WATER LOGGED NEWLY LAID TURF

[par1sons]

Having spend the best part of 2 weeks hacking up my garden, leveling and laying new turf, i arrived from work yesterday only to find part of my newly laid turf completly saturated with water. The rest of my garden is fine but for some strange reason its in the bottom corner of my garden where the water seems to be holding up. I know the weather over the past couple of days hasnt been great but that still doesnt explain the water logged turf because why isnt the rest of garden water logged. Do you think i need to install some kind of irrigation into that part of the garden or is there something else i can do to elminate this problem

 

[Diyisfun]

If you think it was abnormal rain conditions, then I think you can ignor it.
But if it was heavt rain & given that we are in the spring, I think you need to do some drainage work. You should have done it before laying turfs.
Was it a wet place before you turfed?

 

[par1sons]

the ground was wet but not to the degree which would make the new turf water logged. This part of the new turf hasn't really rooted either which is a real concern because the rest of the turf is coming on great.

When talking about drainage what kind would be required to reduce the amount of water currently sitting in that area of the garden. Previously the part which is water logged used to be a huge flower bed, so maybe just maybe thats why there was such a massive flower bed

AndyP

 

[DennisLS]

I would suggest you take off the turf in the problem area, dig a large hole about three feet deep and 3/4 fill it with bricks or similar. Top up with soil,pack it down well and re-lay the turf.( it worked for me.)

 

[par1sons]

its funny that you say that because last night after sitting in my window contemplating my next step i did indeed remove the turf and start digging a bloody big hole.
I still had the pallet the turf arrived on so i rolled the turf back up and placed on the pallet to allow the water to drain from the turf. So much for thinking this garden game was easy. My body is now at a point were i might collapse. You wouldn't think i play football 4 times a week. so glad im no gardener.

 

[DennisLS]

I'm no gardener really but I do take orders from the wife and collapsing does become an easy option, but hang in there it will be worth it in the end.( have you ever tried mowing the lawn underwater)?

 

[big-all]

i am no expert but surely taking a full sized fork and airating the the lawn and the 10" underneath by forking all the lawn would help the drainage

 

[Trazor]

i am no expert but surely taking a full sized fork and airating the the lawn and the 10" underneath by forking all the lawn would help the drainage

Thats a temporary fix, driving a fork in will compress soil around the tines, making it more resistant to drainage, long term.

That amount of water needs a more drastic solution.

DennisLS, has the right answer, even though it will be hard work.

 

[big-all]

i am no expert but surely taking a full sized fork and airating the the lawn and the 10" underneath by forking all the lawn would help the drainage

Thats a temporary fix, driving a fork in will compress soil around the tines, making it more resistant to drainage, long term.

That amount of water needs a more drastic solution.

DennisLS, has the right answer, even though it will be hard work.

yes i agree but shurly once the soil has dried out a bit
no point working in a bog

 

[Trazor]

yes i agree but shurly once the soil has dried out a bit
no point working in a bog

Who are you calling Shirley............. ........

 

[big-all]

yes i agree but shurly once the soil has dried out a bit
no point working in a bog

Who are you calling Shirley............. ........

l o l


over under aiplane 2 [i think ]

 

[WabbitPoo]

...and when the big hole fills up?

Drain it properly, that is, by taking away the water with a land drain.

 

[muddymart]

what i do when i get turfing jobs come in , either fork or rotovate some pea gravel in an make sure the ground is firm but not compact, this gives it an ideal bed to seed into,

if your still haviing problems with water logging put a soak away pipe in or similar, depending on the garden and where it is.

 

[ModernMaterials]

driving a fork in will compress soil around the tines, making it more resistant to drainage, long term[/quote

^thats the funniest thing i read all day

pushing a fork into your lawn will not worsen drainage, it will improve it, specially if you fill the holes with sharp sand afterwards

this sounds like an odd sort of problem..has someone filled in a pond and left a butyl liner in there for example?

 

[ModernMaterials]

what i do when i get turfing jobs come in , either fork or rotovate some pea gravel in an make sure the ground is firm but not compact, this gives it an ideal bed to seed into,

if your still haviing problems with water logging put a soak away pipe in or similar, depending on the garden and where it is.

muddymart...why would you need to use seed on a "turfing job"?