need moisture, but at the same time, air must not be excluded. Oxygen is an element the gardener cannot supply, like fertilizer, simply by pouring it out of a bag. So instead, plants get oxygen through their leaves and the air-laden moisture absorbed by their roots.
The gardener’s part is to ensure that air space is left in the moist soil. A soil condition or location may cause poor drainage in a low spot where excess water collects. For example, House plant trouble may be caused by a flower pot with no drainage hole.
Caution In Watering
If we use caution in watering, some house plants may be grown successfully in containers with no drainage holes. However, most of them do better and are more easily cared for if drainage holes exist.
A piece of the broken flower pot with the rounded side up should be placed over the drainage hole in a clay or plastic pot.
If the pot is medium in size, use several pieces. For large pots, cover the entire bottom with broken crockery.
Use Pound Coffee Cans
Pound coffee cans make handy planters for seeds if drainage holes are provided. Use a nail and hammer, and the humus should be mixed in after spaying or plowing at a depth of 12” inches.
If a hedge is to be planted where water stands for several hours after rain, the soil should be prepared in the same manner before the shrubs are planted.
An Orchard Needs Thorough Drainage
It isn’t enough to fill the planting holes with fast-draining soil. In time they become simply pockets of water if the soil around them does not allow the water to seep away.
Study the situation to decide which drainage method is most practical—tiles under single trees running to drains, soil improvement over the entire orchard, or whether water from higher ground is causing trouble and needs a diversion.
Solving Wet Problems
Sometimes it is rather easy to solve these too-wet problems. One gardener told of digging a shallow ditch around her triangular penstemon bed to prevent water from standing too long around the plants.
This same method often works in winter to carry away surface water when the ground is frozen. Make shallow ditches to lead the water from driveways, perennial plantings, or bulb beds.
44659 by Olga Rolf Tiemann