Forum home› Problem solving
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Drainage problem with tree planting

kgoepel-2CNUxtkkgoepel-2CNUxtk Posts: 2
in Problem solving

HELP 😱 anyone out there know what on earth we can do to sort this problem?!

We bought a lilac and dogwood tree but when we've dug holes to plant we've found our garden has serious drainage issues.

We live on a housing estate only built 3 years ago and not only is the hole not draining but the material at the bottom is more like cement than soil 😣

Any ideas?

We dug the hole a few days ago and could see the water coming in immediately. It has rained since too.




Posts

  • Cambridgerose12Cambridgerose12 Posts: 1,134
    Unfortunately this is very common with new builds. Often the builder has been lazy and disposed of rubble not far below the soil surface, then compacted it all and spread a few inches of topsoil on for looks. Can you try and work out whether what is at the base is compacted subsoil or something worse? A pickaxe will help. I can see what looks like a woven bag or something sticking out of the soil behind, which is probably the depth of the added topsoil. 

    The compaction will create the drainage problem and if you have any watercourses nearby then that may be a contributing factor. There are ways to install soakaways, and you can hire a mini digger to dig up compacted material, and a skip to dispose of rubble. But it is a big job and should be done before you plant.

    It might be possible to get round the problem by limiting yourself to plants that in the wild would cope with these kinds of conditions. Others may be able to comment on that, but trees and shrubs are themselves quite efficient 'soakaways'. I would have thought that things like willow and other kinds of Cornus, such as Cornus sanguinea or alba, would do OK. This may seem a bit pessimistic and I hope that people with similar experiences may be able to offer solutions they've found.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    At the moment your ground is clearly unsuitable for planting trees and most shrubs. You will need to get the drainage problems sorted, before any planting.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • BobTheGardenerBobTheGardener Posts: 11,385
    That woven stuff is landscaping fabric and definitely should not be found buried at that depth.  Anything planted above is going to have trouble with rooting through that.  I think you need to get a mini-digger in, remove the fabric and put in some drainage, as @Cambridgerose12 said.  Hard and/or expensive work though.
    A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
  • robairdmacraignilrobairdmacraignil Posts: 782
    edited March 2021
    I don't think it is possible to properly diagnose the cause of the drainage issue just from a photograph of a hole with water at the end of it so saying what needs to be done to fix it is just guess work. It could be a localised issue caused by compaction or poorly draining material buried in your particular garden or it could be a more widespread issue caused by a high water table in your area or a blocked drain. Talk to some of your neighbours before doing anything else to see if they have any problems with drainage in their gardens and then if you are sure it is just your garden you could start digging out the issue if it is localised in your plot. The levels of the ground in your area should give an indication of where water needs to go to drain away.
    https://www.youtube.com/user/sustainableveg/videos
  • kgoepel-2CNUxtkkgoepel-2CNUxtk Posts: 2
    Thank you everyone. After digging in another area we established the drainage is not an issue with the whole garden.

    We then dug a HUGE hole, eventually got past the compacted cement like material. Seemed to be draining much better. Builders should not be able to get away with burying the materials we've found in the garden. Cement bricks, tiles, door handles etc do not belong in a garden!
  • K67K67 Posts: 2,506
    kgoepel-2CNUxtk said:
    Builders should not be able to get away with burying the materials we've found in the garden. Cement bricks, tiles, door handles etc do not belong in a garden!
    Yes  been there (twice). More top soil 3 years ago than 20 years ago but still dire.
Sign In or Register to comment.