Many places in the Phoenix metro area have very poor drainage. In these conditions many plants benefit from improving the soil drainage.

Does My Soil Drain?

One way to test soil drainage is to dig a hole a few feet wide and a few feet deep and fill it with water. Then time how long it takes before there is no standing water in the bottom of the hole. If it takes more than 24 hours taking action to improve drainage will be helpful for many plants.

How Do I Improve My Drainage

Using Plants

Densely plant quick growing plants with strong tap roots like moringa, sunflowers or dikon radishes. Then cut them down but don’t pull up the roots. The tap roots will penetrate several feet or more into the soil and will improve the drainage as they decompose.

Using Amendments

When planting a tree dig your panting hole. Then use a post hole digger to make a deep shaft in the center of the planting hole. Once the shaft is a few feet deep measured from the bottom of the planting hole to the bottom of the shaft, perform the test outlined above. If the hole doesn’t pass the test, make the shaft a few feet deeper and retest. Once the hole passes the test fill the shaft with sand and be sure to amend the back fill with lots of organic mater, perlite, sand etc. to make it drain better.