yet another damp garden question...

[con1_uk]

Hello,



Just moved house and I now have my 1st lawn however it is very boggy with poor drainage, if my plans dont work I am preperred to dig it all up next year.

Read through loads if posts on here and come up with a plan of action


just need to know the best order to do the following to my water logged garden please


rake all moss and weeds out
aerate with tool
weed and feed 4 in 1 Evergreen

Also I want to plant some thirsty trees in the boarders to help

which are the best ones that wont grow too high and can be planted a couple of meters from a house please?

Thanks

 

[con1_uk]

Any help please?

 

[r896neo]

you need to kill the moss before scarifying, so use a weed feed and moss killer product first do this at the end of august. 2 weeks later scarify. 3 weeks then early september aerate and top dress the lawn with sharp sand brushing it into the holes left by the aerator.

You can also overseed prior to top dressing.

As for thirsty shrubs laurels of all varieties are good and can be kept to any size and pruned hard with no consequence if needed

 

[libby lou lou]

How long is your garden"water logged" for? What's the neighbors garden like? How deep is the water/soil, you need to find what's going on underneath the soil before trying to treat it.
Most trees die by over watering.

 

[con1_uk]

Cheers for the replies, I hope to reply with some good pictures next year

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

All of this advise will help you improve your lawn, but if it is "water logged" as you say, the only way you are going to improve it long term is to put drainage in.

 

[con1_uk]

Hello, see picture, is there anything else I can do before the big job of Drainage please?

How do I find the lowest point for the big hole?
How many drains will I need?
Could i build the garden up a little basically putting the pipes onto of the existing lawn and then extra top soil then turf?

View media item 49547

 

[libby lou lou]

With the weather being unseasonally wet wet wet, i would leave it until next year as it may not be that bad in a "normal" year.

Maybe a small path or even get rid of the grass as it is a small patch and not really decorative.

Edit: just realised you have raised beds which would help excess water to flood your lawn.

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

With the weather being unseasonally wet wet wet, i would leave it until next year as it may not be that bad in a "normal" year.

Edit: just realised you have raised beds which would help excess water to flood your lawn.

Yes, I agree, this year has been terrible, but on top of the raised beds, you've got 2 paved areas, which have to run off somewhere.
May just be the overall layout that's causing the very soggy lawn.

 

[con1_uk]

Cheers for the replies so far guys, hoping to do a bit more planting before Winter so that should help soak some of the raised bed excess water up.

Would it help if I removed 1 flag, dug a big drain hole and replaced the flag?

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

Would it help if I removed 1 flag, dug a big drain hole and replaced the flag?

Well, only if you could be sure that all the water is moving to that point.

I must admit that in your situation, I'd go with Libby Lou Lou and get rid of the grass all together - unless you desperately want to keep it ?

 

[con1_uk]

Nope not desperate to keep the grass and I have considered artificial grass but wouldn't that have the same issue?

Can you recommend and good artificial grass please?


Thanks

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

Yes, Artificial grass will have the same problems I would guess, never used it.
I wsa thinking more of gravel.

 

[libby lou lou]

P.S. your gutters are holding water.

 

[Arthur2shedsJackson]

One other thought is that you could raise the lawn section to the same height as the rear paved section in the corner.

That way you shouldn't have water from the paved area at the front dumping onto the lawn ( you could run a drain / small soakaway at the end of the flags)
You could then use a sub strata in the raised area that would give the lawn a chance to drain - that way you wouldn't have as much digging to do !