I recently built 2 planters for my new strawberry plants. I've never done planters before, and I have a MAJOR ISSUE! Right after I planted them, we got a lot of rain in my area, and now there's standing water in my plants and they are dying! How do I drain water without hurting the plants? Or any other ideas! PLEASE!

Somehow, the planters are either watertight enough to be a pond or contain soil that is allowing the planter to trap water. Here are your two potential problem areas:

-What type of soil did you add to the planters? If it was regular garden soil, that might be the problem (too much clay). Store soil is not usually an issue.

-Another is the planters themselves. If they are built too well, they could have ended up watertight. If the planters have a bottom you are going to need to drill holes in the sides to let the water out. If the planters do not have a bottom, they are too flush with the ground. Lever up the corners a little.

Please let us know how it goes.

Sumire, thank you for the response! My planter boxes were, in fact, basically watertight. I was in carpentry before I started gardening, so, while I'm great with wood, I'm not so great at gardening as of yet. I drilled the holes, and I'm waiting to see their recovery. On the bright side, I can see the soil, not just a mini pond.

Yay!

In one of my 2 planters, unfortunately, it seems like the plants are still in poor health... In the other, they are flourishing! I'm so thankful for your help! At least I managed to save half of my strawberry plants!

Yay! Half of them are doing well!

For the other half, just wait. As long as they aren't actually dead and rotting there is still hope.