Waterlogging always occurs when the soil stores too much water and this cannot drain off. This can be the case, for example, due to excessive watering or a heavy downpour. Very few plants can tolerate high levels of moisture over the long term, as a result the roots first rot and eventually the whole plant dies.

Waterlogging must be avoided at all costs

It doesn't work without drainage

For this reason, effective drainage is not only absolutely necessary in raised beds - if the water drainage does not work, the bed will soon be literally under water. To prevent this, excess water must always be able to drain to the outside - even on the beds without ground contact, such as those on a balcony or terrace. There are various possibilities.

Prevent waterlogging in raised beds that are in contact with the ground

Raised beds with ground contact are usually beds that are open at the bottom and are only separated from the garden soil by a vole wire. These beds are completely unproblematic in terms of water drainage, as long as it is a well-layered raised bed. Such a compost raised bed gets a thick drainage layer as the bottom layer, which should under no circumstances be reduced or even omitted. Even if you don't want to set up a large raised bed as a compost bed, but only want to fill it with soil, drainage is essential. For this, the bottom layers in the bed are:

  • thick blocks of wood or logs
  • coarsely chopped branches and brushwood
  • wood chips

This layer should be as thick as possible - the better the drainage works. Instead of wood, you can also use stones, for example pebbles or concrete blocks with holes in them (so-called perforated bricks).

Prevent waterlogging in raised beds without ground contact

More problematic is the drainage in raised beds without ground contact, for example a table bed on the balcony. Here, too, the water must be able to drain to the outside, for which there are various methods. Probably the simplest is to install one or more drainage pipes, which are already available in small sizes (from DIN 50). The water running off can, for example, be collected in an extra vessel, for example in a bucket underneath. A drainage filter hose ensures that the drain hole does not become silted up and thus clogged. For small raised beds there is another option:

  • Place one or more perforated boxes in the raised bed.
  • Depending on the size of the box, shopping baskets or laundry baskets are very suitable.
  • Fill these baskets with drainage material and soil.
  • Plant them.
  • Periodically lift the baskets to remove excess water.

tips

The excess water collected can be used as fertilizer because it has washed out the nutrients from the bed.

Category:

Vegetable garden