How Do I Keep My Raised Garden Bed From Drying Out? Our Top Tips (2024)

FAQs

How Do I Keep My Raised Garden Bed From Drying Out? Our Top Tips? ›

Add a mulch layer.

Shade cover keeps the soil from drying out fast.

You can add patio furniture like umbrellas or plant trees to keep areas shaded. Also, use the plants themselves to provide shade — for example, grow shade-loving lettuce under tall tomato plants in the same garden bed or container.

1. Mulch, mulch, and mulch some more! Cover your soil with a blanket of organic material such as straw, leaves, shredded paper or cardboard, or bark. This will moderate soil temperature, prevent runoff and evaporation, and hold moisture in the for longer periods between waterings.

Healthy soil retains water better

Raised beds can be tricky because they typically dry out faster than traditional gardens. However, they benefit from having healthy soil as long as compost, organic matter and fertilizer are worked in at the beginning of each season. Healthy soil retains moisture better.

Ideally, you should water an in-ground bed 1 to 2 inches a week, while a raised bed may require more water per week. Feeling the soil frequently is the best way to gauge when a raised vegetable bed needs watering.

Types of automatic watering systems include soaker hoses, sprinklers, and drip lines attached to a timer. I've used all three of these methods in my garden, and have found drip-line irrigation is the most effective way to water raised-bed gardens.

You can line your raised bed to make it more durable and to prevent toxics from leaching into the soil. For lining, use landscape fabric found at garden supply stores or cloth fabric from clothing. Avoid non-porous plastic, as it can retain too much water and discourage beneficial insects and worms.

If you're watering your plant every week but the soil still is dry and feels rock solid, you likely have hydrophobic soil. You might notice the water glide over the surface of the dirt, down the side of the pot and out the drainage hole. Sometimes this can indicate your plant needs repotting.

Why is my top soil so dry? ›

After a long dry period the earth becomes dehydrated. From dry weather or lack of watering, if soil is dead and lacks important organic ingredients it will actually repel water, rather than it soaking in when it rains or water is applied. This is known as 'Hydrophobic Soil'.

Organic soil amendments are derived from natural sources and are rich in organic matter. These additives not only improve soil structure but also enhance water retention capacity. Commonly used organic soil amendments include compost, manure, and peat moss.

Landscape fabric is beneficial for raised garden beds, here are just a few of the many reasons why you should use landscape fabric for raised bed gardening: Prevents soil erosion in a raised bed: As a liner, landscape fabric lets water drain away from the soil while leaving the soil intact.

For beds six to 12 inches deep, fill completely with soil. For deeper beds, it's sometimes helpful to add other materials to take up space and reduce the overall amount of soil, but it depends on your preference and soil availability.

Raised garden beds need more frequent watering compared to in-ground garden beds because they dry out more quickly. To avoid overwatering and root rot, check the soil daily and water when it is dry two inches down. Watering every other day is typically sufficient for raised beds.

Raised beds will dry out a bit faster as well, which means you will need to add more moisture than you would if you had in-ground beds. It's not so much that they will dry out faster, but they take significantly more water in order to fully penetrate the depth of the bed compared to that of an in-ground bed.

Over time, the soil level of your raised bed will go down due to compaction from heavy snow and rain, decomposition, and harvesting. Add some blended topsoil and compost if you notice that your raised bed has shrunk significantly.