Where I grew up in Illinois, the soils were very sandy and
extremely well-drained. Even after days of heavy rain, it took
only a couple of dry days for breezes to raise dust from the
fields on my grandparentís farm. This certainly isn't the case
across much of Central New York. Here, soils often have a high
content of clay and are very poorly drained. In these places,
water often stands for days, or even weeks after a stretch of
rainy weather. There are even neighborhoods where any hole
thatís dug quickly fills with water thatís "perched" on top of
poorly drained subsoilóeven weeks after the last rainfall! In
places where soils remain wet for long periods of time, it can
be impossible to grow many of the most popular landscape plants.
Yews, rhododendrons and azaleas, roses, and even common lawn
grasses such as Kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, and perennial
ryegrass don't grow well, or sometimes at all in wet soils. And,
while itís possible to modify sites by installing raised beds
and/or below-ground drainage