Peat-moss absorbs an enormous amount of water. I'd put a sprinkler on it all day and just drench it as long as the plants are big enough to handle it.

I have noticed in a few other threads that some people no longer use it because they have had trouble with it repelling water after it has dried out. I use it because it holds water so well, (I have very sandy soil) but I always wet it down in a wheelbarrow and mix it well with manure and topsoil (1/3, 1/3, 1/3) before adding it to a bed.

Peat-moss absorbs an enormous amount of water. I'd put a sprinkler on it all day and just drench it as long as the plants are big enough to handle it.

I have noticed in a few other threads that some people no longer use it because they have had trouble with it repelling water after it has dried out. I use it because it holds water so well, (I have very sandy soil) but I always wet it down in a wheelbarrow and mix it well with manure and topsoil (1/3, 1/3, 1/3) before adding it to a bed.

Use really warm (not hot) water from the faucet indoors and add a couple of drops of dish soap to each gallon to wet the peat in between the plants. Mix it in well.

The soap - an emulsifier - acts as the wetting agent contained in most all potting mixes just for this reason. It changes the surface tension of the peat and allows it to absorb the water. Once wet then you can go back to the regular way you water.

Dave

I placed dry peat moss into my raised beds when filling them. Although I would do it differently the second time around and use a wheelbarrow like mandolls suggested. After filling the beds, I mixed them well and started sprinkling them with the hose until the top was very moist. Let it sit for a few minutes. Broke up the soil with a shovel to expose the drier soil, and I repeated the process. It worked. OR eventually after a few soaking rains it'll be thoroughly moistened as well (as long as the weather isn't too dry in between).

Here is a link that might be useful: Kim's Garden

I agree with Dave's advice re warm water and detergent. In fact, I would add several drops of detergent per gallon of water. It won't hurt the plants.

Having already planted the bed, you may not be able to do much mixing. In that case I suggest repeated light waterings using a watering can with a rose to give a fine spray. Wait a bit after each watering and repeat until the water has penetrated all the way to the bottom.

Jim

Commercial potting mixes containing peat moss also contain wetting agents to make it possible to wet the dry peat fibers without a lot of mechanical mixing. Peat moss holds a tremendous amount of water for its volume, but it chemically repels water molecules until it is dampened. The wetting agent allows the water molecules to penetrate the peat fibers, at which point the natural attraction of water molecules for one another will begin the process of hydrating the mix completely. Either mix in a wetting agent prior to planting, or physically mix water into the peat moss, after which it will accept water much more easily.

Once peat moss dries out it becomes a burden. You can re-wet it, but it takes a soaking or breaking up/mixing.

I really hate these outdoor gardening "soil" mixes that advise using peat moss in beds. This kind of thing happens too often. "Mel's mix" and it's variations for outdoor beds is unnecessarily popular and I have no idea why it keeps getting so many suggestions for it's use. It's mostly nutrient bare light fluff with little nutrient holding capability...especially once the compost component settles/burns out. The amount of vermiculite most of these mixes advise is generally wasteful, costly, and advised in use in an overabundance, too.

The fascination with being able to run your fingers deeply through soil is mistaken for a positive property. Roots are quite surprisingly strong and adept at moving through soils of varying density.

You might want to incorporate a mineral portion to your beds (some clay) in the problem part of the profile and/or add more compost. An added mineral portion will remain in the soil as well as provide a route for water/air infiltration.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Fri, Nov 8, 13 at 19:22

What a great discussion and helpful responses! I hadn't thought about using detergent to help wet peat moss.

I often buy peat moss well ahead of the time I plan to use it and just set it beside one of our raised garden beds. When I'm sharp about it, I open the top of the bale with an "I" cut to let it absorb moisture. Usually, only the top four or five inches wets, but that helps some when spreading and tilling in the peat moss.

Here is a link that might be useful: Senior Gardening

Peat moss, tends to cake up when it dries up, unless it is used sparingly and well mixed into the soil or compost. I think it might be ok to mix it into sandy soil to improve moisture retention. But with clay soil I would not use it. It is like sponge. In potting mixes they get around it by adding lots of perlite and vermiculite.

Peat moss does cake up and creates a water barrier when it gets extremely dry; however, it does have good uses. I garden on very dense clay, and I have found that peat is a fabulous soil conditioner when it is tilled in to freshly broken clay soil. We tend to have very hot and dry summers, so its moisture retentive properties come in handy then too, as long as it is well mixed into the soil. And of course, for blueberries and camellias, it's the very best for keeping the PH of the soil at the proper acidity. Like so many things, it's not a magic bullet, but when used properly, it does really have some great advantages.

I must say that I wholeheartedly agree with the above post about Mel's mix. I use the square foot gardening technique for plant spacings, etc. but I have never regretted just using lots of organic amendments to my native soil in my beds. It saved money and I believe I have superior soil quality.

I too, learned the hard way about the hydrophobic properties of peat moss. Here in Florida, we have sandy soil so I in the recent bed I created, I used 25% damp sifted compost (takes a while, but well worth it), 25% dry peat, 50% damp sandy garden soil. This worked out better than I hoped since the bed wet very easy thanks to the other damp components (no soap).

Should the bed really dry out sometime in the future, I'll add a little soap to the water.

Sometime ago I read that someone used a little fabric softener mixed in a gallon of water to help moisten some very dry soil. I've never tried it, maybe it would work.

I've got a couple large hand-me-down bags of peat moss and don't plan to use them in the gardens, but will make a home-made potting mix this winter for the seedlings (usually buy a bale of Pro-mix). One bag has been sitting out on the side of the house and it must have small holes because it has absorbed some rain water, so it's already moistened!

This may be a little off topic, but I have used peat moss as bedding for my horses. There have been studies done that demonstrate that peat moss is 90% more absorbent when it is wet or damp than when it is dry. It is very effective as bedding because it can absorb so much urine and is also odorless (there is no urine smell), so the wet peat moss doesn't have to be removed when cleaning the stalls.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that when properly wetted, peat moss can absorb rainfall and serve as a sort of reservoir during the dry spells. That is how and why I use it in my raised beds.

peat moss can absorb rainfall and serve as a sort of reservoir during the dry spells. That is how and why I use it in my raised beds.
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that is yet another drawback of peat moss, that keeps the soil soggy. You need good drainage. To cure that the commercial grower add a lot of perlite , compost and pine barks.