Just raise the beds to the point where they do not flood anymore.
Granted, I do not have the clay that predominates in Ithaca, a place
I visited so many times I know which soil it has. But the paths
between
my beds flood every spring, and the garlic in the beds, also sensitive
to
waterlogging, does not care. There are about 4 inches between water
level
and beds surface. To build up your beds, I prefer cinder blocks. You
can
plant carrots, parsnips or radicchio in the blocks holes if you want
to
use the space maximally.

Also, if you are confident of your disease
situation, it is a good idea to leave roots in the ground when you
clean
up in the fall, they will decay and become a draining channel. Many
vegetables get down to 4 feet or more. Not advisable with cabbage.

To fill in, just about any organic material you can lay your hands on
will do,
if you are patient enough. I prefer to get uncomposted stuff, pile it
high,
plant things in it that will manage, and wait. You can surely find a
tree
company that will deliver a load of wood chips for free. They are very
harsh, but
if you mix a bit of manure in it, potatoes will grow decently right in
the chips.
If you top dress with wood ash to balance the pH ( a couple of times
during the season), plus the manure, cucurbitae, garlic and tomatoes
will
grow well in it. Greens, peas or carrots will not grow in such stuff
though.
The chips do take a couple of years to decompose, but in the end you
have
a soil with a thicker humus than with other organic stuff.

If you can get the manure, most everything will grow well in it, and
the
next year your soil is already fine for general use. I have no
experience
with city compost, but if it is mostly leaves, they turn into quality,
neutral soil where everything grows by midsummer. Just pile it high
enough.
If you can't make the beds, just make the pile, plant a melon or
squash on
top, and let it sprawl.


On Mar 26, 4:42 pm, Christopher Riley wrote:
Hello,

I'm going into the third year with my vegetable garden here in Ithaca, NY,
and I've got a serious issue I need to deal with -- one corner of the garden
floods.

I started the first year with a plot about 9 feet wide and 18 feet long, and
everything went swimmingly. Roto-tilled in peat moss and compost. The next
year I extended the plot by about 5 feet (now 14x18), roto-tilled in peat
moss and compost. There is a slope to the plot, but it didn't affect the
lower end of the original plot. Unfortunately, the new corner floods -- I
can get an inch or two of standing water there in the slightly lower pathway
(I raised the bed around it). Damned if I didn't plant my favorite heirloom
tomatoes in that very corner. Still managed to get a small yield. Spent a
lot of last year's rainy summer bailing it out.

This year I want to fix things. I'm planning to redistribute the soil around
the garden a little to build up that end, but there's not that much soil I
want to move. I'm thinking of other ideas -- but need the solution to be
cheap, or free. Here's what I know I have at my disposal:

*My own compost, although there isn't much, or enough, of it
*I have heard there is a huge pile of rotting horse manure on one of the
Cornell equestrian lots that people available for public taking
*Compost is available from the City of Ithaca, what I think is a pile of the
brush they clear each year and let decompose. It is also free.

My question is, what is the best way to improve drainage and build up that
end of the garden that won't damage the soil by being too rich? If, say, I
get compost from the City, should I mix it with peat moss and the existing
soil as far down as I can dig? Or is there another way to raise the soil
height and improve drainage that I'm not thinking of?

I am not at all interested in a water garden, swamp garden, or backyard bog!

Any advice or thoughts are greatly appreciated!

Chris