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best way to level garden and aid drainage on clay soil
newgardener88
Posts: 2
Hello everyone, I have moved into a new build property next to a river and the whole area is rife with clay soil. We moved in in november and right away noticed that whenever it rained for more than a few hours or even a short time but constantly over a period of a few days the garden became very very wet and spongey but the bottom half is the worst and pretty much all through winter we had 3 inches of surface water until the weather got hotter. I mentioned it to the house builder and they came and dug a big trench and filled it with stones etc in april time and we enjoyed a nice garden over summer. Its now winter again the garden has which was once flat has settled with a few low spots and although drainage was added the garden still holds alot of water although its nowhere near as bad as before. The bottom half of the garden runs down slightly and is probably 2 inches lower than the front and the grass has started to go bald due to being under water for long periods of time. My question is... i want to raise the bottom part of the garden so that it becomes level and also adding more soil etc will help with soaking up water. I also want to level off the low spots. What would be the best way to do this? Im on a bit of a buget abd time restraint so taking up all the turf, adding a full gardens worth of sand and topsoil then returfing is not really doable. There is also a concrete base with a shed on so major works are out of question. Im thinking about 2 things. A, Just laying about an inch of topsoil then more turf on the bottom of the garden to raise it. And on the small low spots just filling with topsoil then reseeding/overseeding. Or B, just overseeding the whole area and adding top soil gradually whilst raking the grass through in order to raise the low spots over a period of time. Thank you for any help.
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Posts
You are next to a river on clay soil.......I think CK is right. You can't fight nature. Make the most of your riverside location and accept that it will be wet in winter.
If the garden is that badly drained you need to consider approaching the builders again and asking them to install land drains in the garden. If you can't enjoy your garden all year round due to drainage problems it may be worth consulting your solicitors. Builders seem to cut and run when it comes to gardens which often is costly to fix. Builders get permission to build in inappropriate areas enough as it is. Being close to a river isn't ideal place to build in light of recent years weather. There's no easy fix and adding topsoil won't work on its own. The underlying clay is the problem and if the water has nowhere to go it just sits there.
"Easy to dig"
You're welcome to come up here and give it a go aym. It's only easy to dig once it's been improved. I could have regularly thrown pots with the stuff I've dug out in all the gardens I've had
Dave's advice and comments are spot on, newgardener88, and I think Chloe is probably right too. If you don't have limitless funds, you might just have to live with it, at least for the time being. Raised areas are the other alternative, and that can be costly as well, but if you can do it yourself, it's probably the only other solution. New builds are notorious for having badly drained gardens - especially if yours is the one 'at the end' and the ground's been consolidated by months of machinery and workmen trampling it.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I think what i will do is try and raise the ground of the worst section slightly using topsoil to try to prevent standing water for long periods of time as it makes the grass die and go patchy.
I guess il just have to get used to the squelch ha. Il probably install a stepping stone path to get to the shed from the patio.