What do you do with a garden thats waterlogged?

i have puddles all over my garden when it rains and there is nowhere to drain it. i have planted stuff in the hope that it will help, not everything survives, and the garden is so muddy i cant use it, any suggestions, theres no entrance for a digger and its too big to dig up myself, what can i do?

What do you do with a garden thats waterlogged?
Ummm.... STOP WATERING IT....
Reply:we have the same problem-we've dug up trenches all around the garden to drain excess water.
Reply:Use what god gave you and go for a water garden. The dirt from digging the small garden pond could be piled up giving you a raised bed. Not the ideal, but a good way to minimize work and money. Best of luck.
Reply:You might try adding rice hulls to your garden. We have used them and it helps to soak up some of the water and they are very cheap.
Reply:Plant water loving plants like japanese iris, aroids, and ferns that can take a very soggy soil.
Reply:Your indication is that it is rather large, which is unfortunate, as my suggestion was going to be raising the bed up with amended and enriched fill dirt. We've been getting quite a bit of rain here lately (South East Texas) and I'm seeing that my newer flower beds are too low, and retaining water which will soon kill the plants I have in there. But since these beds are not too large to dig up and fill in and replant, I'll do that. I usually go for sunken beds in the vegetable garden since it gets so hot here in the South, and I want the water to soak in rather than run off.

Now you might also try just making drainage ditches (small but effective) till the water problem resolves, using the dirt you dig out of the ditch area to raise up the existing bed....or consider planting boggy plants which would thrive in the wetter conditions.
Reply:One solution might be to install a french drain. This is a piece of perforated pipe buried along where the drainage problems are occurring. Water soaks into the pipe and is carried away so the ground doesn't get so soggy. You would need to be able to dig a trench to install the pipe, and it does need to have a slight slope or the water won't drain. You also need to have the pipe come out somewhere further downhill so the water has somewhere to go. All this may be moot advice though, since you said there was nowhere to drain it to.



Another idea would be to build some raised beds. Make a frame from lumber (pressure treated or redwood so it won't rot) about a foot high and fill it with dirt. You could also put gravel in the bottom to help with drainage so your plants' roots won't get waterlogged. You'd still have puddles, but at least your veggies and flowers would be above the mud in good soil so you could grow things out there. Maybe put stepping stones or gravel between the raised beds, so you're not tramping through mud to get to them.



Hope one of these ideas helps :-)