Waterlogging always occurs when the soil stores too much water and it cannot drain away. This can be the case, for example, due to excessive watering or a heavy downpour. Very few plants can tolerate long-term high humidity, as a result the roots initially rot and eventually the entire plant dies.
How can you prevent waterlogging in raised beds?
Effective drainage is essential to prevent waterlogging in raised beds. For beds in contact with the ground, well-layered raised beds are recommended. For beds without ground contact, such as on the balcony, drainage pipes or perforated boxes can be used.
It doesn't work without drainage
For this reason, effective drainage is absolutely necessary, not only in raised beds - if the water drainage doesn't 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 contact with the ground, such as those on a balcony or terrace. There are various options for this.
Prevent waterlogging in raised beds 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 when it comes to water drainage, as long as it is a well-layered raised bed. Such a compost raised bed has a thick drainage layer as the bottom layer, which should under no circumstances be reduced in size or even left out. Even if you don't want to set up a large raised bed as a compost bed but just fill it with soil, drainage is essential. For this purpose, the lowest layers are added to the bed:
- thick wooden blocks or pieces of trunk
- coarsely chopped branches and brushwood
- Wood chippings
This layer should be as thick as possible - the better the drainage will work. Instead of wood, you can also use stones, such as pebbles or perforated concrete blocks (so-called perforated bricks).
Prevent waterlogging in raised beds without contact with the ground
Drainage in raised beds without contact with the ground, for example a table bed on the balcony, is more problematic. Here too, the water must be able to drain to the outside, for which there are various methods. The simplest is probably the installation of one or more drainage pipes, which are already available in small sizes (from DIN 50). For example, the water that runs off can be collected in a separate container, such as a bucket underneath. A drainage filter hose (€24.00 at Amazon) ensures that the drain hole does not become muddy and therefore clogged. There is also this option for small raised beds:
- Place one or more perforated boxes in the raised bed.
- Depending on the size of the box, shopping baskets or washing baskets are very suitable.
- Fill these baskets with drainage material and soil.
- Plant them.
- Lift out the baskets periodically to remove excess water.
Tip
The collected excess water can be used as fertilizer because it has washed the nutrients out of the bed.
