How to Create Drainage in a Lasagna Garden?
I have an organic lasagna garden that was doing pretty good until a couple months ago when it rained for a week straight and all of my plants died, I’m assuming due to drowning. I am going to dig it up, add more layers, and put the dirt back down and leave it alone until spring. Is there any special way I should arrange it so that the drainage is better the next time around? Or is there something I’m supposed to do to protect the plants when it rains that much?
Making a raised bed it the easiest way to deal with drainage issues. Find materials to use as the borders – timbers, concrete blocks, whatever will hold the organic materials. Then layer your garden “up” in the space there. It should drain well, being above the surrounding soil level, even in the most “wet” times of the year.
What is under the layers? Do you have heavy clay under it that retained the water? Or did you build the bed with slow to break down, water retentive materials? Usually a raised bed like a lasagna garden drains just fine. If you have very heavy clay soil, you may need to dig compost or other organic material and some sand into the underlying clay.
You shouldn’t need to dig it up and replace the soil. If you suspect clay under the bed, roto-till the lasagna layers into the underlying clay along with some sand and compost (aim for 1/3 soil 1/3 sand, 1/3 compost).