Help with very soggy garden

[oddballodd]

I am probably the worst gardner in the world, so please excuse me if this a stupid thing to be asking..

..but....

My garden is very very soggy, the area is known to be so and when I bought the house I accepted this. Now though with kids growing up, I would like to see if anything can be done so that the garden can be used for more of the year.

The basic problem is that the soil turns completly to mud with only a little rain, so I assume it is somthing to do with clay below that does not allow the water to drain.

Is there anything that can be done ?

Thanks in advance

 

[coldshowerkid]

Hi

Can you please give some more details, are you talking about your lawn when you say you want to use it more? Do you live close to a river or stream?

If its the lawn on clay soil its a difficult one, it drys out in the summer and is boggy in the winter. what also effects this is if the lawn has no natural run off EG slightly higher in the middle.

you need to incorporate some drainage this would involve taking plugs out and dressing the lawn with a compost and grit mixture, i would use peat as the compost this is acid and will not attract worms which leave casts.

if the lawn is small it might be worth taking the lawn up, rotovating the whole site, digging in compost and grit and re-laying ensuring a natural run off

regards

 

[oddballodd]

its not a large lawn, about 50' 30' and it does appear to be clay soil. I have done some research on the net, and it seems like the best solution would be to

a) dig a large soak away
b) create some drainage tracks to the soak away
c) as posted above, adding grit and compost to the area.

does anyone have advice on creating the drainage ?

Cheers

Owen

 

[bludger]

It may have to be some soakaway to drain your garden. I know one guy that tried it and all he ended up with was a pond as he managed to drain his neighbours gardens more than his own.

What is the general topography like? Is there a slope towards somewhere the water could disperse itself? If there is, then proper land drains - holed pipes in gravel bottomed trenches would certainly help. The pipes are laid with drainage holes downwards and the trenches have to run mostly across the slope to catch the water.. Otherwise you just get drier lines of soil going downhill leaving the rest wet.

Nowadays I believe you can get pipes which are porous all over, if you see what I mean. But clay is difficult to drain anyway as water doesn't flow through it easily, which is why you have a problem.

I think you should call in a land drainage company man for a quote. You could then pick his brains while he was examining your garden and then make up your mind about doing it yourself. It may not be as big a job as it sounds, depending on your ground and aspect.

Let us know how you get on.

 

[sukilou]

i am not an expert, but have had the problem myself

we dug 2 trenches either side of our garden about 1 metre away from the fences. going from the house to the end of the garden.

12 - 18 inches deep
we placed guttering pipes all along (cheap way)you can buy special pipes with holes cut out
then we placed rocks and stones over the pipes and covered it all back over with the grass again.

it has made a massive difference to our garden.
hope this helps

 

[oddballodd]

Thanks guys, I will try the trench idea and see what happens. I have since heard that being called a 'French Trench'. I will post back results when i have done it.

 

[masona]

http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain03.htm (scroll half way down)