Generally, you can assess the drainage of your soil with what is called a perk test. OK .. what in the world is that ?
Let's say you dig a planting hole in your bed about 2' x 2' for a large specimen plant. Fill it with water and wait and see how long it takes to drain. If it doesn't drain at all ... you have lousy drainage because it is draining far too slow. If it drains in about 15 minutes, you have lousy drainage because the soil is draining so fast the plants will not have time to take up moisture.
In both cases you will have to take corrective action.
Your basic premise about your garden should be that it primarily an artificial environment. You do want to take your clues from nature's environment to increase your efficiency and your success ratio and you are starting at the right point in starting your garden. You are assessing your soil. Determining which plants will do best in the kind of soil you have in your garden and trying to figure out what you need to do to make your soil work better for your plants in the long run.
Adding compost and organic material to correct drainage is only part of the answer of what it takes to build good soil. I found that out the hard way. I have spent 10 years building the soil in my garden following that technique. I did build live soil, but when drought hit my area of the country, I lost much of the beautiful soil I had built because I had missed a few steps in the process of building good top soil.
I am going to invite a few other NGA members to join this discussion that have greater knowledge of soil issues to join this discussion to help you understand that there are more questions to be asked and answered about building soil beyond just drainage. I think the discussion will not only help you, but will help all of us.
@sooby,
@RickCorey,
@hampartsum can you help us out here ?
