Minter: improving drainage in our gardens

As we move into fall and winter, last weekend’s atmospheric river certainly exemplified our new weather realities.

It was a timely reminder that we must adapt our gardens to changing conditions. Although it was good to get deep moisture back into our lawns and gardens after a very dry summer, we may need to make some adjustments.

If your yard has been accumulating water and draining very slowly, you may need to dig a deep drainage hole or amend the soil with a fine bark mulch to make it more open and porous, allowing excess water to drain away quickly.

Many of our trees, perennials and shrubs, such as rhododendrons and azaleas, do not like wet feet, and now is a great time to address any drainage issues.

Often, one property will be higher or lower than its neighbors, and when it rains heavily, the lower property will receive most of the runoff, causing its soil to be too wet. Drainage fields can help solve this problem.

So, before our wet winter weather really exacerbates the problem, now is the time to remedy this situation.

If the soil in both your lawn and garden stays wet for several days, you should aerate the lawn now and then apply a quarter-inch layer of sand. Such processing will help to significantly improve the porosity of the soil, as well as improve drainage. It is also important to apply lime to these areas now to prevent the soil from becoming too acidic.

If your trees and shrubs have long periods of standing water after heavy periods of rain, it would be a good idea to mulch fir bark around the drip lines of these trees to improve drainage in those areas.

It is better to wait until the trees drop their leaves. If the tree is evergreen, wait until at least mid-November when it goes into winter dormancy. Work the mulch deep into the soil, especially if the soil has a heavy clay base. This will also encourage new roots to grow over the winter.

For areas where you have planted bulbs, annuals, perennials and winter plants, it would be very helpful to lighten and open the soil with a bark mulch to prevent rotting or severe root damage from frozen soil during the winter cold.

The late summer and early fall were relatively mild, and many annuals were still in bloom, but recent heavy rains have mostly ended the season. If you want to plant some bulbs, winter violas, or winter-blooming perennials and shrubs, it’s important to first make sure the soil in those areas is well-drained.

Again, a fir mulch covered with a planting area will help break up heavy soils. This is also important for winter containers, especially those that are displayed outside. Most garden stores sell potting soil mixes that have better drainage. There is still time to plant bulbs, winter pansies, winter flowering perennials such as hellebore and winter flowering shrubs to create color at this time of year when we need it most.

The extraordinary rainfall that fell last week was simply nature’s way of letting us know what to expect over the coming months.

Making some important amendments to our gardens to prevent stress on our plants will help all of our plants through the winter, allowing them to perform much better next spring.