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Garden flooding

sarahmcoatessarahmcoates Posts: 2
in Problem solving
Whenever we have even an hour of heavy rain two corners of the garden flood and we’re not sure what the solution is  (the picture is after about 12 hours of heavy rain, with more expected) this summer we added the gravel semi circle (at the bottom of the garden) and the semi circle bed that can just be seen in the top right (digging down around 2/3 feet and filling with gravel) in the hopes of providing slightly better drainage but since the rain has started it’s obvious it hasn’t helped. Anyone got any advice? 

Posts

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited October 2019
    We’re on free draining gritty loam over chalk, but in this sort of weather we get standing water on the ‘lawn’.
    However after just a few hours of dry weather the standing water has drained away. 
    How long does it take for your ‘pool’ to disappear after the rain has stopped?
    Also, how large is the area of paving? 
    Has there been any form of drainage incorporated to cope with the rain that falls on the paving?

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Has this always happened or is it recent?   

    What kind of soil do you have?  If it's heavy clay you may just have an impenetrable pan that will take some fixing.

    Do you know if there are mains water pipes or drains under your garden that may have leaks which are saturating you soil enough to stop it draining rain?  If so you should ask teh water board to investigate.

    Have there been any recent works/buildings/events nearby that may interfere with drainage?
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    edited October 2019
    Assuming this is caused by runoff rather than a stream, ditch or high water table. Is there anything under the lawn that impedes drainage? If there's a compacted layer you could improve matters by breaking that up. If the underlying ground is heavy clay, it won't help massively though. French drains or soakaways won't help much either, they'll just fill up with water, unless you have an outlet taking the water away. 

    Does the paving drain onto the lawn? Is it a large area? You could alleviate the issue with an interceptor drain along the top step, which would reduce the amount of water going onto the lawn.

    I don't know how practical it would be, but raising the lawn up would help if all else fails.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • LoxleyLoxley Posts: 5,698
    What is going on at the back of the garden, behind the semicircular gravel bed? What are the levels behind the fence? Is there a ditch you could encourage the water to flow out to? I wonder if you lost that raised bed, the water would escape that way.
    "What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour". 
  • sarahmcoatessarahmcoates Posts: 2
    the Soil is heavy clay. the patio is a large area but we did have the same flooding issues before the patio was built as it currently is, we used to have a very small paved area with a sloped rockery running down from the house. It the bottom behind the little fence the soil is slightly raised as it’s been quite a barren area due to a eucalyptus tree that has recently been removed so we’ve had to add a lot of soil improver/fertiliser to help anything grow there but again the flooding happened before that we built up. I’m thinking there may not be a simple solution to this but I’m ever hopeful!  
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    You could always dig a pond in that corner by the terrace or just it plant it full of bog lovers that don't mind having wet feet.  A gunnera, a small willow you can coppice to keep colourful stems every year and maintain size, ligularia, rodgersia...

    Have a look here - https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=807

    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
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