Garden like a swamp, 2 weeks off work to come up with solution
mart321
Posts: 22
Hi all, was hoping for some tips with what to do with my garden. I have two weeks off work and want to do something major myself to try and sort it out. I live on an area with clay soil so the drainage is terrible, my neighbours out the back and to both sides have full or partial patios/ gravel areas. I have mostly grass which is terrible in the winter . The ground is now fairly compacted and there is large puddles everywhere.
Here she is. I have a patio area as you walk out then it's grass with another area at the back with concrete sleepers. I toyed with the idea last year of creating a herringbone drainage system running into a drain near the back of the house but changed my mind as I didn't want to bring all the water towards the house. Anyway then the weather got warm and all was forgotten. Now it's terrible again and annoys me every time I look out of the window.
I have a couple of ideas. First one being , use a post digging spade and dig large holes around 10-15 inches deep and 6inches wide all around the garden, and fill these with first with sharp sand and then gravel.
Secondly I was considering digging an area all the way down where my fence is to the right 1 metre wide and filling all the way down with gravel.
One other thing I have considered is just a sort of soak away running to the bottom of the garden with a giant hole filled with gravel.
Any ideas people?
Last edited: 08 November 2016 09:45:38
Posts
No idea but I wish you the best of luck.
Make sure you don't just shift the problem " next door". Neighbour disputes are to be avoided at all costs.
Those are all possible options so it will largely come down to time, money and effort and what type of result you are after. I think the best option would be to tap into the existing drain if that's possible. They've just done a similar thing to one of the greens at my golf club and the greenkeeper did a blog below:
http://stonehamgolfclub.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-min=2016-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2017-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=23
I link this just as a practical guide to the major steps. I doubt you'll be putting in your garden!
I think your idea of small holes filled with sand and gravel would be last on my list. In saying that do you know if you have a layer of clay or is it solid? If only a layer then breaking through that would get you access to the subsoils and therefore a better chance of drain-away. At our old place the neighbours built a large soakaway centrally in their lawn. The downside was with the inevitable drying out of clay soils in the summer they ended up with a big square of light-brown grass which looked a little unsightly.
Another consideration might be to raise the level of your lawn so you are higher than your neighbours. This would push the surface water in their direction but of course would likely end up in some kind of 'discussion'. In saying that it would seem their hard surfaces have impacted your situation. But you could end up in some t!t-for-tat and lawns up to the top of your fences!
Last edited: 08 November 2016 10:10:05
Not sure where you are mart, but in most of England you are not 'allowed' to put ground water into the sewers. If you're in or near a flood risk area you would be worsening the risk - not necessarily for yourself. Your small garden is hardly going to have much impact but the principle is set so the authorities can take action if they find they have a particular problem. Given how little they know about their own networks, you could question how probable it is they'd find out. Nevertheless, thought I should mention it. I note the golf club DH has linked to above are draining into a water course, not a sewer.
Anyway.
If you have the time and ability to do a grand project, your best bet would probably be a herring bone of land drain pipes draining away from your house to a soakaway - a largish sump of hardcore and gravel - buried fairly deep at the end of the garden. If it was me, I'd dig out the soakaway, put in hard core and gravel, cover it with a membrane (heavy duty weed fabric) to reduce silting up, then form a raised bed with the soil you dug out, mixed with compost, over the soakaway. You want enough depth of soil to be able to plant shrubs with puncturing the fabric. Hopefully, if you go deep enough, the water soaking away won't affect your neighbours detrimentally.
Bear in mind a tree will take many more times as much water out of the ground as grass, and it will also encourage surface water to soak into the ground. Don't plant trees close to your house (or your neighbours) but think about maybe having some bigger plants down the far end, where you're directing the water.
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Sewers and storm water drains are two different networks and 'not' connected. I'm not sure which type of drain Mart is referring to. You raise a good point there though raisingirl. See what I did there
Anyway, as you say it's all a question of options and what you 'allowed' to do and what you can do might not be one of the same but very valid nonetheless.
You have children ..... most lawns aren't fit to play on in the winter ....... they turn into a muddy mess reminiscent of a rugby field in February after a match. Far better to have a distinct play area for the children with play bark or similar and somehow encourage the children to keep off the grass - bribery sometimes works, fences work better.
That way the lawn won't turn into such a muddy compacted mess and you'll be able to perk it up in the spring with some aerating etc. That's what I would do.
Good luck
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
I'm afraid I don't go with the tree idea ... speaking from experience (we have large trees at the end of this garden) trees don't take much moisture out of the soil in the winter - they have no leaves and aren't transpiring moisture. They take the moisture out of the soil in the summer, when you need it in the soil, and shade the grass thus encouraging moss. In a small garden such as yours, I would only plant trees because you want trees, not as a drainage solution.
Last edited: 08 November 2016 11:31:28
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
not too concerned with the neighbours TBH as I feel I'm getting all of their water on my garden but something to consider
Matt, I think the last thing you need, is neighbours banging on your door saying you've flooded their garden.
The choice is yours, but this forum has seen its fair share of hideous neighbour disputes.
Mart, the photo looks tells me you have young children therefore whatever you do will have to fit them in. basically your garden needs draining and raising jobs you can not complete in the time. Digging trenches or holes and filling with gravel works up to a point although the water still has to go somewhere, I did that on one small section of my garden and the water did run away downhill not causing problems to others.
Looking closely the play area being at the back you need a pathway for the children and a gravel path with contained sides would be ideal to keep feet clean from mud. Have you considered laying Astro turf around the play area this would give a cleaner area for the children. As to the rest raised beds are the answer, these can be made from scratch, a little drainage in the base then fill with soil. If the fence on the right gets some sunlight then put a couple of fanned fruit trees in there they will drink water by the gallon. Raised beds can be any height from six inches to what ever, filled with a mix of flowers vegetables and salad crops they will provide yourself with food and the children with an interest, I learned by watching Dad who gave me a small plot to grow things in. These idea's are only my opinion on what needs to be done in making a garden from your plot, I would also buy or win some containers and start growing some nice plants to divide the garden into play area and pleasant place to sit glass in hand. I hope this gives you some idea's look at the whole then mentally set yourself small improvements a bit at a time, no need to kill yourself, deal with the main problem first, path, Clean area, free from mud for the children
Frank.
I do like this idea raisingirl, herringbone without draining the water back towards my house. I think this is something Im going to look into. If I was to do I soakaway at the end of my garden it would be where I currently have concrete slabs, would it be advisable to put these back after. Ideally I would like to have a soakaway there and Relay them after. Or possible cover the area with gravel maybe?