Hi All,

My pepper plants are starting to look yellowish and don't appear to doing
well. From other posts and the look of the soil make me think too much water
is the issue. I created a new raised bed this year in a new location along a
fence which is only partially enclosed. It seems that much of the water from
the backyard and likely the neighbors seems to run down into and alongside
this bed. I put store brought soil on top of our terrible clay soil. It
worked well last year in a different area with no drainage issues. Is there
anything I can do to help dry out the soil?

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the bed
so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY

"Craig" in
k.net:

Hi All,

My pepper plants are starting to look yellowish and don't appear to
doing well. From other posts and the look of the soil make me think
too much water is the issue. I created a new raised bed this year in a
new location along a fence which is only partially enclosed. It seems
that much of the water from the backyard and likely the neighbors
seems to run down into and alongside this bed. I put store brought
soil on top of our terrible clay soil. It worked well last year in a
different area with no drainage issues. Is there anything I can do to
help dry out the soil?

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the
bed so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY

some people grow peppers in pots, so i conclude that peppers don't need
a lot of root area.

maybe there's something in the neighbor's runoff???

I don't know the orientation of your bed or the slope, if any that it
rests on... but try raising the bed a few notches and mixing sand in
with the soil at a ratio of 1 part sand to 2-3 parts soil.... some
peat moss tilled into the mix would acidify the soil slightly and make
for optimum growing conditions for the peppers (they like slightly
acidic soil). Digging shallow ditches around the bed may do some good
too... but do fill the ditches with gravel as you don't want storm
erosion to take out your whole bed. Alternately, just go with the
container idea mentioned by the guy who replied to your message first
and plant some sort of moisture-loving plants there instead....
irises, cannas, possibly bog lilies of some sort.

Best of luck to you and here's to a pleasant summer. :-)


Hi All,

My pepper plants are starting to look yellowish and don't appear to doing
well. From other posts and the look of the soil make me think too much water
is the issue. I created a new raised bed this year in a new location along a
fence which is only partially enclosed. It seems that much of the water from
the backyard and likely the neighbors seems to run down into and alongside
this bed. I put store brought soil on top of our terrible clay soil. It
worked well last year in a different area with no drainage issues. Is there
anything I can do to help dry out the soil?

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the bed
so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY

Craig wrote:

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the bed
so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY


Add compost to the clay. Add gypsum to the clay. Add sand to the clay. All
will help the clay drain and the compost will also make a dramatic change
in the fertility of the soil.

Bottom line: fix the clay. Your problem is not how much water you got but
your inability to get rid of the excess. It would not be unreasonable to
use a double-dug method in order to apply the amendments deep. This might
be a tough job, but would only need to be done once if organic amendments
are kept current thereafter.

Bill

Craig wrote:

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the bed
so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY


Add compost to the clay. Add gypsum to the clay. Add sand to the clay. All
will help the clay drain and the compost will also make a dramatic change
in the fertility of the soil.

Bottom line: fix the clay. Your problem is not how much water you got but
your inability to get rid of the excess. It would not be unreasonable to
use a double-dug method in order to apply the amendments deep. This might
be a tough job, but would only need to be done once if organic amendments
are kept current thereafter.

Bill

Craig wrote:

Even if I can't save things for this year, any ideas on how to fix the bed
so I do not have the same issue next year?

Thanks!

Craig K
Staten Island, NY


Add compost to the clay. Add gypsum to the clay. Add sand to the clay. All
will help the clay drain and the compost will also make a dramatic change
in the fertility of the soil.

Bottom line: fix the clay. Your problem is not how much water you got but
your inability to get rid of the excess. It would not be unreasonable to
use a double-dug method in order to apply the amendments deep. This might
be a tough job, but would only need to be done once if organic amendments
are kept current thereafter.

Bill

Bill wrote:

Sorry about the multiple posts. My news agent kept telling me that the
message hadn't been sent ... so I resent them. Several times.

Bill