Gardening Tips For Wet Soil

Gardening though sounds very easy but it is a very technical and demanding hobby/profession. To be successful in doing up your garden beautifully, it is essential to have a vast knowledge base with respect to the kind of soil that your land has, suitable plants that can grow in that particular type of soil and necessary precautions that one should take for enriching your land and last but not the least how to take care of your plants along with protecting them. Follow few tips for wet soil for a good harvest.

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The first and the foremost thing to be aware about is the kind of soil your land has, essentially is it wet or not? Around 25% air and 25% water retaining ability is required for any type of soil to support good plantation.

Excess of water as in the case of wet soil is due to poor drainage and high water retention capabilities of the soil. This property make it unsuitable for plantation as it leads to water related problems in plants due to excessive water. Eg. of this kind of soil is clay.

No retention of water as in the case of sand is also an undesirable attribute for good health of plants as this kind of soil is not able to fulfill even the basic needs of water with respect to most of the plants.

One can easily test for wet soil by digging a 2 feet deep pit, filling it up with water, covering it and then letting it remain like that overnight. If in the morning you find that more than half of the pit is still filled with water, then you can be sure that it is wet soil which will need immediate attention before you can pursue your beloved hobby/ profession of gardening.

How to treat wet soil?

Organic Treatment: Put around one barrow of organic material in one meter square of wet soil to make it suitable for plantation.

Artificial Drainage: You can install pipes underground to ensure drainage of excess water from the wet soil.

Sand Treatment: Add dry sand in half the proportion of clay to make your wet soil more porous.

Gypsum Treatment: Adding gypsum will open up your wet soil allowing more effective drainage.

Raised Garden: Get an earth mover and elevate your garden from the surroundings to ensure better drainage and minimum clogging.

Suitable Plants For Wet Soil – If you still can’t get over the problem, then it is suggested and recommended to use plants which love water and can flourish in the same. Cue can be taken from the under mentioned varieties which are not tough to find.

Perennials.

Blue Flag (Iris Vericolor).

Bog Arum (Calla Palustris).

Flowering Rush (Butomus mbellatus).

Golden Club (Orontium Aquaticum).

Shrubs.

Button Bush (Cephalanthus Occidentalis ).

Red Osier Dogwood (Cornus Sericea ).

Winterberry (IlexVverticillata).

Yaupon Holly (Ilex Vomitoria).

Trees.

Atlantic white cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides)

Black Ash (Fraxinus Nigra).

Green Ash (Fraxinus Pennsylvanica).

Pear (Pyrus Spp).

Pin Oak (Quercus Palustris).

Red Maple (Acer Rubrum).

Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia Virginiana).

Water Tupelo (Nyssa Aquatica).

Though a bit difficult, but some amount of wet soil should not prevent anyone from the hobby/ profession of gardening. Happy gardening to all!