Garden Drainage: Start to finish

delly

theTinker wrote:

very nice work delly, was very informative, im a fan of DIY stff just not very good, i see your lawn was gettting fuller comparing the first and second pics, im very envious, ive a seeded lawn and from day 1 ive been fighting a losing battle against, weeds, moss, clovers, sum wierd things and yello grasss. etc

Thanks, I put on some pre-turf fertiliser on and some lawn feed after I had it down a week. The grass started to then grow like it was on steroids, with the result that I can't really let it go any longer than 2 weeks between cuts at the highest blade setting.

mjffey

Hi Dell,

How's the drainage working under your lawn? Still happy with it?

beolight

also interested in reply delly

the last couple of weeks would certainly have tested it

delly

Not bad at all, however I would like a nice dry run to give it a cut as the growth is really fast. The main body of grass is draining just as well as any garden, the only part that doesn't do as well is from the back wall as far out as the shed. I've decided however to plant 3 trees at the back wall which may help. Haven't decided which type yet, but would maybe like a few cherry blossoms or magnolias, however I'll need to check the long term impact of these trees.

Overall i'm happy with the result as before once you went about two feet from the patio you'd be in mud county.

Yorky

I read recently that using a hollow-tine aerator to extract soil plugs and then top-dressing with a sandy mixture is useful for improving moisture penetration in waterlogged gardens. Has anyone used this method?

GreeBo

Yorky wrote:

I read recently that using a hollow-tine aerator to extract soil plugs and then top-dressing with a sandy mixture is useful for improving moisture penetration in waterlogged gardens. Has anyone used this method?

Yep, thats exactly how to do it.
Just look at any golf green/tee.

delly

Yorky wrote:

I read recently that using a hollow-tine aerator to extract soil plugs and then top-dressing with a sandy mixture is useful for improving moisture penetration in waterlogged gardens. Has anyone used this method?

It may help, but I think you would have to get past the red clay type soil which is a good 2 feet down to have a good effect.

PhilipMarlowe

Proper (USGA) Golf greens are sooooooo far removed from your average back lawn
They have a subsurface drainage system, probably 60cm of gravel, maybe another 100mm of an intermediate layer followed by 300mm of sand (mainly, and some peat or organic material) that the grass roots into.

When these are hollow tined, it is to alleviate the compaction from the traffic (golfers, grass machinery). The small core is removed and replaced with sand. This allows the soil around the holes to expand and 'opens up' the surface and promotes better airflow and grass growth etc.

The compaction in delly's cas was more likely caused by a mixture of JCB's, Teleporters, soil being moved about, all the usual construction horrors.
The 'hard pan' that he had to break with the pick axe was much more the issue for water draining away. Hollow Tining in such a case would more than likely be a waste of time, though it may be be great in other cases.

p.s. nice weeping cedar and maple

delly

Licksy wrote:

p.s. nice weeping cedar and maple

Credit goes to the previous owners for them

magicbastarder

delly wrote:

It may help, but I think you would have to get past the red clay type soil which is a good 2 feet down to have a good effect.

this is the really rock hard stuff? is that rock hard due to the nature of the clay itself, or compaction from heavy machinery used to build the house?

delly

I'd say it was there beforehand, rather than as a result of the building work, although that wouldn't help ether.

Eurorunner

@Delly: Do you have a pic of your lawn from right now Delly? The last set were from when the turf went down. A visual scan of it now would tell as to how healthy it is..

magicbastarder

delly wrote:

I'd say it was there beforehand, rather than as a result of the building work, although that wouldn't help ether.

could be a plough pan too, if the land was farmed beforehand.

delly

I'll be giving it a first cut at the weekend so i'll take a pic. Funnily enough the grass has receded from the edges nearly a foot in places. I hadn't ventured into the back much over the Winter but only noticed it in the last few weeks. I'm hoping it will come back ok once the growing gets into full swing, bit 'tis a bit strange.

positron

Excellent thread, pics etc Delly, I am going to give it a go myself! Looking forward to the latest pic.

Neil_Sedaka

I'm in the middle of doing a similar job to Delly's.
I'm going to dig a deep drain pit but am concerned that I might hit some pipe work (if there's any about)

I plan on digging down about four foot, so if there's any pipes, I'd be sure to hit them.
Question is, is there any way to find out before I dig? Should I write to the Co. Council etc.

Any advice much appreciated, oh, and great job Delly.

Gurgle

Neil_Sedaka wrote:

I'm in the middle of doing a similar job to Delly's.
I'm going to dig a deep drain pit but am concerned that I might hit some pipe work (if there's any about)

If you haven't already bought the perforated drainage pipe, please come and take the 50 yards or so thats been coiled up behind my shed for the last 5 years.

squire1

If Neil dosen't take up the offer I might take that off your hands gurgle. I need about 25M but I think most suppliers only sell it in full lenghts. Where are you based?

Edit, Is it 4" or 6"?

cracla

Delly great job.....a year or so on from completing the work how's the drainage / garden now?
Also the soak hole you dug has this ever been overwhelmed with prolonged heavy rain?

Gurgle do you still have the pipe? what size is it? where u located?.....think I need to do a similar job in my garden

wetgarden

Hi delly.

Just reading on the problem you had with your garden back in 2006. Well done to you.
I have a similiar problem and I would be grateful if I could get a look at the pics of your garden before, during and after as they don't seem to be there at the moment. Could you put them back so I can get a look at them or does anyone have them to send to me to hevikend@hotmail.com. That way I could see exactly what you did because as thet say "a picture paints a thousand words".
After all the bad weather we had here my back garden is in a terrible state and needs drainage big time, hence my name "wetgarden" - brilliant I know!
Anyway I would be grateful if you could help me out with this or indeed any member.

Thanks,
Wetgarden:(

delly

wetgarden, i have just checked the first post in the thread and all the pictures appear to be there, perhaps your internet settings are note allowing you to see them?

Greenman

Hill Billy wrote: »

Well done Delly!

It is very nice to see the outcome of your hard work.
Too often do posters ask for advice - receive responses & we never hear of the final outcome.

Yes it is great when people do a follow up reply to say things are sorted or that was very helpful.

The garden looks great, I wish you many happy days in it and I hope your neighbours are nice and not into loud music and lack consideration.

Well done.

Greenman

delly wrote: »

wetgarden, i have just checked the first post in the thread and all the pictures appear to be there, perhaps your internet settings are note allowing you to see them?

I can see them.

wetgarden

Apologies Delly. I can see them now.
I was checking them at work and obviously the browser settings would not allow me to see them. It looks very good.
Well done again. These images will definitely hep me with my project.

I just have one question:
What if the watertable is too high. Then a soakage pit is absolutely no good as it will fill up in no time. Obviously in your case its not and this has worked out well for you.
In the estate wher I live, there are houses all around so I can't drain offsite to a ditch etc. I know same of the gardens around are on higher ground than mine so I'm getting the water runoff which isn't helping.
I'm going to do a test to see whether the watertable is high or not over the next few days. If it is has anyone any ideas how to drain garden, excluding so a soakage pit.

Thanks guys.

delly

Well the theory is that the water table is somewhere below, maybe between 1 and 1.5 metres. The only way to be sure is to dig a hole deep enough and see how it drains.

Gabesdude

Hello 'Delly' and 'Wetgarden'.

Fantastic job Delly. I've got a new thread running (as of 21/04/08) regarding soakaway issues - any chance you could give me your opinion?

I did a similar job a couple of years on a sloping garden and it worked great. I'm now in a house with a flat garden. My soakaway hole is currently 1.4m deep and I'm in clay which can only be described as baked fudge. Any thoughts on if I'm really going to get to a porous layer if I keep digging?

Many thanks and once again, well done!

Mutz

Hey Guys,

I remember this thread from ages ago and thought it was so good that I'd give it a try myself. I will post pictures along the way as the work progresses in a fashion similar to Dellys! (Fingers crossed it works out!)

The garden is very level but the soil and grass quality is extremely poor.

As you can see from the attachment, I have very wet and soggy back garden and decided that I need to drain it or improve the soil.

I have two test areas dug at the moment to a level of about a foot. The area to the right is showing a bit of pooling from the rain lastnight so i know this may be a good area to dig a soakpit, but the ground is full of stone from the builders and hard going.

However, to the rear of the garden. the clay is very soft and managable and it was easy enough to dig down to and is also showing slight pooling.

Question #1: Given that the surface is very even with no natural roll, which area would you suggest I use as a soakpit?

Question #2: What depth should the french drains be?

Question #3: When I have rotivated the garden and have all the rubbish and stones thrown away, would you recomend a mix / ratio of top soil and lawn sand and if so, could someone in the know, recommend the volumes of top soil and sand needed to cover a lawn 11metres x 7 metres to a recomended height?

Heres to a few months hard work ahead of me!

wreckless

well, i took inspiration from this thread also. my back garden got very waterlogged during winter so i decided to do something about it. hope to have it finished by 2012....ended up digging 2 pretty big holes well over a metre deep, each about 2 cubic meter in capacity, filled with stone, yellow piping and channels to some parts of the garden linking them.

then got the brain wave of doing some stone walls and landscaping the rest at the same time....like i said, 2012. and boy did we hit some amount of rubbish buried in the ground, all the builders fill. seems i got it all in my garden. i got the company to provide 1 skip so far to remove all the unwanted plastic and waster as well as contaminated soil so far, at least one more needed at the end. here are some pics of the job at different stages so far.

starbelgrade

I'm doing a garden at the minute & we've hit bedrock about 100-150mm into the dig. And it's a feckin MASSIVE piece of rock... I'm stumped as to what to do about it.

On the upside, at least the shed will have a really good foundation!

delly

Mutz wrote: »

Question #1: Given that the surface is very even with no natural roll, which area would you suggest I use as a soakpit?

Question #2: What depth should the french drains be?

Question #3: When I have rotivated the garden and have all the rubbish and stones thrown away, would you recomend a mix / ratio of top soil and lawn sand and if so, could someone in the know, recommend the volumes of top soil and sand needed to cover a lawn 11metres x 7 metres to a recomended height?

Heres to a few months hard work ahead of me!

Hey Mutz, good luck with the project, hopfully it won't take the eternity as mine

In relation to Q1, i'd probably go with the back of the garden, for no other reson than to be further away from the house. If its completely level then either would work I think.

For Q2, mine started at just over 1 foot depth at the top of the garden, gradually getting to over 2 feet as it approached the soakaway.

For Q3, I used mostly new topsoil to fill the drains themselves, but I didn't rotivate again after they were filled in. Parts of the garden were good, some bad, I manually dug bits that I didn't like the look of. In order to give at least a guaranteed quality bit of grass and earth on the top I used the rollout grass. I just couldn't take the chance of seeds not taking properly and messing the whole thing up.

@wreckless, I happend to have my wife nearby while looking at your pictures, and she groaned while thinking of the bad memories . Looks like you've put the hard work in and hopefully won't be long before your benefiting from the results.