VOA慢速英语2021--How to Garden When You Have Too Much Water

How to Garden When You Have Too Much Water

Unusual weather this summer has hurt many gardens in the United States. For many, the problem is not enough rain, for others it is too much.

In some gardens, water sits on the surface of the ground or the ground stays wet for hours after rain stops. The best action then is to move the garden to a place where the water will drain better.

Oh, do you want to keep your garden where it is? Then you should plant yellow flag iris¹, sweet flag, marsh² mallow, marsh marigold and other plants that like soft, wet soils.

Do you still want to grow tomatoes, roses and marigolds in that sunny place? It can be done. But you have to get some air into the soil — that is, provide for water drainage — so the roots of these plants can breathe. We will look at three ways you can correct the problem of too much water – you can use one, or all three, in the same garden.

Use a waterway to drain water

One way is to drain the water away to some lower location. The simplest way is with a ditch, or, if your garden is large, a few ditches. You will also, of course, need the ditch to drain onto lower ground.

The more clay in the soil, the more ditches are needed to drain off the water.

A drainage ditch does not have to be large, just 8 to 10 centimeters. The deeper the ditch, the greater the depth of well-aerated soil that results, so dig at least 15 centimeters deep. A gradual decline along the length of any ditch, about 15 centimeters per 30.5 meters, keeps water flowing downhill.

Ditches crossing your garden need not be unpleasant to look at or troublesome. Picture a garden in which flat stones line ditches and form bridges across ditches that cross paths. The whole system can be a beautiful water "feature."

These waterways may look like a classic Persian garden. The Persian garden, however, uses the long, narrow waterways to bring water to the plants, not take it away.

Use pipes

Another way to drain away water -- without changing the appearance of your garden – is to bury pipes with small holes underground.

Dig a ditch, as described above, then lay in black pipe that is about 10 centimeters across its width. Available at home and building stores, the pipe is made to bend easily, and the holes in it let in water. Cover the pipe with a fabric⁴ that water can pass through to keep out dirt and a layer of small stones, then replace the soil.

Place the pipe so water in it will flow to a lower area. Make sure the lower end of the pipe is either open or lays on a group of small stones.

Raise the roots

A third way to give your plants more air is to raise them above the water. Trees and shrubs⁶ can be planted on raised piles of soil, often called "beds." The beds need to be wide enough to allow roots to spread. How wide depends on the eventual⁷ size of the plant. If you want a bigger plant, give its roots more room to grow.

For vegetables and flowers, raised beds provide well-aerated soil. To make a raised bed, build a box at least 15 centimeters high of wood or stone. You should be able to reach into the middle of the box without standing⁸ in it. Remove grass from the inside area and add a layer of flattened⁹ boxes or old newspapers to prevent unwanted growth. To avoid unwanted plants, fill it with the kind of mix you would use for growing in a container. The higher the surface of the bed, the greater the depth of well-drained soil for the roots.

A grouping of raised beds, as well as the materials used for their sides and the paths, might make you think of medieval Europe. It will look even more like a classic European garden if the edging is of wood with small, rounded cream-colored stones for the paths.

Or form the beds with rough cut logs and lay crushed rocks on the paths, and you might instead imagine yourself riding up on a horse to enter this colonial American garden.

You could be like the Aztec gardeners near a lake outside of Mexico City. They took the wet soil from between their planting beds to keep them raised. Plant plenty of marigolds, a favorite flower of the Aztecs, to create a similar garden.

Words in This Story

drain – v. to flow into, away from, or out of something

ditch – n. a long narrow hole that is dug along a road, field, etc., and used to hold or move water

clay – n. a heavy, sticky material from the earth that is made into different shapes and that becomes hard when it is baked or dried

aerate³ – v. to put air a gas into (something, such as soil or a liquid); or to provide a way for air to enter naturally

decline – n. to become lower in amount or less in number

classic – adj. used to describe something that has been popular for a long time

fabric – n. woven or knitted material; in this case special cloth made to use in a garden

shrub⁵ – n. a plant that has stems of wood and is smaller than a tree

medieval – adj. of or relating to the Middle Ages : of or relating to the period of European history from about C.E. 500 to about 1500

log – n. a long, heavy section of a tree that has fallen or been cut down

1 iris   

n.虹膜，彩虹

参考例句：

• The opening of the iris is called the pupil.虹膜的开口处叫做瞳孔。
• This incredible human eye,complete with retina and iris,can be found in the Maldives.又是在马尔代夫，有这样一只难以置信的眼睛，连视网膜和虹膜都刻画齐全了。

2 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

3 aerate   

v.充气，让空气进入

参考例句：

• It were an aquarium,complete with an air pump to aerate the running water.但最让我难忘的礼物否则玩具，而是唯一带空气泵、能通气的鱼缸。
• Each insect contributes something just as ants aerate the soil.每一种昆虫都贡献了一些事情，就象蚂蚁松土给土壤增加空气一样。

4 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

5 shrub   

n.灌木，灌木丛

参考例句：

• There is a small evergreen shrub on the hillside.山腰上有一小块常绿灌木丛。
• Moving a shrub is best done in early spring.移植灌木最好是在初春的时候。

6 shrubs   

灌木( shrub的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gardener spent a complete morning in trimming those two shrubs. 园丁花了整个上午的时间修剪那两处灌木林。
• These shrubs will need more light to produce flowering shoots. 这些灌木需要更多的光照才能抽出开花的新枝。

7 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。