Soft Lawn - Wet Patches
jamesadele
Posts: 7
Hi. I have a new house with a large lawned area. Its heavy with moss and weeds so needs a lot of work to fix. The main issue though is that the land it sits on is saturated and the lawn is soft to stand on with the soil miving away from under your foot. Some areas are worse than others but its the same all over.
I think the soil is heavy with clay but there is a fair grade to the garden to the rear fence, after which the land falls steeply away to a brook some 10 foot lower.
I can shove spade in all the way with little resistance and any sort of rod can be pushed in by hand to about 70cm deep.
I have dug trenches which only fill with water once it rains or if there is surface water that drains in to it. I am considering adding land drains but I am concerned that they wont work because the soil just seems to hold the water like a sponge. The soil on the sides of the trench does not drain in to the trench it just stays wet and the grass on top soft even at the edges of the trench.
Here is a cross section of the turf and soil about 9 inches deep. The left of the pic is the turf and the deepest part is on the right.
What do you guys think could be happening here?
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks
Last edited: 04 April 2017 19:55:51
Posts
There is no water flowing into the brook from the land near me and the trench does not fill with water. It is purely rainwater that is not getting away. It just sits in the ground. It's a bit like getting a toilet roll dunking it in water and then standing it on the side. The water would hold in it a d that seems to be what's happening here.