Trees in such a small garden would be a disaster darling as they say on Strictly, I am talking small fruit trees fanned and trimmed every year, they do take up water as does everything we plant. At the moment that garden is a lake and without major drainage work will remain so, anything that will take up water would be welcome. Most of us would get rid of the lawn in its present state and dig out beds for various plants from Shrubs to Vegetables, in time digging in compost and drainage materials the water would subside. I would also make a safe play area for the children and Astro Turf much as I dislike it would be ideal. Next a trellis arrangement across the open area with climbing plants and probably another fanned Tree to give a little privacy to the seating area. All of that will not be accomplished in two weeks it will take planning and materials depending on your own budget. I suggested raised beds to get some plants going that would not be drowning in the lake, that is a simple job that can be done over a shorter period of time. Gardening is and always will be ongoing, I never ever finished a new plan on time or in budget we make do and improvise as we go probably why we spend our time doing it. best of luck make a plan for your two weeks and stick to it do not be overly optimistic with your plans though.
how about taking a rotavator to the lawn? It's had it's day really. Could rotavate then add turf. This would short term sort out the problem but I would still have drainage issues which need a longer term solution. When rotavating do you need to remove the current turf?
That sounds like a costly exercise that would only achieve a very short term result. I think you have to provide a drainage solution or work-around of some kind.
To lay a lawn needs time and patience and that includes laying turf, it is basically starting from scratch and you would need to sort out the drainage before you could lay even a raised lawn. This is the wrong time of year in any case it would be a waste of your time and money, you should see the sad looking water logged lawns on some of the new builds around here, the builders do just that rotevate put six inches of soil down and lay out the rolls of lawn, it is heart breaking to a real gardener watching them. You have two weeks for a quick fix forget the lawn until spring unless you can afford to get a groundworks team in to do a proper job. Decide on say digging out a border along the fence or a couple of raised beds which will take all of your time to finish and plant up. A gardener plans for two or more years and over many years of gardening that is not enough time.
You could rotivate it, yes. but now is not the time to lay turf. If you didn't have children, or could entirely 'shut down' your garden until Easter, you could lay your drains, then rotivate the turf, then leave it all like a re-enactment of The Somme for the whole winter. The frost would break down the clay. Then you could add lots of compost, rotivate again in the spring, let it settle. Then lay turf when the weather begins to warm up.
I'm guessing that's really not a viable strategy. As Frank says, it's easy to overestimate how much you can get done in the time.
I'd concentrate on trying to get drains in. Next time you have a 'window', aim to get paths laid. Leave sorting the lawns until spring - you're going to make it all worse while you do the work anyway, I'm afraid.
One thing at a time
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
You could rotivate it, yes. but now is not the time to lay turf. If you didn't have children, or could entirely 'shut down' your garden until Easter, you could lay your drains, then rotivate the turf, then leave it all like a re-enactment of The Somme for the whole winter. The frost would break down the clay. Then you could add lots of compost, rotivate again in the spring, let it settle. Then lay turf when the weather begins to warm up.
I'm guessing that's really not a viable strategy. As Frank says, it's easy to overestimate how much you can get done in the time.
I'd concentrate on trying to get drains in. Next time you have a 'window', aim to get paths laid. Leave sorting the lawns until spring - you're going to make it all worse while you do the work anyway, I'm afraid.
I see your point. I definately couldn't shut the garden off, I need access for the shed and two young kids and two dogs that use it. I'm definately going to do something along the right side where the fence is, not sure whether or not to dig deep and fill with gravel along the length or try do some raised bedding thing as suggested by others. If I start to do something with drains I think i would drain it to the end of the garden. Is perforated pipe a must or can the same be achieved with a herringbone with gravel? Is there an easy electric tool for digging trenches with ease?
Gravel will work for a few years but silt will wash in and eventually you'll have a slightly stonier patch of soil, rather than a distinct drain. A land drain pipe will silt up eventually but it takes longer.
You can hire trenching tools from most tool hire places (not electric, as far as I know but I am not an expert. The ones I've seen have all been diesel powered doobries).
I think the advantage of attempting to do some of the drains and some of the raised bed at the same time is the raised bed gives you somewhere to put the top soil from your drain trenches. So you may want to concentrate on on area, and see how you get on. Have you tried digging any deep holes in the garden before? Do you know what the soil is like? It takes us ages to dig holes here because the ground is full of big stones.......
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Gravel will work for a few years but silt will wash in and eventually you'll have a slightly stonier patch of soil, rather than a distinct drain. A land drain pipe will silt up eventually but it takes longer.
You can hire trenching tools from most tool hire places (not electric, as far as I know but I am not an expert. The ones I've seen have all been diesel powered doobries).
I think the advantage of attempting to do some of the drains and some of the raised bed at the same time is the raised bed gives you somewhere to put the top soil from your drain trenches. So you may want to concentrate on on area, and see how you get on. Have you tried digging any deep holes in the garden before? Do you know what the soil is like? It takes us ages to dig holes here because the ground is full of big stones.......
I have dug down before and found the soil quite easy to work with. I was thinking of hiring a skip to deal with the material but yea I couldn use it in raised beds. I would have to basically build a box around the bed is that right? I have just gone halves with the neighbours and wouldn't want to dump a few inches of turf above the new fence if possible.
I think what im planning on doing now is do a herringbone system using perforated pipe sat on a bed of membrane and gravel, with the pipe wrapped in something to stop silt getting in. I will top with gravel. Thinking of leading the herringbone to a soakaway down the bottom of the garden. Not sure how is will soothe soakaway, i know you can buy plastic and concrete ones etc. But its think I will dig a giant hole and go from there, probably fill with hardcore and rubble. My timescale is also reduced somewhat. I probably have 10 days. I'm.going to research materials tonight and start digging tomorrow, i may still hire a skip if I don't think I have time to do the raised beds
However, in a quick surf through some sites it seems a common statement that this type of water dispersal system is not suitable for heavy clay soils. So you might want to 'dig' a little further in your research as its a big project and you want it to be successful.
However, in a quick surf through some sites it seems a common statement that this type of water dispersal system is not suitable for heavy clay soils. So you might want to 'dig' a little further in your research as its a big project and you want it to be successful.
I see what your saying, that link suggests soakaways are no good on clay soil. But if a soakaway is linked to a herringbone would it have more success. I suppose I am actually going to have to dig quite far down and find out what depth the clay goes to. If it is just a layer of clay then It could be fine. I live on the north east coast, approximately 1/4 . mile from the sea, not sure if this bears any relation to the depth of clay soils.
I think the articles are talking about a 'proper' soakaway - i.e. a way to dispose of the rainwater run off from your roof, rather than it going into a storm water drain. The other formal use of a soakaway is if you have the modern equivalent of a septic tank. In both cases, the impermeability of the clay soil is a problem, and as a designed solution to a building regulation controlled part of your house design, it would not be permitted.
However
You are not planning to take the rainwater from your down pipes (I hope), only to try to move the rain that falls onto your garden more quickly. Your lawn is already providing a 'soakaway' for that amount of water and you are witness to the problem - it takes ages to soak away, if at all. That's why it wouldn't be 'allowed'.
It will very very slowly seep away, down hill. But you are going to have limited effect - there's not much that you can do about it, as far as I can see, apart from moving the problem a bit, so it's less inconvenient. It's not perfect, but without a drain to somewhere off site, you're a bit stymied, unfortunately. Raised beds to make it look better and give plants a chance to live, permeable paths that are less claggy when wet, and, in effect, a ditch to hold the water under ground. And in future phases, try to break up the surface and subsurface compaction to encourage the seepaway to become more of a soakaway.
Unless you collect it in an underground rainwater tank and use it to flush your toilet
Last edited: 08 November 2016 20:52:56
Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
Posts
how about taking a rotavator to the lawn? It's had it's day really. Could rotavate then add turf. This would short term sort out the problem but I would still have drainage issues which need a longer term solution. When rotavating do you need to remove the current turf?
That sounds like a costly exercise that would only achieve a very short term result. I think you have to provide a drainage solution or work-around of some kind.
To lay a lawn needs time and patience and that includes laying turf, it is basically starting from scratch and you would need to sort out the drainage before you could lay even a raised lawn. This is the wrong time of year in any case it would be a waste of your time and money, you should see the sad looking water logged lawns on some of the new builds around here, the builders do just that rotevate put six inches of soil down and lay out the rolls of lawn, it is heart breaking to a real gardener watching them. You have two weeks for a quick fix forget the lawn until spring unless you can afford to get a groundworks team in to do a proper job. Decide on say digging out a border along the fence or a couple of raised beds which will take all of your time to finish and plant up. A gardener plans for two or more years and over many years of gardening that is not enough time.
Frank.
You could rotivate it, yes. but now is not the time to lay turf. If you didn't have children, or could entirely 'shut down' your garden until Easter, you could lay your drains, then rotivate the turf, then leave it all like a re-enactment of The Somme for the whole winter. The frost would break down the clay. Then you could add lots of compost, rotivate again in the spring, let it settle. Then lay turf when the weather begins to warm up.
I'm guessing that's really not a viable strategy. As Frank says, it's easy to overestimate how much you can get done in the time.
I'd concentrate on trying to get drains in. Next time you have a 'window', aim to get paths laid. Leave sorting the lawns until spring - you're going to make it all worse while you do the work anyway, I'm afraid.
One thing at a time
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I see your point. I definately couldn't shut the garden off, I need access for the shed and two young kids and two dogs that use it. I'm definately going to do something along the right side where the fence is, not sure whether or not to dig deep and fill with gravel along the length or try do some raised bedding thing as suggested by others. If I start to do something with drains I think i would drain it to the end of the garden. Is perforated pipe a must or can the same be achieved with a herringbone with gravel? Is there an easy electric tool for digging trenches with ease?
Last edited: 08 November 2016 15:31:44
Gravel will work for a few years but silt will wash in and eventually you'll have a slightly stonier patch of soil, rather than a distinct drain. A land drain pipe will silt up eventually but it takes longer.
You can hire trenching tools from most tool hire places (not electric, as far as I know but I am not an expert. The ones I've seen have all been diesel powered doobries).
I think the advantage of attempting to do some of the drains and some of the raised bed at the same time is the raised bed gives you somewhere to put the top soil from your drain trenches. So you may want to concentrate on on area, and see how you get on. Have you tried digging any deep holes in the garden before? Do you know what the soil is like? It takes us ages to dig holes here because the ground is full of big stones.......
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”
I have dug down before and found the soil quite easy to work with. I was thinking of hiring a skip to deal with the material but yea I couldn use it in raised beds. I would have to basically build a box around the bed is that right? I have just gone halves with the neighbours and wouldn't want to dump a few inches of turf above the new fence if possible.
I think what im planning on doing now is do a herringbone system using perforated pipe sat on a bed of membrane and gravel, with the pipe wrapped in something to stop silt getting in. I will top with gravel. Thinking of leading the herringbone to a soakaway down the bottom of the garden. Not sure how is will soothe soakaway, i know you can buy plastic and concrete ones etc. But its think I will dig a giant hole and go from there, probably fill with hardcore and rubble. My timescale is also reduced somewhat. I probably have 10 days. I'm.going to research materials tonight and start digging tomorrow, i may still hire a skip if I don't think I have time to do the raised beds
Lots of info on the 'net Mart. For example:
http://www.diydoctor.org.uk/projects/soakaway-water-drainage-system.htm
However, in a quick surf through some sites it seems a common statement that this type of water dispersal system is not suitable for heavy clay soils. So you might want to 'dig' a little further in your research as its a big project and you want it to be successful.
http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html
Good luck and take some photos on the way.
I see what your saying, that link suggests soakaways are no good on clay soil. But if a soakaway is linked to a herringbone would it have more success. I suppose I am actually going to have to dig quite far down and find out what depth the clay goes to. If it is just a layer of clay then It could be fine. I live on the north east coast, approximately 1/4 . mile from the sea, not sure if this bears any relation to the depth of clay soils.
.
I think the articles are talking about a 'proper' soakaway - i.e. a way to dispose of the rainwater run off from your roof, rather than it going into a storm water drain. The other formal use of a soakaway is if you have the modern equivalent of a septic tank. In both cases, the impermeability of the clay soil is a problem, and as a designed solution to a building regulation controlled part of your house design, it would not be permitted.
However
You are not planning to take the rainwater from your down pipes (I hope), only to try to move the rain that falls onto your garden more quickly. Your lawn is already providing a 'soakaway' for that amount of water and you are witness to the problem - it takes ages to soak away, if at all. That's why it wouldn't be 'allowed'.
It will very very slowly seep away, down hill. But you are going to have limited effect - there's not much that you can do about it, as far as I can see, apart from moving the problem a bit, so it's less inconvenient. It's not perfect, but without a drain to somewhere off site, you're a bit stymied, unfortunately. Raised beds to make it look better and give plants a chance to live, permeable paths that are less claggy when wet, and, in effect, a ditch to hold the water under ground. And in future phases, try to break up the surface and subsurface compaction to encourage the seepaway to become more of a soakaway.
Unless you collect it in an underground rainwater tank and use it to flush your toilet
Last edited: 08 November 2016 20:52:56
“It's still magic even if you know how it's done.”